-ISMs

[freesprouts]

I'm a Religion major and one of the classes I have to take is "Christianity." The other students are generally non-intellectual reactionaries (if you're interested, that's about all I talk in my journal nowadays). But we've recently been talking about Wicca since I'm the only non-Christian in the class and one question someone posed was actually

Comments

[vegdumpling]

i think i'd describe myself as polytheistic but others might say i'm actually monotheistic.

i believe that the gods are separate beings (so poly-) but i also believe that everything in existence is part of the divine.

essentially everything is energy right? but from my perception i'm a person, my cat's a cat, my computer's metal and plastic and whatever else a computer is made of, so we are all distinct and different but when you break us down to the most basic levels we are all made of the same stuff.

that's pretty much how i view the gods too.

[freesprouts]

I'm kind of playing with that idea too. I have a lot of Buddhism stirring in my hypothetical cauldron, and I'm trying to unify my own interpretative stance on duotheism with the Buddhist concept of anatman (no self). I think it's just a blockage somewhere in myself where I want to cling to existence, but I think you're on to something with everything in existence as part of the divine.

[vegdumpling]

i'm not familiar with anatman...

i'm a closet philosopher, i'm fascinated by the idea of a relationship with a deity if essentially i am the deity.

far example, what allows me to recognise things that are the same as me (energy, atomic particles, whatever you want to call it) as different? most people would probably think that self-awareness is what makes us closer to god, but what if it's what makes us further apart?

i'm for a theory where even though my own sense of self-awareness leads me to veiw myself as separate from deity, it is that very quality that allows me to cultivate a relationship with deity.

eh, it's a bit weird but i can't help but wonder about these things. so, can you explain the concept of anatman to me?

[freesprouts]

Anatman is basically the idea that the self doesn't exist outside of the five aggregates: form, sensation, perception, volition, and consciousness. Basically, those aggregates constitute the thing we can "self" and there's no permanent, unchanging soul or anything like that in there. Since the aggregates are impermanent, when they disappear, there is no longer anything to constitute a self.

[alu_chan]

I'd have to say polytheistic. Though I have my god and goddess, I still respect and honor many, many others. Plus all the other pantheons out there. But a lot of the -isms are very close to each other.

[freesprouts]

That was the trouble I was running into. I have no beliefs which hinder me from paying respect to other deities, I just happen to look at divinity solely as a single Horned God and Great Goddess. I suppose that's a rather universalist approach to duotheism....?

[alu_chan]

I see where you're coming from. Duo and poly really border on each other. Really though, couldn't duo be considered a specification of poly? to my understanding, polytheism is just the worship of more than one god, yeah? I could be wrong though.

[vegdumpling]

i thought duo was when you believe there are only two gods (god and goddess) and that any other "gods" are merely facets of or different representations of THE two gods.

i think that poly is recognising them as distinct gods that are not just facets of one god and one goddess.

[alegwyni]

I've always pictured Divinity as a tree. It has a strong, solid base where it meets with everything, drawing from and giving to all that is--all is one.

Just a straight tree is hard to climb, though, hard to relate to, so it splits in two, Goddess and God--all is two.

Each of the two then splits again, many times, into pantheons and then again into individual gods and goddesses--all is many.

Each branch then bears a fruit, its teachings, to be harvested. You can take a slice from each fruit, only from ones you've chosen, only from one specific fruit, or none at all depending on your tastes.

So... I think this is an 'other-theistic' view.

[vegdumpling]

mmmmm...

i like fruit

[kiki_da_vamp]

I think that this is what the first comment was trying to portray, and its also how I feel.

Everything stems from one thing, the Divine, then it starts to branch off into near-seperate entities.
how about "tree-ism" lol

[hexeengel]

(Note: I'm not a member here as of yet, just poking around, and thought I'd post an answer :P)

This is excerpted from a much longer piece on my own personal beliefs and views, I've just posted the relevant portion:Many words can apply to my personal view of Deity, that may or may not be shared by others;

Monism: I believe that, ultimately, all Divinity and existence stem from a single source of “God stuff,” that both encompasses and transcends name and form (this differs from monotheism, in that I do not claim there is one God, but instead that all is One, and all is God/Divine).

Duotheism: I believe in the Divine Couple and Union of the God and Goddess, and that all life and Divinity spring from this Union (the Union itself being a dualistic manifestation of monism, as was explained above).

Polytheism: I believe there is more than one God and more than one Goddess, that the names and faces recognized by other cultures and paths are further expressions of the Divine Couple.

Pantheism: I believe the physical universe itself is

[animamea]

Well, shit. You just said everything I wanted to say, but better. ^_^

[animamea]

Oh, man. Words don't do justice to the pictures in my head for all of this...

I believe that there is an unifying force in the universe (I hear that they're strings). Gods are our way of understanding and tapping into a part of the infinite possibilities contained in that force. I call on two parts of it, based on my brand of Wicca (God, Goddess) and give props to the overarching power.

I had someone tell me that this means I'm a monotheist, but I don't buy that.

[animamea]

And it's that duality in each person that is very important to me. There's a HPS upline from me who pretty much wants to set me on fire because of it.

According to her, the God is a big macho man who makes all the decisions, gets his woman pregnant, then goes and kills stuff. The Goddess is a girly girl who loves babies and Her Man, loves all things, and never talks back.

I sort of want to set her on fire, too. I really don't get along with a lot of my fellow Gardnerians. ^_^

I actually have a problem with people referring to "THE Divine Couple" because it reduces everything to 'boy/girl and that's IT' which bruises my little bi-poly soul. ^_^

I should probably reserve this rant for a separate post, when I'm feeling more coherent.