Why I am not a god.
OOC: Crossposted from realmof_themuse today.
Prompt 2009.32.A.6 - “We must not allow other people's limited perceptions to define us” - Virginia Satir (Psychologist and Educator)
Here's the reason why one shouldn't want to be a god.
I throw around the word "god" a lot, since I am as powerful as virtually any species' god-figure could be, at least in polytheistic pantheons where the power of a god is largely checked by the powers of the other gods. Also, because despite my efforts, occasionally I am worshipped as a god. (This means less than you might think. One time Picard got worshipped as a god.) But in fact "god" has a technical definition to my people, one I don't qualify for.
A god is a being who exists to exemplify an aspect of reality to its worshippers.
Think about the polytheistic gods you know of. Zeus, god of thunder. Loki, god of treachery. Amaterasu, goddess of the sun. Athena, goddess of wisdom. They all exemplify something to their worshippers. Even the monotheistic God of Earth, YHWH, represents "goodness", whatever that is, to his worshippers.
If you are imaginary, this is just fine. You can be limited by what you were created to be, if you don't really exist. But many of the gods and goddesses that the various species of the universe worship *do* exist, and here's where the problem is for people like me.
Being worshipped's seductive, sure. I mean, most people like to be liked. And admittedly, the adulation of a crowd of pathetic small mortals isn't a whole hell of a lot, but it's something. Even I can understand that, and I don't have nearly the tolerance for sycophancy that some of my kind do. Sure, it's nice to have people sing your praises, and sacrifice stuff to you, and love you as keenly as they love their mortal parents, if not more so. But it's a trap. Because every god is the god of *something*, and as soon as you're the god of something, it cuts off possible avenues. The sun god can't be seen at night. The god of thunder has to show up when it rains. It makes you predictable. It carves off tiny pieces of what and who you are.
You know, when Zeus -- yeah, real guy -- when Zeus cut his dad open and released all his siblings (it was really more like he tore open the energy membrane that held his progenitor/creator together and pulled the entities that his creator had made and then absorbed into his own essence out, unspooling their essence from the progenitor's original nature, but it's just easier to say "cut him open and took his siblings out"), Hera wasn't a particularly jealous person. Why would she be? I mean, when she merged essence with the entity who saved her from their father, it really wasn't physically remotely the same thing as when that same entity took mortal form and sexed up mortals. And she was immortal, and they weren't. What's to be jealous of? But she and her kind decided to feed off the worship of mortal humans, because they were totally insecure (to be fair, being created for the purpose of being devoured might have that effect on any entity), so they plonked themselves down on a planet that practiced male dominance, where the conflict between monogamy and polygamy was between rich powerful men who wanted all the women and poor, less powerful men who wanted to get at least *one* of their own, and the actual women were kind of collateral damage. And because she decided to take as her purview home life and domesticity, due to the fact that she was a busybody who liked to run the lives of her siblings and make comfortable environments for them to exist in (in fact she built the dimension of Olympos, but no one remembers that), she ended up being assigned a female role, whereas since they all hero-worshipped Zeus and listened to him since he was the guy who saved them, he got assigned a male role. And in the particular Earth society they were being worshipped by, powerful men screw around with hapless women of vastly less power than themselves, whether or not the women in question like it, and since the powerful men's mates couldn't take out their anger and jealousy that their husbands were allowed to cat around and they *weren't* on the husbands themselves... they took it out on the women.
The belief system of her worshippers turned Hera into a jealous shrew. Because they assigned her the role of Zeus' "wife", she had to take it, because the desires of one's worshippers put enormous emotional pressure on a god to shape themselves into what their worshippers expect. Because "wives" of powerful men are not allowed to take lovers and still be respectable, Hera couldn't screw around with mortals herself (she did try, one time, but the pressure of belief from her worshippers damaged her child, and after that she never tried it again.) Nor could she screw around with other omnipotent beings. (Believe me, I made offers. What can I say? She was hot.) Because the belief system of the worshippers expected powerful men to screw around, Zeus was pressured into doing so (not that that boy needed much pressure... what a horndog! I mean, I like a little mortal tail from time to time myself, but Zeus was taking a new lover, from the same species, about once a generation. At least I mix it up with different species, and go a few centuries without a mortal sex partner from time to time. Also, he was totally obsessed with being on top, which is why my attempt to seduce him myself really didn't go as well as I'd hoped. He was really used to a level of hero worship from the others in his pantheon that no entity from outside his pantheon would ever demonstrate, which is why Zeus doesn't get a lot from omnipotents outside his own little set.) And because the belief system of the worshippers expected the wives to be jealous but impotent to do anything about it... Hera became a nasty, sexually frustrated, jealous bitch who would smite helpless mortal women for the crime of being raped by her husband. (Remember what I said about the hero worship, and the being on top thing? Zeus wasn't really in the habit of *asking* mortals. His philosophy was really more along the lines of want, take, have. There are those who did consent, despite not being asked, because hello, a god wants you... must have made their whole mortal day, at least until Hera came along and killed them. Others weren't so pleased with it. Hera didn't really care.)
It's been centuries since she was last worshipped by the Greek humans, and Hera is just starting to recover her original personality now, after all this time. (And don't get me started on Apollo. Guy got so addicted to mortal adulation, he literally decided he couldn't live without it, and KILLED HIMSELF because Kirk's crew wouldn't worship him.) She's not the only one. Loki used to be a decent guy... pal of mine, in fact. There's nothing about liking a little fun and games that says you have to engineer your brother's death and plot to destroy your entire dimension and all the other gods in your pantheon, but the Norse needed a guy to be the villain, so they tapped Loki to do it, and the pressure of their beliefs warped him.
And that is why I don't seek worship, and I don't take it very seriously when I get it. It's a trap. Those tiny little mayfly creatures are topping you from below, singing your praises and burning their sacrifices to you, feeding you the emotional energy of their worship, and sure it feels good... but it changes you. It warps you into someone you never consciously decided to become. And I don't let other Q do that to me; I'll be damned before I let mortals do it.
Muse: Q
Fandom: Star Trek
Note: Not intended to be binding on any god or goddess muse; refers to the entities in the Star Trek universe who go by the names of Earth mythological figures only.
Prompt 2009.32.A.6 - “We must not allow other people's limited perceptions to define us” - Virginia Satir (Psychologist and Educator)
Here's the reason why one shouldn't want to be a god.
I throw around the word "god" a lot, since I am as powerful as virtually any species' god-figure could be, at least in polytheistic pantheons where the power of a god is largely checked by the powers of the other gods. Also, because despite my efforts, occasionally I am worshipped as a god. (This means less than you might think. One time Picard got worshipped as a god.) But in fact "god" has a technical definition to my people, one I don't qualify for.
A god is a being who exists to exemplify an aspect of reality to its worshippers.
Think about the polytheistic gods you know of. Zeus, god of thunder. Loki, god of treachery. Amaterasu, goddess of the sun. Athena, goddess of wisdom. They all exemplify something to their worshippers. Even the monotheistic God of Earth, YHWH, represents "goodness", whatever that is, to his worshippers.
If you are imaginary, this is just fine. You can be limited by what you were created to be, if you don't really exist. But many of the gods and goddesses that the various species of the universe worship *do* exist, and here's where the problem is for people like me.
Being worshipped's seductive, sure. I mean, most people like to be liked. And admittedly, the adulation of a crowd of pathetic small mortals isn't a whole hell of a lot, but it's something. Even I can understand that, and I don't have nearly the tolerance for sycophancy that some of my kind do. Sure, it's nice to have people sing your praises, and sacrifice stuff to you, and love you as keenly as they love their mortal parents, if not more so. But it's a trap. Because every god is the god of *something*, and as soon as you're the god of something, it cuts off possible avenues. The sun god can't be seen at night. The god of thunder has to show up when it rains. It makes you predictable. It carves off tiny pieces of what and who you are.
You know, when Zeus -- yeah, real guy -- when Zeus cut his dad open and released all his siblings (it was really more like he tore open the energy membrane that held his progenitor/creator together and pulled the entities that his creator had made and then absorbed into his own essence out, unspooling their essence from the progenitor's original nature, but it's just easier to say "cut him open and took his siblings out"), Hera wasn't a particularly jealous person. Why would she be? I mean, when she merged essence with the entity who saved her from their father, it really wasn't physically remotely the same thing as when that same entity took mortal form and sexed up mortals. And she was immortal, and they weren't. What's to be jealous of? But she and her kind decided to feed off the worship of mortal humans, because they were totally insecure (to be fair, being created for the purpose of being devoured might have that effect on any entity), so they plonked themselves down on a planet that practiced male dominance, where the conflict between monogamy and polygamy was between rich powerful men who wanted all the women and poor, less powerful men who wanted to get at least *one* of their own, and the actual women were kind of collateral damage. And because she decided to take as her purview home life and domesticity, due to the fact that she was a busybody who liked to run the lives of her siblings and make comfortable environments for them to exist in (in fact she built the dimension of Olympos, but no one remembers that), she ended up being assigned a female role, whereas since they all hero-worshipped Zeus and listened to him since he was the guy who saved them, he got assigned a male role. And in the particular Earth society they were being worshipped by, powerful men screw around with hapless women of vastly less power than themselves, whether or not the women in question like it, and since the powerful men's mates couldn't take out their anger and jealousy that their husbands were allowed to cat around and they *weren't* on the husbands themselves... they took it out on the women.
The belief system of her worshippers turned Hera into a jealous shrew. Because they assigned her the role of Zeus' "wife", she had to take it, because the desires of one's worshippers put enormous emotional pressure on a god to shape themselves into what their worshippers expect. Because "wives" of powerful men are not allowed to take lovers and still be respectable, Hera couldn't screw around with mortals herself (she did try, one time, but the pressure of belief from her worshippers damaged her child, and after that she never tried it again.) Nor could she screw around with other omnipotent beings. (Believe me, I made offers. What can I say? She was hot.) Because the belief system of the worshippers expected powerful men to screw around, Zeus was pressured into doing so (not that that boy needed much pressure... what a horndog! I mean, I like a little mortal tail from time to time myself, but Zeus was taking a new lover, from the same species, about once a generation. At least I mix it up with different species, and go a few centuries without a mortal sex partner from time to time. Also, he was totally obsessed with being on top, which is why my attempt to seduce him myself really didn't go as well as I'd hoped. He was really used to a level of hero worship from the others in his pantheon that no entity from outside his pantheon would ever demonstrate, which is why Zeus doesn't get a lot from omnipotents outside his own little set.) And because the belief system of the worshippers expected the wives to be jealous but impotent to do anything about it... Hera became a nasty, sexually frustrated, jealous bitch who would smite helpless mortal women for the crime of being raped by her husband. (Remember what I said about the hero worship, and the being on top thing? Zeus wasn't really in the habit of *asking* mortals. His philosophy was really more along the lines of want, take, have. There are those who did consent, despite not being asked, because hello, a god wants you... must have made their whole mortal day, at least until Hera came along and killed them. Others weren't so pleased with it. Hera didn't really care.)
It's been centuries since she was last worshipped by the Greek humans, and Hera is just starting to recover her original personality now, after all this time. (And don't get me started on Apollo. Guy got so addicted to mortal adulation, he literally decided he couldn't live without it, and KILLED HIMSELF because Kirk's crew wouldn't worship him.) She's not the only one. Loki used to be a decent guy... pal of mine, in fact. There's nothing about liking a little fun and games that says you have to engineer your brother's death and plot to destroy your entire dimension and all the other gods in your pantheon, but the Norse needed a guy to be the villain, so they tapped Loki to do it, and the pressure of their beliefs warped him.
And that is why I don't seek worship, and I don't take it very seriously when I get it. It's a trap. Those tiny little mayfly creatures are topping you from below, singing your praises and burning their sacrifices to you, feeding you the emotional energy of their worship, and sure it feels good... but it changes you. It warps you into someone you never consciously decided to become. And I don't let other Q do that to me; I'll be damned before I let mortals do it.
Muse: Q
Fandom: Star Trek
Note: Not intended to be binding on any god or goddess muse; refers to the entities in the Star Trek universe who go by the names of Earth mythological figures only.