A Little About The Gods


Please bear with me on this, as the question requires some groundwork. In common with the monotheistic religions, we believe that there is a single Source of all things, beyond our observation and comprehension. In our conception, the Source is neither a thing nor a Being, but instead transcends such limited human concepts. It serves the same role, conceptually, as that of a 'Supreme Being'. We do not worship the Source (also referred to as 'the All' and as 'the Absolute'), as such, because in our view, one can only approach a relationship with the Source by becoming mindful of its characteristics and qualities as they manifest themselves in the world in which we live. These characteristics and qualities, over the years, have become personified as 'gods'. In such forms, they appear in the myths and teachings of many cultures, including the antique world of Greece, Rome, Egypt, etc. The names of these gods are not of particular importance, because the gods themselves are only important as symbols of various aspects of existence. Through them, we are able to see ourselves as part of the universe, as manifestations of the Source in our own rights. We believe it is the destiny of all things to return to the Source through true understanding. Having said all this, let me now show you how it all comes about for us.

We believe that the Source is made manifest in the Creation that surrounds us; and we see this manifestation as being made up of dualities, which are linked in a meaningful way. The most obvious of these polar pairs are male/female, heat/cold, light/dark, sky/earth, and sun/moon; there are, literally, thousands of such pairs of complementary opposites, and each plays its own role, but for our purposes here, these are enough. This profusion of paired opposites suggests to us that duality is the essential character of creation, and to humans, the most significant of these pairings is that of male and female. From this primal pair emerges the concept of god and goddess. In this light, the pairs we listed just now are categorized by their apparent natures:
God - male, light, heat, sky, sun;
Goddess -female,dark, cold,earth, moon;
From these categories, it is derived that the overall character of god is active, and that of goddess is passive. At the risk of oversimplifying, I will leave this part of the discussion, with a word that these qualities of god and goddess are archetypal, rather than literal absolutes.

We refer to god and goddess, generally, as the Lord and the Lady. The Lord is the Father of all, and his qualities of light, warmth, and energy are most often symbolized by the sun, and whose nature is most often represented by the sky. The Lady is the Mother of all, whose patience and receptivity is symbolized by the earth, and whose adaptability and steadfastness is represented by the moon. Our bodies are the sign of her love and creativity. We see this endless chain of dualities reflected in our interactions with the world in which we live, and with our fellow creatures, who are also the children of the Lord and Lady. We see this chain in the eternal cycles which move the universe around its unknown center. There is more to male and female than mother and father: the Lord also represents our Brother, our Friend; and likewise is the Lady Sister and Friend to us. Like each of us, they have many names, many faces, many roles, yet they remain themselves. Our gods have grown, in a sense, as our understanding of ourselves and the creation around us has grown; and yet they are just as they have always been. "As it was in the beginning, it is now, and ever shall be" is true to us, as well. As we learn more about the divine creation around us, we learn to move in harmony with it and with the creatures that share it with us, just as sailors learn to work in accord with the winds, the currents and the tides in order to reach their destination. As we learn about ourselves, we learn to rise above the fear and frustration that can accompany life, and learn to accept ourselves and others as we are, to experience joy and love in our lives. As we learn about the gods, we draw closer to them and learn under-standing, tolerance, humor, and thankfulness. And, for us, doing any one of these is doing all of these.

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