Pagan Academic Network:Forums

[orion]

Scope and Introduction
This is intended as a study tool. One of the hardest parts about exploring paganism (for me) was coming to a decision about the nature of divinity. In paganism, there is not a voluminous account of the life/characteristics of a central deity -- the best that you will get is anthropological literature about the beliefs that were/are held in the past/present, and the new pagan literature about contemporary experience with those old gods. Old literature can hint about how the gods were perceived, but your perception must be mostly fabricated according to your own beliefs.

Questions to Consider
I propose the following questions to expose apsects of god/dess that you may not have considered so that you may further develop your view of divinity.

1. Omniscience -- do you believe that divine entities know all things? past/present/future? The hearts and minds of followers? of others?

2. Omnipresence -- is deity everywhere, watching everything?

3. Moral/Amoral/Immoral -- Is there a divine mandate about the way that people should live their lives? Do they prefer "good/positive", "neutral/equilibrium/chaos/randomness", "evil/negative", or do they simply not care?

4. Intelligence -- is the divine whatever intelligent? like humans? are humans capable of comprehending divine intelligence?

5. Guidance -- does the divine whatever intervene in the world? only in particular cases? only when asked? do they expect anything for helping?

6. Determinism -- are all actions pre-set (i.e. your life is a pre-programmed "ride") or do our choices shape the future? Is there fate? destiny? Do gods determine these?

7. Immanance/Transcendance -- does divinity exist in the world, or is it outside the world? if outside does it ever enter? if inside does it ever leave? is it partly in the world and partly outside? to what degree?

8. Creation -- is the world the product of some divine action? if so is there a design in the world? were the gods created by the same process as the universe?

9. Purpose -- is there a purpose in life? something we should strive for? something we should learn? something we should provide to deity? reverence? supplication? entertainment? service?

The Assignment
Write down your answers to these questions as if you were going to give it to someone who wanted to know your views. You will find that this is much harder that you're expecting (don't simply answer yes/no, explain your answers). Would you be comfortable posting your answers here? If you don't feel comfortable ask why not: are you unsure that you believe what you have written? (I was this way) Are you unhappy with what you wrote? I notice that my theoretical/logical constructs often don't feel right intuitively. Tuck your answers away for a month (in your BoS/Journal?) and then re-read it...has your view changed? If so, append your changes (don't throw away the old version) and repeat as often as you want to. If you feel like it, post your answers in the Divinity forum -- you may help someone of a like mind who is looking for an explanation of divinity to build on.

Caveat
This is by no means a complete list of all aspects to think about with respect to deity...this is simply all I can come up with right now. If you can think of others, please post them as a reply to this message and see if we can build a helpful list.
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