Sephira Midnyght Posted July 21, 2008 Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 One thing that I've come to find throughout my life is that there is never enough time to enjoy everything there is to enjoy about living. This is often compounded by the fact that a lot of people out there will try to push their faith on you, saying things such as 'Our way is the one and only true way to God'. If that's true, then why are there so many faiths that want to preach that they have the found the one true path to God? Doesn't that make some of the ones preaching their 'true' paths liars?Personally, I don't think that there is such a thing as one and only one true path to God. Technically, I don't believe in God anyway. I believe in the Divine Creative One, who is both male and female, yet is also neither. This One is the perfection and existence of all things within itself: male and female, light and darkness, sorrow and joy, and is the reason that all things exist (and yes, I mean that the One is responsible for pain and suffering). The names that we give to the deities, whether it be Yahweh, Jehovah, Allah, God, The Goddess, The Almighty Father...it's all the same power. The names are just that: names. They are our way of familiarizing ourselves with the Divine, just like we learn the names of our friends so that we are able to talk to them without having to say, "Hey, you! Yeah, you!" in order to get their attention. When we drop to our knees, bow our heads, turn our eyes to the sky, raise our hands, or however else we pray, we call out to the Divine One through the invocation of the name we have been taught to address it by.Now, I'm not saying that I have found the one true way for everyone. I have only found the true way to the Divine for myself, and that is all that is truly important. To each their own, and if you feel that connection, that sense of being in the presense of the Divine, when you worship, then all the blessings of the Divine One upon you for finding that comfort in their presence.Me, I'll fully admit that, yes, I am a Neopagan, but that does not mean that I am evil, nor does it mean that I worship the Christian devil. Satan is not a name by which I address the cosmos, so therefore, I do not believe in him. Yes, many of the gods of my faith bear the horns of the stag, the ram, or the bull, but I do not worship the Christian Prince of Darkness. No, I worship the Horned Lords of the Hunt, masters of the wild world in which we all try to live. I worship the Goddess as Mother Earth, as the fertile and sacred Mother of us all, for without her precious womb (Earth), none of us could survive. Yes, I call upon the God and Goddess, yet I do so with the understanding that they are but names for something beyond human comprehension, something so great that it would require the perfect language to express it, a perfection that I, as a mortal, cannot achieve. I use the names to make sense of the infinite and the nothing, for that is truly what the Divine One is, both everything and nothing, for the Divine One is all things at once.I see every moment of life as sacred and special, something given to us by a Higher Power that is to be treasured and taken care of. I see the Divine One in every living creature, in every stone and river and even in the air, because nature is part of the Divine One's creation.To each of you who reads this, I do not push my faith upon you, nor do I push my belief of the Divine One. I post this only to show what my understanding of the Higher Power we all seek for is, for that is my only goal - to speak to others what I see if only to let them know what I believe.Sephira Midnyght Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fawzo Posted July 21, 2008 Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 Greetings and welcome to the ULC!!!I know a few pagans myself and I wanted to ask after reading your message if you experience the Gods as the labels and images of which you spoke or do you experience them as energies and if you were just giving diffrent labels to various aspects of Divine Source?Do you experience them as energies or beings? I think the part where you described them with horns has thrown me, since if you experienced them as energies why horns? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bro. Hex Posted July 22, 2008 Report Share Posted July 22, 2008 (edited) Me, I'll fully admit that, yes, I am a Neo-Pagan, but that does not mean that I am evil, nor does it mean that I worship the Christian devil. Satan is not a name by which I address the cosmos, so therefore, I do not believe in him. Yes, many of the gods of my faith bear the horns of the stag, the ram, or the bull, but I do not worship the Christian Prince of Darkness. No, I worship the Horned Lords of the Hunt, masters of the wild world in which we all try to live. I worship the Goddess as Mother Earth, as the fertile and sacred Mother of us all, for without her precious womb (Earth), none of us could survive. Yes, I call upon the God and Goddess, yet I do so with the understanding that they are but names for something beyond human comprehension, something so great that it would require the perfect language to express it, a perfection that I, as a mortal, cannot achieve. I use the names to make sense of the infinite and the nothing, for that is truly what the Divine One is, both everything and nothing, for the Divine One is all things at once.Sephira MidnyghtHi Midnyght, Welcome to the ULC Forum. Pagans, "Neo" or otherwise have had a "bad rap" (historically speaking) at the hand of some of the traditions represented here. I have only recently come to realize the extent of the polemic assault waged against the "Old Religion" by those who were the fierce proponents of a "New Religion" many hundreds of years ago. If I understand you correctly, when you speak of "the horns of the stag" you are speaking metaphorically about a "symbol" which represents for you one of the specific deities of your religion, am I correct? I am in total agreement with your observation that no human language is "sufficiently perfect" to speak accurately of the Divine One. Edited July 22, 2008 by Hexalpa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fidelis Posted July 22, 2008 Report Share Posted July 22, 2008 Greetings and welcome to the ULC!!!I know a few pagans myself and I wanted to ask after reading your message if you experience the Gods as the labels and images of which you spoke or do you experience them as energies and if you were just giving diffrent labels to various aspects of Divine Source?Do you experience them as energies or beings? I think the part where you described them with horns has thrown me, since if you experienced them as energies why horns?I'm not the original poster, but I had to put my 2 cents in, since someone asked me this same question the other day. I replied: Yes.LOL! I can't speak for the original poster, but I too am pagan. I tend to think of the gods as both concepts/energies, and as actual entities. I liken it to Divinity being a diamond, and the individual deities are facets on that diamond, representative of universal concepts.Other times, I'm quite literal about the deities, and think of them in human terms.As for the horns, those are associated with male energy (hunting, outward focused, expressive, providing, solar, light, fertilizing, yang), and hence represent the male aspect of Divinity.JMO YMMVfidelis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emalpaiz Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 (edited) Very good, Sephyra Mydnight! The One has been known by the Sages of different spiritual traditions by different Names. So says the Rig Veda the oldest book of my spiritual tradition. One of our modern Sages, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa (1836-1886), said that there are many paths that lead to the One. Those who have not matured spiritually are the ones who insist that only they have the truth. Those who think that way -- sadly to say -- are a lot of people in our world. But we must continue to advance in our chosen path with Understanding, Love, and Compassion (ULC).It is good that you are here. I pray that we will be able to read more of your thoughts. Hermano LuisMoriviví Hermitage Edited August 4, 2008 by emalpaiz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sephira Midnyght Posted August 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 To Fawzo, I experience the deities as ethereal entities, as powerful spirits within our world and among us when we need them to be. The mention of the horns of the stag is just the mental image I bring to mind when I call to them, so as to strengthen the bond between us. It works much in the same way as connecting names to the face of a person you know, allowing you to call out to them in the middle of a crowded airport to get their attention.To Hexalpa, yes, it is metaphoric, not actual. What I said to Fawzo answers your question as well.To fidelis, you mentioned that you find divinity as both energy and entity. They are energy alone to me, their being (or entity) experienced as a solely ethereal thing. However, I do experience a physical side of their power in being outdoors, as their creation breathes and lives with them, as a part of them. Just looking for your thoughts on this.To emalpaiz, thank you for your warm welcome.Sephira Midnyght Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts