Wiccans invoke seasonal deities and plan to question the Powers. At this time of night, I will not analyze the text but will ask a question that is relevant to many passages in works by Poul Anderson and SM Stirling. Because of the immemorial custom of my ancestors, I spontaneously address the source of all things as "Lord." However, in some cosmologies, the universe is beginningless, therefore sourceless. And, if there were a source, would it be a (still existent) person? IMO, no. So is there any other person that we might address, like the Isvara of the Yoga Sutras, a special kind of being, perennially free, the teacher of the earliest teachers? Isvara is (i) not a Creator and (ii) IMO hypothetical. Patanjali recognized devotion to Isvara as a kind of yoga. However, devotional practices can occur, and may have beneficial psychophysical effects, whether or not the object of devotion exists. Isvara might be a concept, a focus, an ideal or a "higher fiction" (Alan Moore). But I still express awe, gratitude and remorse by saying "Lord."
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
But I don't believe the universe is beginningless, hence without a source and thus eternal. That seems to be merely lapsing into pantheism, the belief the cosmos is God. I still argue there had to be a beginning to the universe and that it was created by a Person, called God.
Sean
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