"'My dear, in the end all Gods go back to the One...'" (Roma Mater, p. 317)
Experience is multiple, explanations are unitary:
many objects, one universe;
many phenomena, one reality;
many Gods, the One beyond Them.
Originally, a different pantheon in every valley. Thales said, "All things are full of gods." Then, reductions in the number of gods and identification of some with others -
Rig Veda: "Truth is one, sages call it by different names."
Krishna: "The gods are my million faces."
The Romans: Jupiter is Zeus, Thor is Jupiter-Zeus etc.
An Indian Catholic priest suggested that the Hindu gods are the man on the road to Emmaus...
Here is an excellent game of hide and seek. Whose is the face and which is a mask? I suggest that behind all the masks are each of us and a transcendent reality - but Hindu theology allows for either monotheism or monism.
Gratillonius' second argument:
"'...and as for me, I am the high priest and avatar of Taranis, Her lover.'" (ibid.)
Are all men not high priests and avatars of the God and lovers of the Goddess? I say, metaphorically, yes.
8 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
But I don't believe or agree that there are many "gods," who are merely "masks" of the One. I affirm that no other "gods" can exist, even as simple metaphors. That is, I believe only in the mysterious "I Am Who Am" revealing His Name to Moses. A revelation completed by the Incarnation and resurrection of Christ.
Sean
Sean,
But, if Thor is a metaphor, then he does not literally exist. Milton in PARADISE LOST ransacks Classical mythology for comparisons.
I am a "soft polytheist," i.e., I believe that, without imagination, myths and fictions, we would probably not be rational beings and certainly not human beings and, without our particular myths and fictions, we would not be who we are. Thus, our gods are part of us.
John's Gospel quotes, "I said ye are gods."
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
BUT, the pre-Christian Scandinavians did not believe in Thor or Odin as mere metaphors. They believed those "gods" were real Beings, different Persons from other "gods."
I certainly agree on the need humans for imagination, on being able to tell stories, to have legends. But, I can't and don't believe any God exists except the true One God who revealed Himself to Moses. Which means I have to say our Lord meant "ye are gods" not in the literal sense, but metaphors or analogies.
Sean
Sean,
Yes, "strong polytheists," including our ancestors, believe that gods literally existed. I think that some pagan philosophers saw it differently. Of course "Ye are gods" is metaphorical.
Paul.
Sean,
I said "strong poly" but I think the term is "hard" - as against "soft."
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Either "strong" or "hard" polytheist works for me. They both seem to mean the same.
By "pagan philosophers," do you mean thinkers like Plato or Aristotle? I'm not sure how truly polytheistic they and others like them were. They definitely leaned in the direction of monotheism. Albeit an austere, rather remote monotheism not likely to become a "popular religion."
Sean
Sean,
The big guys were monotheists but there were Skeptics like Pyrrho. I think some of those guys would participate in religious ceremonies as a sign of loyalty to the state, not out of a belief in the literal existence of gods.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree, many Greco/Roman "philosophic monotheists" felt able to take part in pagan religious rites, even ceremonies honoring the Emperor as a god, as a means of expressing their loyalty to the state. Not because they thought Jupiter, Mars, Venus, etc., actually existed.
Sean
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