Breaking news: The monotheists are butchering one another. Well, not so breaking after all, since the monotheists have been killing each other, raping the planet, and committing cultural—and actual—genocide against non-monotheists for a few thousand years now. Monotheism is a way of looking at the divine, the world, and the cosmos, which is fundamentally sick, twisted, and demented. A person’s cosmological and ontological views directly impact who that person is, and how he behaves in the world. For the ancient pagan peoples, a God could take any form, whether a beggar, thirsty dog, or an olive tree, and so all was sacred, and nothing must be defiled. On the other hand, a jealous, angry, mass-murdering monotheistic god turns his followers into vile specimens of the human species.
A true pagan is open to every form and every manifestation of the Fire. Or as Lawrence wrote: “Gods die with men who have conceived them. But the god-stuff roars eternally, like the sea, with too vast a sound to be heard.” Pan or Jesus may die, but the great, pulsing Flux beyond being will never cease. I accept the reality of the monotheistic gods, but only within the pantheon of all divinities. Allah, Yahweh, and Jesus need to sit down together at the same table, have some coffee, and work out their differences. If they can’t, then Father Zeus should smite them with a jolt from his giant, lightning emitting cock.
Earth, moon, sun; Artemis, Athena, Dionysus, Demeter: We need all the Gods, all and every one. Want world peace? End monotheism. I don’t worship one God, I worship every God, the manifestations of the Gods, and the Fire that is behind and beyond the Gods. Everything that is, is real, and that which is real is beautiful.
It is time to usher in a new renaissance upon the earth, where the people of this planet stop killing one another based on which jealous god they worship, and instead come together, honoring the earth, the sea, the stars, and the Gods. It is time to usher in the epoch of the return of the Gods, the dark Gods, the great, old dark Gods.
You’re welcome. I’m no religious philosopher I’m afraid, so I can’t really comment on different schools of thought. I do agree with you on the Pagan Worldview, as a Pagan myself, my animist beliefs affects nearly every facet of my life. I don’t think I could ever justify war and it’s rippling effects for the world, its creatures, both human and other animals, the environment, and our resources.
'It is time to usher in a new renaissance upon the earth, where the people of this planet stop killing one another based on which jealous god they worship, and instead come together, honoring the earth, the sea, the stars, and the Gods. It is time to usher in the epoch of the return of the Gods, the dark Gods, the great, old dark Gods.'
Yes, I'm sure that will happen. After all, the 'dark gods' of the Aztecs did a good job of abolishing petty rivalries and instituting peace, did they not? Tlalac, for example - a glorious dark god he! - who required the sacrifice of children recently made to weep. Or perhaps the dark gods of the polytheist and notoriously peaceful Vikings could be our model. Or the human-sacrificing Celts. Or the lovely pacifist Romans.
Or maybe, just maybe, humans of every stripe, be they pagan or Christian or atheist or whatever, are capable of either evil or good. And so maybe religious teachings which preach love rather than hatred, of both neighbour and enemy, are the only chance we have.