I've got a lot of questions on the subject of deity, personality and worship and I would be really interested to hear people's answers to them. I hope these questions haven't been asked recently! Also, I hope it's ok that I started a whole thread for this. I know that there are those Ask A ______ threads, but I'm curious about everyone in general.
-Do you find that what you know of your deity's personality influences how you behave in your life?
Just to explain what I mean, I started to wonder about that question a little earlier today when I was staring out the window having one of those "flowing thought" moments where your mind drifts from one subject to another, when all of a sudden I found myself thinking about what it would be like to date a man who worshipped Loki. God knows why. But it really made me think, would this hypothetical man take on the personality traits of Loki and if he did, would it be because those traits were already inherent in his personality and worshipping Loki gave them validity and thus encouragement or would the very worship of Loki be enough to bring out those traits where none (or very little) had existed before? Obviously I'm not expecting anyone to answer this scenario specifically, it's just the thought that brought the question to my mind.
-If you have a deity in your life, do you find that you share elements of your personality with them? If you do share personality traits with them, do you feel that that attracted you to them, or them to you? If you don't share personality traits with them, why do you think you found yourself in a relationship with them?
I thought of this a few hours after I thought of the "Loki" question when I was surprised by the realization that most, if not all, of the deities that I've ever felt a connection with or sought out had no real personality traits in common with me. I'm a bookish, thought oriented person. Learning is pretty much the be all and end all of my life. I wouldn't be happy doing anything else. Yet, looking back on my history with gods and goddesses, I have never sought out those deities that are seriously involved with learning or knowledge. I find that exceptionally bizarre. I've also noticed that I tend to be more drawn to deities that are not in my same age group or phase of life. Not that there's anything wrong with that, there's obviously some reason for it, but it makes me wonder what it would be like to be in a relationship with a deity who I could relate to on a more obvious level.
-If you share personality traits with your deity, does that make it more or less easy to deify and worship them, if that is indeed what you do? The same question if you don't share personality traits with them.
-Do you feel that you're drawn more in one way or another because of your religion (regardless of what religion that actually is)? I'd be curious to find out how a Pagan versus a Christian feels about relating to their god(s) in this way. On the one hand I know a lot of Pagans love that they can feel close to their chosen God or Goddess on a very personal, human level, but a lot of Pagans also seem to believe in a universal spirit or intelligence that created those Gods and Goddesses and is above and within them. On the other hand, a Christian may feel more comfortable praying to a omnipotent, omnipresent deity that is well above humanity and possibly even personality, and yet there is Jesus to consider and if you're Catholic a whole bevy of saints with human histories and emotions to connect with. Taking those two examples, in one the personal, human aspect takes a front seat and the universal takes the back and in the other just the opposite happens, where the universal is the more important and the personal is just a means to reach the universal. (I know not all Pagans and Christians believe exactly what I've written here, it's just an example.)
Thank you so much for reading so far and advanced thanks for any answers. I don't know how I ended up with so many questions. I started out with three.
-Do you find that what you know of your deity's personality influences how you behave in your life?
Just to explain what I mean, I started to wonder about that question a little earlier today when I was staring out the window having one of those "flowing thought" moments where your mind drifts from one subject to another, when all of a sudden I found myself thinking about what it would be like to date a man who worshipped Loki. God knows why. But it really made me think, would this hypothetical man take on the personality traits of Loki and if he did, would it be because those traits were already inherent in his personality and worshipping Loki gave them validity and thus encouragement or would the very worship of Loki be enough to bring out those traits where none (or very little) had existed before? Obviously I'm not expecting anyone to answer this scenario specifically, it's just the thought that brought the question to my mind.
-If you have a deity in your life, do you find that you share elements of your personality with them? If you do share personality traits with them, do you feel that that attracted you to them, or them to you? If you don't share personality traits with them, why do you think you found yourself in a relationship with them?
I thought of this a few hours after I thought of the "Loki" question when I was surprised by the realization that most, if not all, of the deities that I've ever felt a connection with or sought out had no real personality traits in common with me. I'm a bookish, thought oriented person. Learning is pretty much the be all and end all of my life. I wouldn't be happy doing anything else. Yet, looking back on my history with gods and goddesses, I have never sought out those deities that are seriously involved with learning or knowledge. I find that exceptionally bizarre. I've also noticed that I tend to be more drawn to deities that are not in my same age group or phase of life. Not that there's anything wrong with that, there's obviously some reason for it, but it makes me wonder what it would be like to be in a relationship with a deity who I could relate to on a more obvious level.
-If you share personality traits with your deity, does that make it more or less easy to deify and worship them, if that is indeed what you do? The same question if you don't share personality traits with them.
-Do you feel that you're drawn more in one way or another because of your religion (regardless of what religion that actually is)? I'd be curious to find out how a Pagan versus a Christian feels about relating to their god(s) in this way. On the one hand I know a lot of Pagans love that they can feel close to their chosen God or Goddess on a very personal, human level, but a lot of Pagans also seem to believe in a universal spirit or intelligence that created those Gods and Goddesses and is above and within them. On the other hand, a Christian may feel more comfortable praying to a omnipotent, omnipresent deity that is well above humanity and possibly even personality, and yet there is Jesus to consider and if you're Catholic a whole bevy of saints with human histories and emotions to connect with. Taking those two examples, in one the personal, human aspect takes a front seat and the universal takes the back and in the other just the opposite happens, where the universal is the more important and the personal is just a means to reach the universal. (I know not all Pagans and Christians believe exactly what I've written here, it's just an example.)
Thank you so much for reading so far and advanced thanks for any answers. I don't know how I ended up with so many questions. I started out with three.
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