On Polytheism and my Pen Name
This is a continuation of my post in the Antichristian Phenomenon blog, but first, a personal rant. You can skip down to the good stuff, though.
So yeah, I’ve been sick the past few days… I got a nasty sore throat, which stole my voice for about 3 days. I’m much improved now, fortunately.
I’ve also been looking around Facebook a bit more recently. While I will never become addicted to social-profile sites such as Facebook and Myspace, it is interesting to see potential future classmates… though part of me wants to just wait until orientation and the fall to meet these people. Why rush? Rushing to make friends and meet people is more likely just going to make me more isolated before college even starts. But at the same time, there are many people already forming friend groups, which means its entirely likely that I will be isolated for the sheer fact that I did not participate. What difference is this from High School? I’m prepared to face isolation all through life… its how I’ve always been.
It is somewhat frustrating for me at times, because I seem to be a bit more extreme and defined in my views and interests. I know what I like, I know what I think of things, and why I think that way. I can tell you my opinion on something with certainty. I can tell you what music I like, and why I like it. People may view me as an elitist when it comes to music and such, but that is not true. I have just refined my taste to the point where I know what I like, and how I like it. I do listen to a wide variety of bands to find new sounds that I enjoy, and a variety of genres, and I appreciate that you have your own taste in music, but why would I listen to a band that I do not really like for show, or to appease someone else. For example, I do not like Cradle of Filth. I never have, I never will. No one can convince me to like them. I acknowledge that this or that person enjoys the horrific woman-screeching of Dani Filth, and thats fine for them, but I will never enjoy that band. Never. No matter who shows me, no matter how much I listen to them, no matter what. I have tried them, and found them wanting (for me). So am I an elitist if I blatantly tell you “No, I don’t like CoF”?
Anyway, enough ranting, on to the extended dissertation:
Look to the Polytheistic religions. While I can not really “label” myself or anyone else with this, it is worth examining.
The gods and goddesses of polytheistic religions take on very different positions than the God of the Big Three. They were not looked at in the same way the God of the Big Three is, they could not have been. Yes, I’m sure they had their zealots and die-hard worshipers, but upon examination, the “gods” of mythology were really not all that “Godlike”. They were created more as explanations and folk stories to pass the time than as indisputable doctrine. Of course, it would be blasphemous to strut up to the center of an ancient Greek marketplace and begin proclaiming that Echoes did not come from the demi-goddess, but instead from the reverberations of sound waves as they bounced off obstacles, but look at it in context of the time. If you stood in the center of the same plaza demonstrating a pocket calculator, you very easily could be accused of sorcery, or have the entire marketplace believing you WERE a God because of your fantastic device!
Nonetheless, gods and goddesses in a polytheistic society were rather human. They had strengths and weaknesses, emotions, and histories that mirrored human experience. Their followers could RELATE to their chosen deity, and had the freedom to chose the deity that best fit their needs and intentions, or they could take on a patron deity because of a personal connection with that deity.
For example, I honor the war goddess Anat(h) of Phoenician pantheon by taking on her name as my pen-name. Is this because I “worship” her, or because I believe she is the/a True God(dess)? Of course not!
In my studies, I read legends of her, and I saw myself reflected in her characteristics. We share virtues and flaws. I can not relate to a hypocrite “God” that is allegedly all Virtue. But by honoring Anath, I do not even acknowledge her as a deity, just as a figure I can identify with. Do I care if she is real? No. If she revealed herself to me, would I bow in servitude? No. If I got an unexpected visit from “her”, I would shake her hand and engage her in like-minded conversation. I she is not a “goddess”, but instead an archetype, interchangeable with archetypes in other mythologies, such as the Greek goddess Athena, Roman goddess Minerva, or perhaps the Norse goddess Frejya/Freya.
In this day and age, it is difficult to imagine true polytheism, as it originally was in the days it thrived, for its true forms have been bastardized by the oppressive monotheistic religions.
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