Monotheist or Polytheist... or both... or neither...?

[Truthseeker]

Hello everyone! I'm back having taken a few months off from RF!

I have been thinking a lot about my religious beliefs and right now I am unsure whether I am a monotheist or a polytheist. Or both. Or neither. Allow me to explain myself:
"
I believe in a self-existent unmoved mover which I call The Supreme Being. I don't like to call it God although it roughly corresponds to the Deist notion of "God"

For me it answers the important question of “why is there something rather than nothing?”

To me it provides an answer to that question but not much of an explanation...

It does little apart from this

It is a God of gaps and there is only one of it

If someone were to come up with a better explanation then I'd be all ears and may even drop the notion, but the idea of a self-existent unmoved mover makes sense to me even though there is zero evidence to support it

So in that sense I am a monotheist

However, I believe that the dimension of reality that I’m in now – and that you’re in too – was created by beings who are higher than us whom I think of as being called The Gods

(just to note, I don’t think this was done by computers, I categorically do not believe in simulation theory)

I believe that The Gods arose naturally from the existence that was caused by The Supreme Being and that they eventually created us, and provided us with our own existence but that the way they actually did this cannot be fathomed by any puny human mind

According to my beliefs The Gods created us. And sustain us. And when the time comes they will bring about the end of us...

(I think the word "destroy" would be a bit harsh)

I believe that The Gods have vast powers over us, so much so it is sensible for us to call them Gods – the relationship between we humans and those beings is the same as the relationship between any creature you’d care to mention any God or Gods you might care to imagine

So in that sense I am a polytheist as to me there is a multitude of Gods

So…… am I a polytheist or a monotheist? Or neither? Or both?

I would be interested to hear what people think

These are my thoughts: I believe in a single deity and a multitude of Gods

I like the fact that you reflect about this and think for yourself.

 

[mangalavara]

I don't know and I don't think anyone could ever really know

I mean it would look the same to someone in it whether it was linear or cyclical so how would it be possible to tell?

You are right that we could never know, at least not with absolute certainty. However, when one looks at how everything around us in the natural world is cyclical—sunrise to sunrise, full moon to full moon, spring to spring, how precipitation occurs, and so on—one might see it all as a hint that the universe itself is cyclical: it has been originated innumerable times, sustained innumerable times, and dissolved innumerable times. This is my view, at least.

 

[Eddi]

You are right that we could never know, at least not with absolute certainty. However, when one looks at how everything around us in the natural world is cyclical—sunrise to sunrise, full moon to full moon, spring to spring, how precipitation occurs, and so on—one might see it all as a hint that the universe itself is cyclical: it has been originated innumerable times, sustained innumerable times, and dissolved innumerable times. This is my view, at least.

I agree that time being cyclical is a plausible hypothesis and I think there is a very strong chance that it is

However, I'm going to stick with "I don't know" for the time being!