The End of the Father

[Random]

A man must grow out of his parents stewardship and move on, taking responsibility for his own life and living beyond the authority of his mother and father. This is how it is in real life.

But in religion, it seems, we can never escape the Father. GOD is perpetually the dominating Father whose rules are immutable and eternally binding (sayeth the Book and its Churches). He will never, cannot ever, let the Son or Daughter go his and her own way: transcending His authority and making themselves creators also.

The Father refuses to let go of us and we who choose to believe refuse to let go of Him: yet the time has come to move on now, so that Man will no longer be bound by divine parents of any kind, neither mother (Goddess) nor Father (GOD)...

So are you prepared to stand alone by your own power and seague your soul from the authority of the Father? Hasn't the time come to show that we have grown up and are ready to be our own authorities?

 

[MaddLlama]

So are you prepared to stand alone by your own power and seague your soul from the authority of the Father? Hasn't the time come to show that we have grown up and are ready to be our own authorities?

I don't consider the Gods I worship to have such an authoritarian attitude, so I suppose I already have done that.

 

[Willamena]

Perhaps there is no need to let go, if both "mother" and "Father" are us.

 

[Wandered Off]

I'm not at all convinced the "father" image was ever an accurate analogy anyway.

 

[Random]

Perhaps there is no need to let go, if both "mother" and "Father" are us.

But psychologically, isn't it important for the human race @ this juncture to let go of the repressive, authoritarian Father-GOD figure and embrance the uncertainity of self-sufficiency (for want of a better term for it...)?

 

[Random]

I'm not at all convinced the "father" image was ever an accurate analogy anyway.

I have always disliked the analogy of "Father" as pertains to GOD and found it offputting, but for the simple rustic pagan people who might consider some god in the mould of Zeus to be the Supreme God, it made sense for Christians to call their GOD "Father"...

 

[Random]

I don't consider the Gods I worship to have such an authoritarian attitude, so I suppose I already have done that.

Okay, but what god constitutes a pagan's Supreme God? Is it not a Father-God in the mould of Zeus, Odin, Ra or whatever?

 

[Storm]

Okay, but what god constitutes a pagan's Supreme God? Is it not a Father-God in the mould of Zeus, Odin, Ra or whatever?

Many pagans don't believe in a Supreme God. Of those who do, most (imx) acknowledge the God and Goddess as equals, and the few that take a less balanced approach declare the Goddess supreme.

I'm not going to say that no pagans believe in a male supreme God - they're much too diverse for such generalizations - but I have never met one, even online.

Note: patron deities are not the same as a Supreme deity.

 

[Willamena]

But psychologically, isn't it important for the human race @ this juncture to let go of the repressive, authoritarian Father-GOD figure and embrance the uncertainity of self-sufficiency (for want of a better term for it...)?

I can agree it is important to let go the images, yes, but something should replace them.

Edit: Other, more useful images should replace them.

 

[Runt]

A man must grow out of his parents stewardship and move on, taking responsibility for his own life and living beyond the authority of his mother and father. This is how it is in real life.

But in religion, it seems, we can never escape the Father. GOD is perpetually the dominating Father whose rules are immutable and eternally binding (sayeth the Book and its Churches). He will never, cannot ever, let the Son or Daughter go his and her own way: transcending His authority and making themselves creators also.

In real life we become adults and equals to our parents. In spiritual life we generally seem to remain far less than God, mere children who must constantly be guided and corrected.

 

[Buttercup]

I can agree it is important to let go the images, yes, but something should replace them.

Edit: Other, more useful images should replace them.

Why should anything replace them?

 

[Willamena]

Why should anything replace them?

Do you recall me saying (often) that everything is appearances? We live in a world of images (constructs of imagination) presented to us as perception/thoughts. If no other image replaces one "lost," then we're left with literally nothing --nothing to perceive, nothing to think about --no "thing."

We're reduced God to non-existence.

 

[Buttercup]

Do you recall me saying (often) that everything is appearances? We live in a world of images (constructs of imagination) presented to us as perception/thoughts. If no other image replaces one "lost," then we're left with literally nothing --nothing to perceive, nothing to think about --no "thing."

I have nothing at the moment to replace the "images" of Christianity and I don't feel lost at all. I feel liberated.

We're reduced God to non-existence.

I think there are millions who are happy and secure with their image-less atheism.

 

[Willamena]

I have nothing at the moment to replace the "images" of Christianity and I don't feel lost at all. I feel liberated.

I think there are millions who are happy and secure with their image-less atheism.

The way I picture it, the atheist is not image-less in regards to God. Atheist being image-less of God is not a bad thing, it's just an impossible thing.

The person who has never heard or conceived of God or a God-like thing is imageless, and they are also not atheist; but as soon as God is introduced as a "thing," they acquire an image, even if the image is only "word that means something called 'God' to someone else."

 

[Buttercup]

The way I picture it, the atheist is not image-less in regards to God. Atheist being image-less of God is not a bad thing, it's just an impossible thing.

I understand you in principle but really it's meaningless to the atheist. I don't mean any disrespect however. You simply have much more of a mystical bent than me.

 

[YmirGF]

So are you prepared to stand alone by your own power and seague your soul from the authority of the Father? Hasn't the time come to show that we have grown up and are ready to be our own authorities?

Hiya Conor, I have to admit I have already done what you recommend and I did it over 25 years ago. I have a distinctly non-religious view of "god" and have never found my experience stunted by this view. In fact, that is when the lid came off of my understanding. Now I simply use the word "god" so that others will understand (partially at least) what I am babbling about. I cannot really describe my current view of God as it is well beyond the realm of concepts and symbols. Oddly one can learn to "touch" this vision of God but one must remove many preconceptions before the image resolves itself.

Physical designations have little meaning in this light and view of reality and it simply would not occur to me to call "it" father or mother, although mother is the more appropriate term.

Quite honestly, the grass is greener where I am and if folks could determine what on earth I was getting at they would crawl of fields of broken glass to understand what I already live.

 

[Buttercup]

Quite honestly, the grass is greener where I am and if folks could determine what on earth I was getting at they would crawl of fields of broken glass to understand what I already live.

Ahhh, my darling Paul....therein lies a minor problem. We want everyone to find/create/discover their own place of nirvana. I don't want yours.

 

[MaddLlama]

Okay, but what god constitutes a pagan's Supreme God? Is it not a Father-God in the mould of Zeus, Odin, Ra or whatever?

It depends on whether they are polytheistic, monotheistic or duotheistic (or even theistic at all). For most Polytheists, even Gods who are supposedly the head of the pantheon are not "Supreme Gods", and a vast majority of them don't fit into the "mother-father" mold unless forced into it.

I'm afraid that no matter how you slice it, your OP simply doesn't apply to Pagans, and probably only applies to certain shallow-minded people in Abrahamic-faiths.

 

[YmirGF]

Ahhh, my darling Paul....therein lies a minor problem. We want everyone to find/create/discover their own place of nirvana. I don't want yours.

And that my dear Rhonda is precisely what I am trying to tell people. Don't listen to me... listen to the whisper of eternity that resides just below your thoughts and you will find something... dare I say it... magical... Surely you would never regret the effort taken to get There. :yes:

 

[Random]

I'm afraid that no matter how you slice it, your OP simply doesn't apply to Pagans, and probably only applies to certain shallow-minded people in Abrahamic-faiths.

You've missed the point of the thread: please don't insult me and the others who've responded kindly by denigrating it.