Desert Snake
Veteran Member
O.k., an idea from another thread. Present your polytheistic religious experiences if you think they're credible.
-
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:- Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
- Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
- Access to private conversations with other members.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
Your polytheistic religious experiences.
- Thread starter Desert Snake
- Start date
I'd be more inclined to respond if that word "credible" wasn't thrown in there. I don't give a flying flip whether or not other people think my religious experiences are "credible." Kind of like how I don't give a flying flip if you think my personal relationships are "credible" or if my lifestyle is "credible" or if my favorite color is "credible."
Desert Snake
Veteran Member
Credible to whom? What's the yardstick for measuring credibility?
I second what Quintessence said, but I would also like to add that, there is a reason why Pagan religions are considered Experiential (which I mentioned in another thread to you). What this means is, this is a path that must be walked, not talked.
Oh, we can do talking too. But this one is not so much interested in doing this for the purpose of being "credible" or convincing to others. I am a terrible politician.
Desert Snake
Veteran Member
Guess...
No, it means credible to you. I was asking the question in a 'serious' manner. Bad assumption.
I judge my own perceptions pretty harshly, that's probably not average.
Desert Snake
Veteran Member
So what. I already know that. You already said it. I already knew that before you said it. Anything else?
Should I change it to non-credible? Seriously, was there any wording that would have made you happy?
Last edited:
Kinda, I think it is more felt and experienced. I mean, yes, I can talk about all of the things that I have experienced, but i don't expect those things to be "credible" to anyone beside myself. I mean, should it be credible to someone else?
Desert Snake
Veteran Member
Kinda, I think it is more felt and experienced. I mean, yes, I can talk about all of the things that I have experienced, but i don't expect those things to be "credible" to anyone beside myself. I mean, should it be credible to someone else?
Lol Idk, perhaps.
I don't believe that you did not have an agenda here. Not after everything else I have read from you today.
Now, if I am making an incorrect assumption, then fine, I will admit it is incorrect. With that being said, maybe you should fix your wording some, so you don't come off so condescending.
OK, I think I get it. 'Credible' as in "do I think they're worthy of discussion, or important enough to discuss".
I've had some experiences that I attribute to divine help or intervention, but it's nothing overt. Though I've had help come in different forms at different times when I desperately needed it, but didn't expect it. In fact, it came when I completely despaired of any kind of help. They're the sort of things that people blow off as imagination or coincidence. But I don't believe in coincidence, and while it's true I do have a fertile imagination, some things that happen cannot be imagined up. So, I attribute these things to the doings of the gods.
Desert Snake
Veteran Member
Ironically it isn't worded condescendingly lol.
Desert Snake
Veteran Member
but, how do you know which gods. How do you know it's Thor drawing you to him.
"Present your experiences, if you think they are credible" sounds condescending to me. But again, this is based on perception, which varies between the individual, and I don't feel like debating semantics, any more than you probably do.
Anyways, I will bite:
My experiences of the divine mostly centers around feelings, emotions, and thoughts that occur when in a natural setting such as a forest. I can feel the life that ebbs, and flows through it, sense the divinity of a stream, and thankfulness of a tree that I have picked the trash up around.
I have also had a few incidences revolving around some mild intervention. Typically, comfort during trying times, like having a crow walk with me outside while I head to work. Little things that I take notice of. Nothing is blazingly in your face.
Anyways, I will bite:
My experiences of the divine mostly centers around feelings, emotions, and thoughts that occur when in a natural setting such as a forest. I can feel the life that ebbs, and flows through it, sense the divinity of a stream, and thankfulness of a tree that I have picked the trash up around.
I have also had a few incidences revolving around some mild intervention. Typically, comfort during trying times, like having a crow walk with me outside while I head to work. Little things that I take notice of. Nothing is blazingly in your face.
Ah! There's the rub. It's something I brought up at another site, asking that very question... how do I know which god(dess) helped me? I really don't know. I don't know if there is any way to know for sure. Though I feel as if Lakshmi has been behind some of it. For all I know, it could have been Frigga, the All-Mother who just put on the appearance of Lakshmi, because at the time I was trying to be Hindu. As far as any deity calling to you or calling you to them, that's something I think you feel. I felt a great yank by Thor that I never felt with Krishna or Rama or any Hindu deity. Thor feels personal in a way no other deity has... there is some sort of connection.
Desert Snake
Veteran Member
This makes sense, so I assume you would think that other people chose their deities the same way?
I mean people who weren't 'forced' or something to believe in a deity, though that sounds a tad far fetched.
I'd like to remark that often times, the Pagan (or polytheist if you prefer) doesn't choose their gods, the gods choose them. Mine had chosen me a long time ago, but I didn't have the ears to listen. I'd been taught "that's not God" as there were no other "real" gods but God. The gods of Greek mythology were "just stories." Likewise, the idea of non-personified aspects of reality being gods (worshiping the sun as opposed to the sun understood mythopetically as Helios, for example) was completely off my radar.
Desert Snake
Veteran Member
I have a difficult time seeing certain gods/goddesses as real. No idea why, may be they seem to much like 'characters' from a story. I read about some temple to a deity and I think, 'people believed that?!
I guess it's just an individual thing.
I think being drawn to a deity is either a gradual or very sudden process. I knew Thor from years ago. I just considered him an awesome kind of hero figure. When I started playing guitar, I put a picture of Saraswati near my music area. I felt that my playing and learning increased exponentially. Little by little I was drawn more into the Hindu pantheon. But as time went on, I began to fall out of love with it, and Thor became uppermost in my thoughts. This became particularly prominent after I bought a replica of the Eyrarland Statue (an ancient statue of Thor found in Iceland, dated to about 1000 CE). It really got under my skin, as one of the Asatru members here can attest to (if he wants to
). Things fell into place rapidly only when I dismantled my Hindu shrine and enshrined my statue of Thor. The Hindu deities, and I mean no disrespect, were a "stepping stone" back into theism after a long period of agnostic deism. Why the Hindu and not Norse or Celtic or Egyptian deities to begin with? Beats the heck out of me, except for the possible explanation that I've always found India and Indian culture fascinating.