God is many things to many different people. It is a father, an authoritarian force, or just nonexistent. To me, "God" is actually Goddess. She is the Mother of all and is composed of both feminine and masculine energies, the former being greater. Though she isn't all powerful or all knowing she is the most powerful being in every universe. She is here for comfort, support, and guidance. Her children are minor deities, humans, animals, and plants as well as other supernatural entities. She is both the whole of the universe and the personification of it. She resides in every one of us.
Unfortunately, many reject her and follow religions of a domineering masculine god who sends people to eternal damnation. The Great Goddess is forgotten and those of us who follow Her are condemned. I could respect your god if it didn't force people to worship it. Nothing about that felt right with me so I'm told my life will never be complete because I "walked away from God." Well that's just not true. I didn't walk away. I grew up and realized that I don't believe in what I was taught. I knew no other path because my parents decided it for me from birth. When I hit a certain age I became my own person with my own beliefs so "walking away from God" as if I had ever walked towards him voluntarily is bullshit. Now some people raised in the church stay in the church and that's fine. They reach a certain age and know that the things they were taught are their own beliefs. What isn't fine is when people start judging people like me. Pagans, witches, spiritualists, polytheists, etc.
Growing up I thought "pagan" and "atheist" were profane words. I thought the devil was actively trying to harm me as if it were a person. My parents had me yelling out in the middle of the night at Satan when I had a bad dream. Now I just see the bad in life as an evil force that is naturally part of the universe that acts on our lives. We can't escape it but we can try to be our best selves and respond to it in a more meaningful way.
This isn't to bash organized religion. I'm just over the hypocrisy, bigotry, and ignorance so many religious people have. I wish I was taught that it's okay to be pagan because I'm afraid to be myself in my own house. I'm afraid to even light a candle, do yoga, or meditate! Because my folks think Eastern religions (where yoga and meditation are more common) are somehow inferior. Maybe I'm worshipping the devil!
I need people to see that any spiritual or religious belief someone has is okay. Wiccans? Awesome. Hindus? Beautiful. Jews? Cool. Satanists? Lit. Kids should be taught they're all beautiful even with their flaws (all beliefs of lack thereof are "flawed" somehow) as long as people are respecting and loving one another. Who is God? There is no definite answer because we are all different with various world perspectives. Why try to convince someone who you believe God to be even though they perceive divinity in another way? God may be the Great Goddess (among many other names throughout different cultures) to me but it may just be a force that created the world and disappeared to another.
Comments