Polytheism and the Roles of Cooperation and Diversity

Polytheism and the Roles of Cooperation and Diversity
June 20, 2006

I could write a book on this. At the very least I refer you to Benoist's 'On Being a Pagan'. Meanwhile, these are some raw ideas I am having this morning, which I hope to later go into in greater depth. So I was thinking about neo-paganism, and how it must work in today's time. Learning to understand the polytheistic mind is healing after the violence done to us by monotheism.

It is quite natural for neo-pagans to pick a favorite deity. But too often, that favorite is called forth into a strange land, bereft of her other deity companions. Her role is relative to the whole, and supports the balance. If the neo pagan doesn't study the pantheon from which his favorite comes, they won't understand why they are not getting the best benefit from their deity.

Set, apart from the team in which he belongs, and not able to do the duties for which he is best called to do, does become a 'devil'. There is the principle of Ma'at, of balance, in which he and every other deity (yes that which is divine in ourselves, too) operates. The monotheistic principle of 'there can be only one' has been the cause of so many wars simply because those that seek such a principle do not value the principle of cooperation. They also do not understand the principle of diversity, in which we are not all the same. How can they? If the gods are not all the same, if they have differing strengths and weakness, then it is more natural for us to understand and appreciate how humans have differing strengths and weaknesses. It is more natural for us to understand how we as human beings must come together with our differing strengths and weaknesses to form a community. It is more natural for us to understand how other human beings, on the other side of the river, could come together and form a community different than ours, with differing gods. Everything is unique. Everything is interrelated.