Why Do Pagans Worship Deities? (beliefs, religions, divine, paganism)

[Willamena]

Originally Posted by Mike182

my thoughts are that the pagan deities are nature personified, many deities are centerd around the harvest, food and drink, birth, animals, the elements, death, fighting etc.

a deity that personifies a certain point of nature makes nature easier to learn from, in my oppinion.

Just so. Belief is in the thing the deity represents, not the deity itself.

[Draka]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

Why do Pagans worship deities? Why not just worship nature and learn from it, rather than worship deities? Isn't worshipping deities just adding an unnecessary ontological layer to an otherwise beautiful sensitivity to, and reverence of, nature? Shouldn't Pagans just cut out the middlemen and middlewomen (i.e. the deities) and just get straight to the point by worshipping nature? Just curious.

In my opinion, which may or may not be shared by other pagans, we don't "worship" nature. We give respect and acknowledgement to it. We revere it as the expression and sanctity of Divine, but we do not literally "worship" a blade of grass or a flower or whatnot. As for deities, we all seem to veiw them differently. I, myself, veiw deities as our interpretations of aspects of the whole Divine. By breaking down all the aspects of life and envisioning them in separate beings, it gives us the ability to concentrate and focus more on what it is we are praying for or trying to accomplish. It is a respectful way of simplifying that which we cannot possibly understand fully in order to have at least some grasp on our spirituality.

Why would one "worship" nature anyway? Why "worship" the air or the water or the plant on my stand? Makes no sense. We give reverence to nature as part of Divine, that is it.

[kreeden]

I'm not sure if I would be considered as being a Pagan or not by most . No matter . But personally I do not worshop Nature neither . Nature is the manifestation of the Creator . As such , I respect it .

[Enigmata]

Originally Posted by Draka

In my opinion, which may or may not be shared by other pagans, we don't "worship" nature. We give respect and acknowledgement to it. We revere it as the expression and sanctity of Divine, but we do not literally "worship" a blade of grass or a flower or whatnot. As for deities, we all seem to veiw them differently. I, myself, veiw deities as our interpretations of aspects of the whole Divine. By breaking down all the aspects of life and envisioning them in separate beings, it gives us the ability to concentrate and focus more on what it is we are praying for or trying to accomplish. It is a respectful way of simplifying that which we cannot possibly understand fully in order to have at least some grasp on our spirituality.

Why would one "worship" nature anyway? Why "worship" the air or the water or the plant on my stand? Makes no sense. We give reverence to nature as part of Divine, that is it.

One would worship nature because that is what one believes. Like I stated before, I worship nature because nature and deity are one and the same to me. I have no problem with and feel quite comfortable with showing a religious reverence and a great love and admiration to nature which is basically the definition of worship. That makes sense to me.

[Radio Frequency X]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

Why do Pagans worship deities? Why not just worship nature and learn from it, rather than worship deities? Isn't worshipping deities just adding an unnecessary ontological layer to an otherwise beautiful sensitivity to, and reverence of, nature? Shouldn't Pagans just cut out the middlemen and middlewomen (i.e. the deities) and just get straight to the point by worshipping nature? Just curious.

It really depends. For most people, they have grown up with the idea of divinity planted firmly in their minds and they can't really give it up. They see divinity in the world, they just see it in the form of many gods. Most agnostic pagans, like myself, don't really worship anything. We view the gods superstitiously, and, speaking for myself, view them as something I have an acquaintanceship with (mostly through their personification, which is a way of relating to these ideas). Most of us (agnostic pagans) use words like "revere", "respect", "admire", "consider", and so forth. Without knowledge of the gods, there is no way to believe in them, but the thought of them as existing is alluring in itself. While it is unnecessary, it is not necessarily unproductive.

[bigvindaloo]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

Why do Pagans worship deities? Why not just worship nature and learn from it, rather than worship deities? Isn't worshipping deities just adding an unnecessary ontological layer to an otherwise beautiful sensitivity to, and reverence of, nature? Shouldn't Pagans just cut out the middlemen and middlewomen (i.e. the deities) and just get straight to the point by worshipping nature? Just curious.

Isn't it in the nature of religious concepts (and all concepts for that matter) that we require a description of what we belief in order to be able to communicate it to ourselves and others? Just a thought on the "unnecessary ontological layer" you refer to./Even direct worship of nature requires some form of defined deity to worship.

[pandamonk]

I just had a thought: If these deity are the personification of nature, then is there a evolutionary deity? And if not, can you create one?

[Radio Frequency X]

Originally Posted by pandamonk

I just had a thought: If these deity are the personification of nature, then is there a evolutionary deity? And if not, can you create one?

dieties are created, they are infered and named. If you believe there is something in evolution that should be personified and worshiped, name it.

[Vigdisdotter]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

Why do Pagans worship deities? Why not just worship nature and learn from it, rather than worship deities?

Not all pagan are of an earth based spirituality. I'm not. I don't' see nature as divine. I see it as my planet, my home, something to be taken care of and cherished, but not as "Gaia" or some such.

I "worship" deities, because they are part of my life.

[Shrimpy]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

Why do Pagans worship deities? Why not just worship nature and learn from it, rather than worship deities? Isn't worshipping deities just adding an unnecessary ontological layer to an otherwise beautiful sensitivity to, and reverence of, nature? Shouldn't Pagans just cut out the middlemen and middlewomen (i.e. the deities) and just get straight to the point by worshipping nature? Just curious.

I can't speak for other pagans, but I'll give you my 2 pennies worth.

Not all pagan religions are earth-centric and thus not all pagans would want to worship nature or see it as a great teacher. I don't worship nature; I respect it, I look after it because it is my home and because I don' s*** where I sleep. =)

Deities on the other hand are honoured and revered because they are part of my life, because I know them, because they are friends and family and because they have some important lessons for me, which I honestly don't think just watching and "worshipping" nature would teach me.