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

[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.

[Enigmata]

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.

That is a great question Sunstone. I do worship nature. For me it is the fastest way to the All. While communing with the trees I cannot help but feel the divine force running through all of nature. So i guess that in a round about sort of way nature is the middle man even though to me, nature and deity are one and the same.

[pandamonk]

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.

Seeing as paganism is an old religion, then they probably thought that deities controlled nature(seeing as they had no other way of understand it)when it started, and the beliefs of the first pagans have, I'm guessing, carried on to the present day.

[kateyes]

Originally Posted by pandamonk

Seeing as paganism is an old religion, then they probably thought that deities controlled nature(seeing as they had no other way of understand it)when it started, and the beliefs of the first pagans have, I'm guessing, carried on to the present day.

I would tend to agree with this explanation--the early pagans created the dieties to explain the parts of nature they didn't understand.

[Enigmata]

Originally Posted by kateyes

I would tend to agree with this explanation--the early pagans created the dieties to explain the parts of nature they didn't understand.

How would you explain it now that we do understand?

[Mike182]

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.

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.

[Fluffy]

I personally do not worship my deities since they do not require it of me. Similarly I do not worship nature either.

The emphasis of my religion is self improvement with the objective of ending suffering. I guess you could say that the only worship involved is of the self. Nature is only as important as the part it plays in the objective.

Seeing as paganism is an old religion

Paganism is a collection of religions some of which are ancient, some of which are modern and most of which are somewhere inbetween.

[Zephyr]

Depending on who you ask I may or may not be a pagan. (Some people take issue with grouping heathens with pagans)

I don't worship my dieties. I don't worship nature. I don't worship anything. I look at the gods like friends and aquantances who may have some valuable lessons for me.

Hell, even then I don't take them literally. They were how my ancestors viewed things.

[pandamonk]

Originally Posted by daddy_turk

How would you explain it now that we do understand?

That the pagans nowadays trust in the beliefs of their ancestors. They can that natural events or caused by these gods. I don't know, I'm just offering suggestions on what might happen. I was only pagan for a very short while, and not enough to learn all that much.