What is your higher power?

[Spiderman]

Whatever you desire most is your higher power.

Napoleon believed he had a lucky star. He lost the Battle of Waterloo. Unlike other battles, he didn't trust in his lucky star prior to the battle.

Perhaps if he trusted in his lucky star he would have won.

Your higher power can be the sunshine, because no plant or animal could survive without the Sun being in the right place.

Your higher power can be erotic dancing girls.

What is your higher power?

 

[Spiderman]

In the title, "I" is supposed to be "is".

May Ahmad fix that?

 

[LuisDantas]

What characterizes a higher power?

Is part of the definition the idea that there is just one?

If there is only one, how, when or why does it change? Is it a function of time or of the person conceiving that idea? Can it be? Should it?

 

[Cacotopia]

bobs and vagene

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Whatever you desire most is your higher power.

Napoleon believed he had a lucky star. He lost the Battle of Waterloo. Unlike other battles, he didn't trust in his lucky star prior to the battle.

Perhaps if he trusted in his lucky star he would have won.

Your higher power can be the sunshine, because no plant or animal could survive without the Sun being in the right place.

Your higher power can be erotic dancing girls.

What is your higher power?

Haha. Erotic dancing girls. Ha.

I dont think higher is the best way to phrase the passion I have for art. There's no hierarchy in art. No greater. No higher. It's pure communication in all mediums. Pure expression. To make it fancy, we are one.

Making it higher sounds more egoish. I was never a fan of needing success and competition to live. Actually, I adopted dropped to a minimalist lifestyle because of it. I don't have much so it's easier than I thought.

Anyway, what else. I can't go a day without my phone. How's those apples?

 

[Jumi]

Peace on earth and goodwill between mankind? Doesn't sound like a higher power as much as a futile wish though.

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

I believe that a fundamental reality of our universe is that nothing is objectively greater/"higher" than anything else. Power is an illusion that is only applied in extremely subjective/biased situations.

 

[Woberts]

The Flying Spaghetti Monster and his distant cousin, Cthulhu.

 

[Quintessence]

Higher power(s) (plural).

Everything.

 

[Spiderman]

What characterizes a higher power?

Is part of the definition the idea that there is just one?

If there is only one, how, when or why does it change? Is it a function of time or of the person conceiving that idea? Can it be? Should it?

I'm speaking of something that is greater than yourself.

No, there is not just one.

I'm not saying that it changes.

I can't tell how to answer the final three questions.

 

[LuisDantas]

I'm speaking of something that is greater than yourself.

Sorry, Pope, but that is not really much of a description. Something is clearly missing.

Do you mean "greater" by which measure? Dignity? Self-sustenance? Sense of purpose? Some combination of those?

How likely it is that such a concept applies to any specific person?



It seems to me that the idea of a Higher Power is fairly arbitrary and at least in part an extension and/or a justification of the belief in an Abrahamic-style deity. It seems to imply that some form of deference or reverence would be fitting, even necessary.

There are definitely situations where such an atittude would make sense, for various reasons. But I think that it is premature to declare that they will exist always. Or even that all people will have such a need.

 

[Spiderman]

Sorry, Pope, but that is not really much of a description. Something is clearly missing.

Do you mean "greater" by which measure? Dignity? Self-sustenance? Sense of purpose? Some combination of those?

How likely it is that such a concept applies to any specific person?



It seems to me that the idea of a Higher Power is fairly arbitrary and at least in part an extension and/or a justification of the belief in an Abrahamic-style deity. It seems to imply that some form of deference or reverence would be fitting, even necessary.

There are definitely situations where such an atittude would make sense, for various reasons. But I think that it is premature to declare that they will exist always. Or even that all people will have such a need.

surely there is something in your life that you focus on more than anything else and that delights you more than anything else?

 

[Jainarayan]

The gods.

 

[Spiderman]

The gods.

Which ones are you devoted to?

 

[LuisDantas]

Going by the perspective of seeking purpose, it seems to me that instead of a believe in a Higher Power as such it can be more functional and reasonable to develop a taste for finding and dealing with opportunities of healing and growth.

Sure, some people see fit to represent those opportunities in some specific concept or personage. But that is not always the best choice.

 

[Spiderman]

Going by the perspective of seeking purpose, it seems to me that instead of a believe in a Higher Power as such it can be more functional and reasonable to develop a taste for finding and dealing with opportunities of healing and growth.

Sure, some people see fit to represent those opportunities in some specific concept or personage. But that is not always the best choice.

Ok.

I figured there was something in life that you love more than anything else.

Yes, it could be multiple different objects of your love and devotion.

 

[LuisDantas]

surely there is something in your life that you focus on more than anything else and that delights you more than anything else?

Probably not one such thing, and I doubt that it is very stable.

There are many things that inspire me, and I feel a degree of responsibility for many of those. To some that is a necessary part of the connection, even. Submission is an attitude that does not fit well with me; it has been forced upon me far too often in far too disrespectful ways.

Most of those inspirations that work for me connect to family values and roles in some way. More specifically, they connect to the means by which to bulid and nurture those, and the way in which true renounce literally sacralizes actions and feelings. It can be very sacred indeed to let go of something because it will make a real difference for a loved one.


In a more abstract and conventionally religious form, those would include Shakti of Hinduism, Isis of Egyptian myth, Kuan Yin of Chinese Buddhism, Kannon of Japanese Buddhism.

On a more concrete and personal form, those would be the moments in which people who know me show effective acceptance and I decide to reach them back.

 

[Salvador]

Steroids and weight lifting are my higher power, because they make me strong and more physically fit than most.

 

[Jainarayan]

Which ones are you devoted to?

My ishta-devata (personal, first-favorite form of God) is Vishnu in his Krishna avatar. The other deities I feel closest to (though I pray to and partake in worship of most of them at some time or another) are Ganesha, Hanuman, Saraswati, Shiva, Durga, Subramanya (aka Murugan aka Kartikeya), Ayyappa, Lakshmi, and other avatars of Vishnu, particularly Narasimha, Dhanvantari, and Rama. Each of them is an aspect of myself that I ask for help with, or can relate to, or is part of me in some way or another. It makes for a merry gathering.

 

[LuisDantas]

My ishta-devata (personal, first-favorite form of God) is Vishnu in his Krishna avatar. The other deities I feel closest to (though I pray to and partake in worship of most of them at some time or another) are Ganesha, Hanuman, Saraswati, Shiva, Durga, Subramanya (aka Murugan aka Kartikeya), Ayyappa, Lakshmi, and other avatars of Vishnu, particularly Narasimha, Dhanvantari, and Rama. Each of them is an aspect of myself that I ask for help with, or can relate to, or is part of me in some way or another. It makes for a merry gathering.

Does "Devata" roughly translate as "favorite"?

There is a Portuguese word with a meaning somewhat between those two. "Devoto".