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What Gods/Spirits do you enjoy invoking the most (which seem to excite and invigorate you)?

I think @DagonVarunaMitraApolloZan could. Hasn't been online in a little while, though. :)

Just off the top of my head:
Tezcatlipoca *
Odin *
El Shaddai *
Apollo / Aplu / Apollyon *
Shiva *
God *
Allah *
Lord *
Rab (Rub) *
Master *
Adonai
Dagon / Dagan *
El *
Yam *
Lotan *
Mot
Hades
Tlaloc
Chac
Hurakan
Deus
Mundus *
Devil *
Mara *
Prajapati *
Avalokitesvara *
Vairocana *
Amitabha *
Amenominakanushi
Takeminakata *
Amatsu Mikaboshi *
Takami Musubi No Kami
Myoken *
Aias / Aiah (Ajax) *
Bal / Balor / Balgyr *
Saexneat
Thunear / Thuner / Thunor / Thor
Mars
Hermes / Mercury *
Attar / Attar Shariqan / 'ttr *
Og *
Jiljames
Melkor
Tzeentch *
Nergal *
Malik / Mlk *
Rahman / Rimmon / Rmn *
Ghira / Ghirahim *
Loki / Loptr *
Ahriman / Angra Mainyu *
Ahura Mazda / Mazda / Ahura *
Asura / Asurendra *
Brahman *
Vayu *
Satan
Fafnir *
Repha / Rephaim
Dan / Dan El
Zan
Zeus / Jupiter Optimus Maximus *
Omnium Deus Regnator
Hypsistos
Theos
Daimone
Hakim
Lucifer *
Beelzebub / Lord of the Flies *
Chaos *
Kronus *
Amun / Amun-Ra *
Osiris
Sutekh / Set / Seth *
Amon *
Mitra
Varuna
Vac
Wyrd
Word / Logos / Command
Manitou / Gitche Manitou
Mishi-Ginabig *
Mishi-Bizi *
Comazotz *
Coyote *
Raven God *
Ocelotl
Erlik *
Ursa
Tengri *
Shangdi *
Tao
Tai-Ji *
 
Mother believes in spirits and says she saw spirits (and sees). She relay experiences with her friend, co-worker, real estate lady, and my father who all have some sort of witness (unfortunately, it skipped over me). We've always had some sort of belief in deceased loved ones. I actually didn't know leaving food at one's grave was not a universal thing. I wasn't taught these things, they just came natural.

I don't know what happens to people when they die and if they experience anything once they've died. It's always been what I've experienced and interpret from that experience. Since I haven't seen spirits before, I don't know.



Oooh. I do that when I visit my relatives at the cemetery. Usually through dialogue, music, and such. No gods or anything like that.



To be truly honest, that sounds weird in my ears. Even more so than I'm used to hearing when christians pray to invoke god and the holy spirit. Their definitions aren't entities in the sense Zues and Athena are. Ajax? Arioch? Who are they?



I can't pronounce any of those. Ha.



Are you focused more value on the names regardless if the person exists or do you believe Ordin exists and invoke him by his name?

I believe Odin exists, is not a man or humanoid like depictions, but is a name of God meaning "Fury" or "Inspiration" and referring to God's power of inspiring and bringing knowledge or inspiration to people, particularly in the realm of spiritual knowledge, language, poetry, all that stuff, as well as strategy, even chaotic sorts of luck. So Odin is just God being referred to by the name Odin which brings to mind and calls out to certain aspects or powers of God / Nature / The Reality / The All / The Ultimate Power (the way I use it).

So entirely real, the thing I credit as making any sort of experience, like my seeing leaves blowing in the wind and where they end up falling, which others might call luck, I might call by any of these names. If I bring certain names to mind, they may be associated with certain themes or ideas attached to them, for example Arioch is a name in the Bible which is used to refer to a certain Ancient King, and Balaam is another name I use or Mephistopheles, but these are not meant to refer to human beings or characters from stories, but I use Arioch to refer to certain qualities and powers of God, same as Balaam, which the stories and other uses of these names by people and in reference to characters may partially also bring to mind but they are meaning people by them, I am using them for their meanings, references, and other stuff, like Balaam can be used to refer to certain destructive powers, or Amalek even or Rahab for aquatic types of associations and other things.

Great questions! I might give you more on this a little later when I come back online, its 11:11 PM here and I'm trying to adjust my sleeping schedule for earlier and earlier sleeps!
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
Though I am a strong atheist, but my vote goes to Lord Rama in Hinduism, who is supposed to be the epitome of righteousness - "Maryada Puushottam" (One who always valued his duties and limits).

lordram.jpg
 

Saint Frankenstein

Gone
Premium Member
How did you get into each of these and what are some of the things you think of when you bring them to mind? Have you had special things seemingly occur which you credit to certain names being used? How many years have you been at it? Was it difficult or were there issues or hesitations before trying them out, and what were the first ones you tried? I bet there is a lot of cool information and story background as to how you became interested in and attracted to each or how they came up to you. When I was very young, Athena was pretty prominent, but Apollo has been dominant now for a long time in a more direct spiritual way as a name I use and worship specifically, whereas Athena has always come up since childhood and I have lots of things that I connect back to the themes related to Athena. There was a drawing in some book when I was little that was of Athena I think, and I was really fond of that drawing and said I'd like to be married to someone with that sort of appearance, so that is kind of interesting too, married to Wisdom and all the things that Athena is associated with.
Classical Greek mythology was the first mythology (I count the Bible as mythology) I really loved as a child. I was always checking out Mythology by Edith Hamilton from the school library. I've studied and explored many different religious paths but I keep coming back to Hellenic polytheism and the Olympian Gods. It's not something I chose. So it's something that I've been involved in for years, off and on.

I've had my spiritual experiences with the Gods, especially Zeus and Athena. I've had dreams of them and felt their presence before.

For the record, I don't "use" the Gods or "work with" them. That's more of a ceremonial magick approach that I find disrespectful. I don't practice ritual magic and don't really believe in it. I worship the Gods.
 

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
I can't list out all the options, but I'm open to hearing just about anything, and multiple, even if you consider them all one or aspects of one or different, but what I'm interested in seeing is if you invoke anything or bring anything to mind even (so even Atheists can contribute with inspiring characters from media that might inspire them or things they have thought of or imagined over the years which they find amusing to think about or mock pray to or bring up or which come up in their minds).

For those who invoke seriously, what is it that you think or imagine that you are calling upon and how do you think about the mechanisms or how it works or where exactly this thing you are calling is and what it is in detail and all the details about it, if it has an appearance, the whole thing described and elaborated upon as much as possible.

Can you rank how invigorated or excited you feel by using certain names or identities, what are names you used to call upon but maybe don't anymore, what caused the change, did anything ever happen? Did certain names or Gods seem to work better than others? Were some scarier and you stopped using or mentioning those?

You can mention spirits, demons, heroes, ghosts, ancestors, whatever at all you may have in one way or another invoked or brought to your mind or sort of felt empowered by, helped by, prayed to, whatever.

Are some very common and primary, others occasional or for certain events or certain things you are wanting or asking for or thinking about?

How seriously do you take it, how imaginary do you think it is?

You can include saints, angels, anything at all really that make you feel excited, happy, that you love, that you think are cool or interesting, that you would like to call upon or believe in or worship but have felt restricted from doing so, shy about it, or that it isn't real but you wish it were?

Do you have different practices related to each or the same where the name can easily be exchanged for any other?

What Gods or God-Names do you find particularly your own special ones, like patrons, that you are under the special protection of, that you relate to the most, that you are most fond of, that you really feel an affinity for, that you think really are the ones that come up for you most and almost seem real or which you are convinced are real.

What are some stories and experiences you've had with these names, even if you are not a believers or worshipper of God or Gods?

There are so many names of God that I use and think of very frequently, its hard to list them all, and they seem to come and go and return in the frequency which I think about them or use them, others have occurred very specifically and not very frequently or often but with powerful seemingly events attached to them or their use or some significant story connections or relevance.

Anyway, one major one for me probably is Avalokitesvara. Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra - Wikipedia for example.

I'll mention more throughout this thread most likely, but I'd love to hear about all your favorites, even if you've not given in to worshipping them, and why you like them, what has happened that has made you like them or how you found out about them, your whole story with them.

Even if there are certain symbols for you which are prominent, I'd love to hear about those all, and for me they might signal some affinity to some spiritual things or a God identity which you may not even be directly familiar with. Like, some people love skulls, some love dogs, cats, birds, others go after or surround themselves with certain colors, some people like certain characters from comics, films, horror characters, it can all be relevant to me. Like, if someone likes the Texas Chainsaw Massacre guy, maybe they would be associating secretly or unwittingly with Xipe Totec or something.

Currently I am worshiping within the Germanic Pantheon. I have called upon Odin, Allfather, the most most frequently. I also regularly invoke Thor in the name or Protection. There are many other deities I could add, that I invoke based on the season, and what rite I am working (Freya, Freyr, Sif, Thor, Odin, Heimdallr, Tyr, Sol, Mani). I also worship the Land and House Spirits and occasionally leave them offerings. As well as calling upon and honoring the Alfar and Disir (honored dead; Ancestors).

Outside of the Germanic pantheon, I have worked magic with and worshiped the Morrigan, and dabbled lightly in journeying with Anubis.

Non-pantheon specific, I have always revered Nature as it's own Spirit, and hold Animistic views in regards to Spirit as well.
 

Jainarayan

ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Staff member
Premium Member
Do you consider Vishnu and Krishna the same, but Shiva, Saraswati, Ganesha, Hanuman, Thor, and Lakshmi to be different or do you consider them also other names and aspects and related to certain themes and powers of the same One, Vishnu/Krishna? Do you prefer the name Krishna most of all, or Vishnu more slightly? Do you use any more than the other?

In simplest terms, they are all manifestations of Brahman. There’s a saying that in whatever way someone envisions God, He will appear to that person, for whatever purpose.

The Rig Veda says

Índraṃ mitráṃ váruṇam agním āhur átho divyáḥ sá suparṇó garútmān;

Ékaṃ sád víprā bahudhā́ vadanty agníṃ yamáṃ mātaríśvānam āhuḥ


“They called him Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni; yea, he is heavenly Garuḍa, who has beautiful wings.

That which is One, the sages speak of as many they called him Agni, Yama, Mātariśvan”.

In the Bhagavad Gita Sri Krishna lists all His attributes and shoes Arjuna that He is everything and everyone.
 
Classical Greek mythology was the first mythology (I count the Bible as mythology) I really loved as a child. I was always checking out Mythology by Edith Hamilton from the school library. I've studied and explored many different religious paths but I keep coming back to Hellenic polytheism and the Olympian Gods. It's not something I chose. So it's something that I've been involved in for years, off and on.

I've had my spiritual experiences with the Gods, especially Zeus and Athena. I've had dreams of them and felt their presence before.

For the record, I don't "use" the Gods or "work with" them. That's more of a ceremonial magick approach that I find disrespectful. I don't practice ritual magic and don't really believe in it. I worship the Gods.

That is great! I appreciate that a lot!
 
In simplest terms, they are all manifestations of Brahman. There’s a saying that in whatever way someone envisions God, He will appear to that person, for whatever purpose.

The Rig Veda says

Índraṃ mitráṃ váruṇam agním āhur átho divyáḥ sá suparṇó garútmān;

Ékaṃ sád víprā bahudhā́ vadanty agníṃ yamáṃ mātaríśvānam āhuḥ


“They called him Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni; yea, he is heavenly Garuḍa, who has beautiful wings.

That which is One, the sages speak of as many they called him Agni, Yama, Mātariśvan”.

In the Bhagavad Gita Sri Krishna lists all His attributes and shoes Arjuna that He is everything and everyone.
Absolutely! Those are my beliefs as well, that all these people are communicating to One Power that is appearing to them in various ways, or to their imaginations or minds, or even through the things they prefer, and that even so, there is no guarantee that what they will experience or hear will necessarily be good, for their benefit, or the benefit of their loved ones or mankind, but that nonetheless it is still that same One they are in communication with, in their sleep, in their waking day, and through all their activities.
 
Currently I am worshiping within the Germanic Pantheon. I have called upon Odin, Allfather, the most most frequently. I also regularly invoke Thor in the name or Protection. There are many other deities I could add, that I invoke based on the season, and what rite I am working (Freya, Freyr, Sif, Thor, Odin, Heimdallr, Tyr, Sol, Mani). I also worship the Land and House Spirits and occasionally leave them offerings. As well as calling upon and honoring the Alfar and Disir (honored dead; Ancestors).

Outside of the Germanic pantheon, I have worked magic with and worshiped the Morrigan, and dabbled lightly in journeying with Anubis.

Non-pantheon specific, I have always revered Nature as it's own Spirit, and hold Animistic views in regards to Spirit as well.
Fantastic! Thank you so much for writing that out. One of the areas of interest for me in the Germanic or Norse context are the Dvergar (Dwarves), in particular Fafnir, and the Jotunn (Giants), in particular Farbauti. So for me, I don't anthropomorphize these too much, but consider them attributes or aspects of Nature and Reality, or in other words what I call God or the One Power behind everything, so that Farbauti would refer perhaps to the incident and power of or event of a sudden change (a lightning strike would just be one version of something suddenly striking, but it brings to mind anything that happens which has great speed and change or impact or damage involved, so a fearful aspect and based in stuff that is real and can be seen), and Fafnir is associated with a lot of themes that have to do with both encompassing everything, as well as gifts, treasures, acquirements. I don't view Fafnir as negative, but take the story in which Fafnir appears popularly as an indication that Fafnir was thought to have tremendous knowledge which was taken on and asked for, as well as I think something about gifts producing gifts, treasures upon treasures, in every sense. I relate a lot to Fafnir as well due to my desire of having it all and living sort of cut off from much communication as well.

One day, I had the name Fafnir occurring to me, and suddenly I turned and walked and turned and walked, seemingly aimlessly, after the song "I bless the rains down in Africaaa" was playing, and I suddenly stopped, and there at eye level on a shelf was a golden ring, which I took, and placed in a little treasure box, but anyway I collected or acquired a ton of stuff after that point, even at that point, all sorts of strange deals, things coming on sale or even for free or payments reversed, and right from the vicinity now where that ring sits, its like a huge amount of stuff doubled tripled duplicates haha, it almost becomes too much and requiring a larger cave now. So for me, Fafnir is connected with the acquirement and maintaining of treasures, both spiritual or related to knowledge and physical items as well. I lost my SD card recently
(it was apparently thrown in the trash), which was filled to the brim with things of value on the digital format, but to me, these sorts of losses have some kind of purpose (as I've felt, or noticed), where they make some other often unknown and chaotic path towards something better that never even would have happened otherwise, where you get back what was lost in a superior form and for even greater benefit.

I don't believe in the negative sort of things to do with all this, like curses or doom or whatever, which I think is generally inevitable anyway for all people, so you might as well have some fun.

Oh, another interesting thing is how much the goldish color appeared in the things I was finding at that time also, like I had just moved here and so was trying to find things to very quickly get this apartment I had luckily also found livable, so then there were all these things that I found on sale that tended towards the gold or goldish colors or otherwise light brass type metal looking things which then filled the place at that time as well, the reddish brass stuff I associated more with Apollo though, the whole Island even, with its red dirt, as Apollo was long ago associated with the color red and the planet Mars, which later changed over time and people didn't pay as much attention to that.


"Serpent rising on the horizon, and right here in my abode Full sensation, a manifestation, I'm petrified I cannot go Black and white day glow, cold creeping fright show a star of infinite mass Foul corroding and head exploding, existence reduced in a flash Diamond of a million flies Illusion of hope Black lizard in disguise Hate fiend on dope Dwarf... The Black Dwarf Slow death descending, pain never-ending, Astaroth won't go away So radiating now always hating, this liar commands you to stay Depressions and crisis, hopeless advices, suicide, acid rain Controlling the masses, misguiding our asses, bringing me stain on stain Freak show from outer hell Psychos create Heroes or villains low The choices you make Dwarf... The Black Dwarf Have you seen the poison queen, sitting on your shoulder? Don't you know what she says, can you not control her? Read the hex like you read the stories, god is dead and you have no worries Forget ambition, **** the vision, kill the lights and go to sleep The stalker is stalking and talking and talking, colossal power and wit Pathetic, unethical and yes -- unaesthetic, oh boy, you're so full of **** You're playing me tricks, six hundred sixty-six, the devil dictating the news I can't keep resisting, black dwarf's insisting, I'm so afraid of you!! Diamond of a million flies Illusion of hope Black lizard in disguise Hate fiend on dope Freak show from outer hell Psychos create Heroes or villains low The choices you make Dwarf... The Black Dwarf From the filth of the crucifix, to the stench of headlines The dwarf is there, his ugly face is blocking the sunshine No taboos and no distinctions, fantasy creating fiction And no one knows what to believe, so kill the lights and go to sleep."
 
Though I am a strong atheist, but my vote goes to Lord Rama in Hinduism, who is supposed to be the epitome of righteousness - "Maryada Puushottam" (One who always valued his duties and limits).

lordram.jpg
Rama is also preferable to me, but for the humanoid depictions of these figures, I take them as a means to feel inspired to imitate them, also physically (and I already look like these characters), but otherwise, to eliminate their anthropomorphic qualities and take them instead as abstract qualities and powers to call upon to empower one's own self, mentality, or otherwise the environment or events which occur with some qualities associated to them or themes connected to their characters or stories or names (as descriptive epithets).

Rama, one may want to call upon, if one wants to align themselves with the ideals of justice, heroism, patience, righteousness, strength, stamina, resistance to harmful plots, virtue, law, all sorts of good things. So to imitate these paintings people make, one may aesthetically become admirable and beautiful, with a fit body and health and strength, and to align oneself with the qualities that may be more abstract, one may also benefit.
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
Well, Hinduism accepts both, anthropomorphism or Brahman beyond even existence and non-existence; that being the substrate of all what is perceived or non-perceived in the universe.
 

Aštra’el

Aštara, Blade of Aštoreth
There was a time when I would have gone into depth describing a Tetramorph of deities under a higher, Supreme God.

These days... perhaps I’m unbalanced compared to then, or more focused? I don’t even know. I’ve come so far and yet sometimes I feel as though I’ve lost my way. Now it is just one among the Tetramorph (a goddess inspiring war, combat/ strength/ fitness/ athletic training, following your passion above all else, brutal new beginnings, strategy & wisdom, the understanding of and balancing of opposing sides of human nature)- who I embrace on a regular basis and operate in sync with- and the supreme God, who I reach out to with less frequency, usually to honor and give thanks for my life and the world. And then... there are echoes of the other deities, of what was before, like... significant parts of me have shut down and are awaiting reactivation. I like to think those sides are not gone forever.
 
Mother believes in spirits and says she saw spirits (and sees). She relay experiences with her friend, co-worker, real estate lady, and my father who all have some sort of witness (unfortunately, it skipped over me). We've always had some sort of belief in deceased loved ones. I actually didn't know leaving food at one's grave was not a universal thing. I wasn't taught these things, they just came natural.

I don't know what happens to people when they die and if they experience anything once they've died. It's always been what I've experienced and interpret from that experience. Since I haven't seen spirits before, I don't know.



Oooh. I do that when I visit my relatives at the cemetery. Usually through dialogue, music, and such. No gods or anything like that.



To be truly honest, that sounds weird in my ears. Even more so than I'm used to hearing when christians pray to invoke god and the holy spirit. Their definitions aren't entities in the sense Zues and Athena are. Ajax? Arioch? Who are they?



I can't pronounce any of those. Ha.



Are you focused more value on the names regardless if the person exists or do you believe Ordin exists and invoke him by his name?

Ok, so I'm awake again now, and must have slept in some weird position because now when I'm sitting here its like I feel something stabbing my leg around my groin area, like a bone in my leg in some weird position haha.

I wanted to write more on this, for you, but also for others in case they might not know about these things and may be interested, so please don't mind if I mention things in a sort of simplistic way that you may already know about, since its also for visitors who may not know about certain terms or have it laid out for them really clearly.

Ok, so, there seem to be a few different types of beliefs or people out there, and I want to sort of make a way for people to understand where they stand in comparison to where I stand:

Two of the first choices are Theist or Atheist (and these may not be the exact dictionary definitions, but based on what people who identify as one or the other tell me about themselves or seem to say):

A Theist is someone who believes in any sort of intelligent responsive power or powers, and even those who believe in some intelligent power who is not responsive (like perhaps some Deists do) but who was responsible for making things as they are in some way or creating the Universe, and other Theists don't even believe that any God or Gods had anything to do with the making of the system but rather can influence it in some way with their powers and abilities which are different than our own (and quite often greater).

The Atheist is typically someone who doesn't believe in any of these, and doesn't believe in any intelligence or power or powerful intelligence that can be called upon or interacted with or existing anywhere or responsible for creating anything or influencing anything.

Now where my beliefs sit between these two groups is on the Theist range, but right on the edge next the Godless Ranch. That is because, Atheists typically accept and acknowledge the existence of what they see, the Reality, Nature, Stuff Happening, Information, etc. The only difference between them and me is that they don't think there is any Intelligence or Power or Intelligent Power behind it or "doing it" right then, whereas I say all the experience generated and given to us as what we see, is generated by One Intelligent Power, that is mainly no different from the Nature itself.

So they believe Nature is not intelligent, living, alert, responsive, One Being, whereas I do. The difference is pretty slight, but also makes a big change in the way one thinks as well.

Among Theists, there are lots of different distinctions, but one big one are between Polytheists and Monotheists. Polytheists are people who believe in more than one separate intelligent power, and though its not necessary, they frequently also may tend towards anthropomorphizing these or imagining them as somewhat formed beings with borders, shape, appearance, personality distinctions, distinct desires, distinct will, basically like how you and I are thought of as different unique and separate individuals.

Monotheists are people who believe in One Ultimate Intelligent Power, but there are also "Henotheists" who are people who believe in One Power over other Powers which are lesser or they just focus on one power but acknowledge the existence of others. Monotheists also might anthropomorphize in their thinking and believe that the One Ultimate Intelligent Power they believe in has a form, borders, shape, limited range, can be in some places but also might not be in every place or might not be in some places, like I've heard some people say that they don't believe God is "there" but rather "there" instead, even if God is in multiple places, they also might say something that indicates that God is not some places.

I am not like either of these groups of people for the most part, but I am mostly in the Monotheistic camp, except that the God I believe in is not one that is some places but not other places, but that all we have access to is a generated experience in a moment and then a moment and a moment again, and that it is what is generating that experience in every detail, and this is occurring "within it" as a sense, and it is not what it projects or produces, but rather it is literally Like Nothing, so Non-Information, it isn't blackness even like deep space, it isn't whiteness like a white wall, it is like looking through the clearest glass with truly nothing behind it at all, which is impossible to see or imagine, because there is no information involved, no borders, no size, no place, no shape, literally like Nothing, except that it has this Power to generate whatever it does, and where it generates it is in the nowhere or no-place which is itself, so that despite how it may appear, you are experiencing a picture, a scene, which is like a photograph or movie that is just nowhere at all, everything is within it, its a kind of illusion.

This Intelligent Power can freely manipulate these, and make anything seem to be the truth, or appear, or disappear, or make it like it never even was and wipe out any trace or memory of a thing.

Very few people believe in such a God.
 
Part 2

Another point of separate between me and other people (both theists and atheists), is that they all believe in real choices, whereas I do not believe in any actual "free will" or influence upon the experience which is actual, but instead that we are driven in the first place, the decisions we seem to make are those we are "made to make" by what we are basically being forced to experience. The thought though or the notion makes no difference, we still operate exactly the same as people who believe in real choices or influence, and make decisions and all that, except that we believe that it is really the One Intelligent Power responsible for every moment of the experience, including what thoughts occur to us, seeing ourselves thinking and choosing this or that, etc, but it plays out the same regardless, so its mainly irrelevant except for my giving all credit to God for literally everything whatsoever, and other people not really having a complete and thorough reasoning for ever actually saying that God is responsible for all things (and many people also deny God is responsible for absolutely all things).

So, the reason for my explaining all that, is to lead into my next area of discussion, the mechanisms that I believe are involved here with the use of varying names and how I justify their use and reality.

So for a Monotheist, I verge on Monism, except that I don't believe that God is Information (Experience) that we see, and can and does exist without it, but rather that Information (Experience) that we go through is what God produces moment to moment and controls in every detail and nuance as it appears to us and how we see and interpret it is included in that moment of experience or sequence of experiences as well. This can be symbolically represented as "speaking" things into existence, or "writing" things into existence, or "thinking" things into existence, playing them out in every detail like a movie (see Occasionalism, Berkeley's Idealism, Aztec Philosophy, Heraclitus, Descartes' Evil Demon).

It can thus be said, absolutely everything we experience can be considered God communicating, and more so even than God communicating to us, the produced creation, it can even be considered God communicating to God, as God is the first and foremost "Experiencer" and the only truly living thing, whereas we are just appearing in momentary flashes or shots as the experiencers experiencing whatever is being produced like us looking down at our legs, it is the Intelligence behind such a production (out of our actual control) which is viewing this and experiencing this layer of information it has generated that moment, and the next moment, and so on. When one moment is made back into Nothing, it is that Nothing and there in between, and there to generate the next, so one moment we are looking at our hand typing this letter, then that is gone and no longer in existence, then another letter we see ourselves typing, and so on, and behind those and in between all those this intelligence is generating this flash flash flash.

Since everything whatsoever is its production and communication from itself, almost everything can also seemingly be thought of in a spiritual fashion bringing to mind this reality or notion, or qualities of it, and all qualities that do exist are its inventions, all impressions, all things, so it is responsible for every occurrence and sense of "Hardness" or "Softness" whereas it is truly neither Hard nor Soft as it is not really any sort of information or object, but regardless of that, any instance of "Hardness" or "Softness" is due to it. Same goes for Charity, the whole notion of it, any form of it, real or symbolic or however. That makes God not only "The Charitable One" as in "The Only Actual Charitable One" and "Creator of All Charity" but even "Charity" itself, as God controls and generates all instances of it, so that one seeing Charity occur or thinking of Charity, is seeing God in action, moving that information, making that scene. God is "The Charity" in every way, every form, every way that one might be able to say it. Even if its a girl named Charity, and she is dancing around, that even is God doing that, making that whole experience right before your eyes, every motion, and if she has an experience, its God looking through it and doing it as well. There is then no Charity which God is not responsible, which God is not actually performing, which God is not, except that God can wipe out all these things, and God will still be God (Like Nothing) and still capable of bringing it about.

So the difference between an Atheist and Me, is that they look out the window and see the leaves spinning around in the wind and think "that is just the (dead) wind moving (dead) dry fallen leaves, it is meaningless" where as I see it as "that is just the God making the experience of me seeing the leaves moving, and what thoughts can I bring to my mind which may benefit me about this experience/appearance"?

They think it is not happening because of any intelligence, I think that is an impression given to them, and that it is happening deliberately due to an intelligence generating such as my experience that moment. So in that sense, my world is entirely alive, but made up of arbitrary dead things being produced and puppeted around by One Truly Living Thing animating it all, and their world is made up of lots of living and dead things which are arbitrary and nothing is really puppeteering them or animating them except their atoms or biology or whatever (things I also think God has made up and put into play in experiences, but are just novel inventions and anything else could just as easily be made up or invented and none were actually ever necessary at all, everything comes from a Baseless and Unconditioned Nothing that is God the Intelligent Power, according to my beliefs and understandings).

So when I use the word Odin, I am not calling upon some old man in the sky (I don't believe in such) with power, and even if there was such an old man in the sky with supposed or apparent power, that would only be some information put into my experience being controlled entirely by the One Intelligent Power, not God himself. That is why Jesus, no matter what the Christians say, can never be God for me, no matter what Jesus does, because however many miracles Jesus performed or appeared in, he is information, he is being controlled by God like anything and anyone else just the same, so to worship Jesus is like worshipping a rock purposefully and saying "this Rock is God and other Rocks are not God and God is here and not there, and God only controls this Rock and not other Rocks" and other things I find silly and degrading what I consider the Truth concerning Reality itself, in other words, a massive Lie that should never be accepted, which I think is what the main problem was with "idolatry" which God also is responsible for bringing into experiences and minds and in every way, but God is not just a typo for Good, but is responsible for even the notions of Good and Evil and all the things we consider each, even if people differ about these, those differences as well.

So the mechanism would be such:

The One Intelligent Power (OIP) brings to the mind or experience of someone some word or name or idea, and this may be associated with some sound when pronounced, and this sound or word has meanings either already associated with it in use or one injects meanings into it or adds meanings to it, just like any word, and then uses that word to call upon some particular quality or set of qualities and associations they make or which are made with that term, and so they are speaking out to what is immediately present and responsible for what they are experiencing anyway (and it is OIP doing it in the first place, making the person think of all this and pray this way and call out in such a fashion exactly, for better or for worse, having given also all the understandings involved, however correct and logical or incorrect and illogical), and they then invoke the OIP by such an epithet or aspect which then is expected to not only bring to one's own mind certain qualities and empower oneself with certain gifts and advantages, but also meant to be part of the narrative which sees a change or some sort of interaction and influence occurring in the experience, the environment, what comes up, etc.

So someone might say "Oh God of Wealth, Please Make This Deal Go Through and Make it Beneficial For Me and Make The Wealth Flow to Me from every direction safely, without bad consequences, and make the experience great for me, and make me grateful to you, and everything good", or they may say instead of God of Wealth, something like "Oh Kubera" or something, if they have associated such with having to do with Wealth, or Pluto, or Mammon, as OIP is the only True Wealth and Wealth Giver in every sense, even inventor of it. Oh Hermes, Oh Mercury! Whichever name you use, you may make certain associations of qualities with the term, but they can also be used entirely freely as well. You can associate the name Hermes or Kubera with anything at all that you might associate with any other name or OIP in general, since you are speaking to one and the same singular intelligence right there behind your experience and right before your eyes right now, present with you, and the intentions are known anyway, as well as what is being brought to your mind.

There is no conflict between these names, even if stories have been made of conflicts or wet vs dry, OIP is the Wet One, the Dry One, the Wet Maker, the Dry Maker, etc.

So you can call upon "Wet" and be asking for "Wet" to make Dry, or you can call upon "Wet" and be asking for "Wet" to make "Wet" or to make you aroused, make you hungry like in appetite, make you symbolically hungry, make someone else aroused or symbolically hungry, or to wet you with blessings, with knowledge, with gifts, with treasures, whatever, or to make it rain, or to make the rain stop, etc, or nothing at all to do with the word in any way somehow (if you can figure that out), yet it seems logical that one uses a term generally if it can be justified or made to associate with whatever is being called upon for whatever reasoning and might be best for oneself if it makes some sense even.
 
There was a time when I would have gone into depth describing a Tetramorph of deities under a higher, Supreme God.

These days... perhaps I’m unbalanced compared to then, or more focused? I don’t even know. I’ve come so far and yet sometimes I feel as though I’ve lost my way. Now it is just one among the Tetramorph (a goddess inspiring war, combat/ strength/ fitness/ athletic training, following your passion above all else, brutal new beginnings, strategy & wisdom, the understanding of and balancing of opposing sides of human nature)- who I embrace on a regular basis and operate in sync with- and the supreme God, who I reach out to with less frequency, usually to honor and give thanks for my life and the world. And then... there are echoes of the other deities, of what was before, like... significant parts of me have shut down and are awaiting reactivation. I like to think those sides are not gone forever.
Do you remember what they were? Can you bring them up?

What is the name of this entity you mentioned as your primary, and what is the God you mentioned after her that you call upon less? Why is she a Goddess or associated with females or the feminine, if you think of her in certain forms or appearances, can you give a full description in detail of these and all the props that might be involved or costume elements or appearance elements or colors if any? Same for any of the other deities you used to think of. When did you stop thinking of those as much, what were the changes which seemed to occur before stopping and after?
 

A Vestigial Mote

Well-Known Member
I think this exercise you performed naturally is one of the thought experiments people should regularly perform and see where it takes them. That is really interesting! Were there characters you liked as a kid and liked to think about or think of yourself as even?
I would emulate certain aspects of various things I saw or consumed from entertainment, sure - like movies, comics, video games. Now that I think about it, I also remember sometimes daydreaming about having the ability to go into the games I played and come out with the various powers, objects or physical aspects of multiple characters. So, I'd have the tank from the old "Blaster Master" game that could drive on ceilings and walls and hover, and I'd have Megaman's gun arm or Bionic Commando's robotic grapple arm, Simon Belmont's leveled up whip, the power to throw Ryu's "hadoken" or perform Bison's "Psycho Crusher" move. So I'd be this weird conglomeration of all the various games and characters I liked best as a kid. I had forgotten all about that.
 
I would emulate certain aspects of various things I saw or consumed from entertainment, sure - like movies, comics, video games. Now that I think about it, I also remember sometimes daydreaming about having the ability to go into the games I played and come out with the various powers, objects or physical aspects of multiple characters. So, I'd have the tank from the old "Blaster Master" game that could drive on ceilings and walls and hover, and I'd have Megaman's gun arm or Bionic Commando's robotic grapple arm, Simon Belmont's leveled up whip, the power to throw Ryu's "hadoken" or perform Bison's "Psycho Crusher" move. So I'd be this weird conglomeration of all the various games and characters I liked best as a kid. I had forgotten all about that.
Yeah, and I take that stuff as very interesting, and secretly significant, but even if one ignores or puts aside thinking of it in any mystical fashion the way I do, it is still interesting to me what characters end up being picked, what moves, what symbols, what associations, and how they might end up playing out even later in a life or the influences they may have subtly without a person even clearly remembering or realizing.

I grew up maybe a little later or around the same time as you, so the things you are mentioning are all mainly pretty familiar to me. On a spiritual level I view them as actual ways that symbols and "communications" have continued to permeate and influence people, even though its just taken as silly stuff from games that have no overt or deliberate religious intention, I find that they for many people seem to provide similar messages and influences upon the mind as religion and mythology and religious thinking may have throughout history and cultures, which also may have had their entertainment mixed with things they might in other contexts take more seriously or devoutly. In my view, these characters from media are (like Jack Kirby may have liked to also think) "New Gods" and really no different from all the old ones, things that are inspired by Nature or Reality which also influence our thinking, behavior, goals, and ideas, which empower us, motivate us, deliver cravings to us, make us pursue things we might not have otherwise or with as much interest or force.

I think that the characters we end up being particularly attracted to may represent personality traits which might sort of place a person in a sort of "type" faction of similar likes or dislikes, and that people who like or associate with certain animal identies, characters they think are cool, might actually end up being sort of similar to others who also feel that way, and may then differ significantly enough from others who choose or have linked themselves to other things, who might make up another sort of "type" of person or faction member.

So I like looking into at all. On a kooky spiritual level, I consider these different "types" to possibly be associations based on the kind of person one is, their "destiny" or what they were created to be, and who their spiritual "patrons" are in a sense, basically, which "Gods" or "God Symbols" seem to be over these people and surrounding them and coming into their lives repeatedly in different forms.

So I wouldn't mind a list of everything you might recall, or what characters you ended up putting together, which ones you thought were lame even.

I'm one of the few people who consider the characters from games like Legend of Zelda, Dragon Quest, Street Fighter, Mega Man, to associate to or remind me of things I consider "real" and even worship (indirectly maybe, as I'm taking the forms as reminders and symbolic rather than thinking that such a character is an actual being that looks like that somewhere outside of the game or something, but rather that their designs were ultimately inspired and regardless are inspiring and have repeated symbols associated with them which can bring to mind a number of things, both for pragmatic uses and for those who are into spiritual things, spiritual insights and thoughts and meditations).

I noticed that for me, the characters that often seemed most spiritual to me and inspiring for me were most often the villains and bosses in games and cartoons, comics and films.
 

A Vestigial Mote

Well-Known Member
Yeah, and I take that stuff as very interesting, and secretly significant, but even if one ignores or puts aside thinking of it in any mystical fashion the way I do, it is still interesting to me what characters end up being picked, what moves, what symbols, what associations, and how they might end up playing out even later in a life or the influences they may have subtly without a person even clearly remembering or realizing.

I grew up maybe a little later or around the same time as you, so the things you are mentioning are all mainly pretty familiar to me. On a spiritual level I view them as actual ways that symbols and "communications" have continued to permeate and influence people, even though its just taken as silly stuff from games that have no overt or deliberate religious intention, I find that they for many people seem to provide similar messages and influences upon the mind as religion and mythology and religious thinking may have throughout history and cultures, which also may have had their entertainment mixed with things they might in other contexts take more seriously or devoutly. In my view, these characters from media are (like Jack Kirby may have liked to also think) "New Gods" and really no different from all the old ones, things that are inspired by Nature or Reality which also influence our thinking, behavior, goals, and ideas, which empower us, motivate us, deliver cravings to us, make us pursue things we might not have otherwise or with as much interest or force.

I think that the characters we end up being particularly attracted to may represent personality traits which might sort of place a person in a sort of "type" faction of similar likes or dislikes, and that people who like or associate with certain animal identies, characters they think are cool, might actually end up being sort of similar to others who also feel that way, and may then differ significantly enough from others who choose or have linked themselves to other things, who might make up another sort of "type" of person or faction member.

So I like looking into at all. On a kooky spiritual level, I consider these different "types" to possibly be associations based on the kind of person one is, their "destiny" or what they were created to be, and who their spiritual "patrons" are in a sense, basically, which "Gods" or "God Symbols" seem to be over these people and surrounding them and coming into their lives repeatedly in different forms.

So I wouldn't mind a list of everything you might recall, or what characters you ended up putting together, which ones you thought were lame even.

I'm one of the few people who consider the characters from games like Legend of Zelda, Dragon Quest, Street Fighter, Mega Man, to associate to or remind me of things I consider "real" and even worship (indirectly maybe, as I'm taking the forms as reminders and symbolic rather than thinking that such a character is an actual being that looks like that somewhere outside of the game or something, but rather that their designs were ultimately inspired and regardless are inspiring and have repeated symbols associated with them which can bring to mind a number of things, both for pragmatic uses and for those who are into spiritual things, spiritual insights and thoughts and meditations).

I noticed that for me, the characters that often seemed most spiritual to me and inspiring for me were most often the villains and bosses in games and cartoons, comics and films.
Your ideas on this front are very interesting. I get a vague, but somewhat profound sense of where you're coming from, even as I recognize the differences in what I may (or may have) payed homage to in this vein, and what it is that religious people tend to truly believe must necessarily exist.

Many of the characters I tended to choose (in games where you had a choice, of course) or root for (in movies and such) were those that had a heavy component of humility, simplicity or an unassuming nature. For example, in the Street Fighter series, I gravitated toward Blanka (nearly an animal), and then later in Street Fighter 4 Abel (an extremely humble, and almost naive character), and in the more recent Street Fighter 5, I found myself trying to master Alex - who decided to be a mechanic when he left a life of crime, and dresses in near rags. And I patently avoided characters like Ken, or even Ryu - who were constantly talking about how masterful they were - haha.
 
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