Your own Bible makes it clear that even though you are enjoined to "be like God", who is "perfect", you cannot be.
This seems to be a double-standard, based on a species of half-wisdom. Pious pagans knew the truth of the relationship between the Mortal and the Divine.
To seek to be "godlike" is a rather glaring error of pride called "Hubris"- something many people in our modern day are quite guilty of. The wisdom of the ages tells us to know that we are only mortal and to know our limitations- to seek for the so-called "absolute" is not a human thing to do- it is nothing more than a disguise for the ego to attempt to aggrandize itself.
The Gods are the Gods, and to ignore them all in exchange for a human-envisioned concept of the "Absolute" is Hubris- and all the ancient myths tell us what danger lies in ignoring all the other Gods for just One God. Hippolytus ignored Aphrodite's gifts in exchange for Artemisian Chastity, and Aphrodite wreaked havoc over it.
The message is clear: Polytheism is the same thing as mental and psychic health, for it honors all of the parts of the human, as well as honoring the divine powers that are harmoniously linked to every aspect of our whole selves.
A polytheist lives many myths and sacrifices at many altars- a true portrait of human wholeness. Polytheists don't ignore everything in exchange for only one myth. That is against ancient pagan psychology.
The search for the "absolute" is not wise and not human- because as a human, everything you think, see, say, or do, is automatically relative, not absolute. You are only mortal- and the more you think that you "know" the Absolute, or have some relationship with the "Absolute", the more you are fooling yourself- you are taking relative concepts andCALLING them "absolute" and then thinking that you have "found the Absolute" or "found the Truth", when all you have found are more mortal books, words, and concepts.
But you call them "absolute" and therefore commit a terrible misconception that destroys wisdom and your own soul. To make the Relative Absolute or the Absolute Relativeis the only "sin" according to one very deep thinking Christian philosopher.
The Mysteries reveal to us the truth of the relationship between man and the divine ones- and it is there, but not in the form you think; it takes mysteries to reveal it. There is no "Absolute" sitting there wanting you to "pray" to it or "be like it". That is a dangerous over-simplification which leads people to ignore their duties to the Gods and to themselves as whole beings.
Think about it-
Christianity takes power and destroys the other myths and outlaws theother Gods- and what happens?
War on a scale never seen before- Ares Laughing.
Corruption and Abuse of Authority- Zeus Scorned and Forgotten.
Sexual Repression, sexual self-loathing, imbalanced sexual attitudes and the pathologies they bring- Aphrodite Scorned and Forgotten.
Wisdom falls by the wayside, in exchange for false wisdom and human darkness- Athena Scorned and Forgotten.
This list could go on and on.
From top to bottom, the loss of the wholeness of pagan mythology, this inhuman and unwise insistence on scorning all the Gods and myths in exchange for just One God and One Myth has been and still is destroying the world and the souls of the people in it.
Polytheism offers a return to a healthy psychological and spiritual way of understanding the Anthropos- the whole human being, in terms of the great natural forces and divine forces that relate to the whole human being, which shaped the human, and which sustain the human.
It offers a way of sanity and acceptance, not self-loathing. It offers a way of seeing Nature's many forms and beings in terms of what is holy and natural, not sinful or flawed. It shows what is desirable and what is dangerous in the world and in man's nature, without excluding anything, and finally, it shows how humans must sublimate the contents of their world and their own beings in a manner that is truly harmonious.
It further offers mysteries- intuitive, spiritual rites and mystical themes which reveal, in an extra-rational way, the Truth of man's deep relationship to the divine, and man's hope for a participation in life and reality beyond the veil of death.
The Gods are real, the Gods are deathless, and the political and religious changes brought about by a young religion 1700 years ago have not stopped the Gods from existing, from influencing our world, from ruling over the cosmos, or from caring about humanity and the rest of Nature's many phenomenon. These same Gods patiently wait for us to re-establish a true relationship with them.
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This letter was inspired by the writings of Ginette Paris, as mentioned in Old Stones, New Temples, by Drew Campbell
