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Author Topic: Spiritual and/or Deity Evolution?  (Read 1708 times)

EJay

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Spiritual and/or Deity Evolution?
« on: November 10, 2012, 02:28:45 am »
Do you believe that your soul will always be fundamentally the same?  Even if reincarnated?  Or do you believe in a transmigration of souls, as Pythagoras did or the Mormons or the Buddhists, say?

Were your deities, perhaps, ever beings other than they are now?  Do you think that you have the opportunity to be as your deities are?

Wondering if y'all think evolution happens in the spiritual context, not just in our earthly realm.
If you understand, things are just as they are.  If you do not understand, things are just as they are.

Shine

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Re: Spiritual and/or Deity Evolution?
« Reply #1 on: November 10, 2012, 11:39:47 am »
Quote from: EJay;80323
Do you believe that your soul will always be fundamentally the same?  Even if reincarnated?  Or do you believe in a transmigration of souls, as Pythagoras did or the Mormons or the Buddhists, say?

Were your deities, perhaps, ever beings other than they are now?  Do you think that you have the opportunity to be as your deities are?

Wondering if y'all think evolution happens in the spiritual context, not just in our earthly realm.

 
I like to think souls can change. They can become more noble, or they can sink into a deep mire. Reincarnation isn't a requirement for this, although I know some people who believe it is.

I think Bast, Set, Atum, Shu, and Tefnut were once different than they are now, but at a fundamental, mysterious level, they've always been who they are. It's how they express it and how they appear to mortals that evolves the most, in my opinion.
Leave your darkness with me, and I will make you shine.

Zaphaux

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Re: Spiritual and/or Deity Evolution?
« Reply #2 on: November 10, 2012, 11:48:20 am »
Quote from: EJay;80323
Do you believe that your soul will always be fundamentally the same?  Even if reincarnated?  Or do you believe in a transmigration of souls, as Pythagoras did or the Mormons or the Buddhists, say?

Were your deities, perhaps, ever beings other than they are now?  Do you think that you have the opportunity to be as your deities are?

Wondering if y'all think evolution happens in the spiritual context, not just in our earthly realm.
When it comes to souls I have my own pretty settle beliefs.
 For me, souls are immutable and indestructible, so I don't think it would change after death or anything. Yet, I think it's pretty hard to reincarnate in the same universe. My concept of death is: your body can't sustain your soul inside your body anymore, and it goes out. Maybe it can happen of remain in this universe, but it still tends to be 'spilled off' this universe, since it wouldn't have any body to keep it in this universe anymore. So it would go to a very different universe, maybe so completely different that even the concept of that soul would change, and the own concept of universe would be so different it would be impossible for our minds to understand. Like trying to image an inexistent colour.
 Immutable and indestructible: that's how I see souls.
« Last Edit: November 10, 2012, 11:49:35 am by Zaphaux »

Maps

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Re: Spiritual and/or Deity Evolution?
« Reply #3 on: November 10, 2012, 02:13:00 pm »
Quote from: EJay;80323
Do you believe that your soul will always be fundamentally the same?  Even if reincarnated?  Or do you believe in a transmigration of souls, as Pythagoras did or the Mormons or the Buddhists, say?

Were your deities, perhaps, ever beings other than they are now?  Do you think that you have the opportunity to be as your deities are?

Wondering if y'all think evolution happens in the spiritual context, not just in our earthly realm.

 
I don't believe in an evolution of the soul in an individualistic sense (because I don't believe souls, on their own, have a concept of "me" vs "them"... or at least the piece of soul that gets reincarnated vs becomes part of the ancestor collective that is at the mercy of the memory of future generations). As for gods, the idea of a god changing in any sort of fundamental way--though I may define "fundamental" differently here than others--changes who the god is. Basically, if a god changes in any real sense, they cease to be that god and are instead another. Then again, in my faith gods are capable of dying too, which is a very drastic sort of change.

MattyG

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Re: Spiritual and/or Deity Evolution?
« Reply #4 on: November 10, 2012, 03:41:22 pm »
Quote from: EJay;80323
Do you believe that your soul will always be fundamentally the same?  Even if reincarnated?

Personally, I believe that souls are very organic things. I believe in reincarnation, but less in the sense that my whole soul will be translated into a whole new body, and more that it becomes incorporated in a number of living and non-living things. Just like my flesh decomposes and becomes part of grasses, trees, and beasts, I suspect my soul will be re-expressed in a number of bodies. Perhaps I'll even leave ghosts of myself behind. Even throughout my life, I expect that my soul may give off seeds in a sense. Perhaps the people I interact with throughout my life inherit a piece of my vital energies, and they grow within them and their families. I believe that souls can grow, shrink, fragment, and change throughout the course of life and death.

Quote
Were your deities, perhaps, ever beings other than they are now?  Do you think that you have the opportunity to be as your deities are?

 
I believe that the some gods can live, die, and be reincarnated just as mortals can. If we look at gods that are very closely tied to natural features, like rivers and mountains, it's obvious that they change, grow, and die, just over a much longer span.

Gods of a more universal nature, like smithing, war, death, poetry, or agriculture, are slightly more confusing. I can't say whether gods of smithing inspire humans to invent smithing, or whether the creation of smithing imbues the gods with that aspect. I prefer to believe that the gods can change, grow, and evolve, because otherwise I believe we get to close to Universalism, like saying that all cultures thunder-gods are really just the same thunder-god. It's a difficult question, but I prefer to believe that the gods are shaped by their interactions with humans, and vice versa. And I do believe that I person can be raised to god-hood, though I don't know what the criteria would be.

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