Spiritual Experiences with the Divine

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   kittythedreamerposted 12 years ago

   What is your most spiritual experience with the Divine? Whether you believe in the gods or a god and a goddess or god...what was your most spiritual moment when you knew that you heard the voice of god or goddess or you felt them speak to you or around you?

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      Mikel G Robertsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I was in Italy at the time. On one of the little Islands off of Sardegna. I was in a church called the church of miracles. It is a very, very old church.
      
      I have always been hard headed and pretty practical. I see through falseness very well and I was struggling with Faith in God's existence because of the lies, dishonesty and errors I found in the Christian Faiths. But deep down somehow I was holding on to my own picture of what God was/is and I found it impossible to dismiss the existence of a Supreme Being even if I could not believe what Christianity was telling me God "had to be".
      
      Anyway (long story short)sitting in the Church of Miracles with my journal I asked God for a sign that God truly existed. This was the first time in my life I had done something like this. I asked God to take hold of me and for just a second allow me to know God was there.
      
      God did just that. For me the world turned black. I couldn't see. I couldn't hear, I couldn't feel my body. It was like I had been removed from existence. It only lasted for a couple seconds and then it all returned to me. Sight, hearing all of it. I discoverd I was crying, I mean bawling, snot running down my face bawling like I hadn't done since childhood nor since. When my eyes cleared from my tears I looked at my journal and there were words written there for me that hadn't been there before this. Some of what I found written there was, "Mikel, I Love You."
      
      What touched me most was that before God shut off the lights I had felt God ask me what kind of sign I was looking for. I responded in thought, if you could only tell me one thing, what would it be. That was God's answer.
      
      I've only told one person this story before. He was there at the church with me that day, a Catholic Priest, dear friend and very wise man. We were there trying to find answers to my questions. I tried telling my Mom once, I had taken her to the church and I wanted to share this story with her while we were there. For some reason I couldn't. Every attempt resulted in me crying, sobbing.
      
      So I don't know why I am pouring my heart out, on the internet, supplying ammo for the entire world to be able to use against me and stomp on my heart, but there it is, because you asked.

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         lone77starposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Mikel, that is one beautiful experience. Thank you for sharing something so personal and blessed.

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      Cresentmoon2007posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I believe my most spiritual experience would have to be a time that I actually had tried to kill myself. I had given up on life and everyone in it. I nearly died that night however in the middle of it all I heard a voice telling me not to give up. A voice that spoke to me, telling me to fight. To not just see that bad but the good in things. Ever since that night I promised myself never to give up. Though I have had my rough times, some pretty all time lows I never really given up. I don't believe I ever will.

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      Disappearingheadposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I was in an informal meeting at one of my company's sites at a UKMoD vehicle storage facility. There were three of us discussing some human resource allocation that I needed for 6 months. There was nobody sitting behind me or either side of me at the time. Suddenly I head a loud husky voice audibly in my right ear saying "we can see you". I turned to my colleagues and they were continuing the conversation oblivious to what I heard.
      
      Half an hour later I was in the car driving home asking God what that was all about. I never have had any kind of answer in the years since. I don't believe that demons, Satan or human spirits exist, so I'm at a bit of a loss.
      
      It could of course have been my imagination but if so my sub-conscious would appear to gave operated completely independent of me, which itself seems little bizarre.
      
      Supernatural or my own head? I don't know, but it seems to have been a completely pointless occurrence.

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      SheliaKayposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I know this will sound kinda odd but the time when I felt the most spiritual was the moment my mother died. She was just diagnosed with brain cancer 6 weeks earlier and survived her brain surgery but was just too weak to go through chemo so she was released from the hospital to my brother's house to basically die. I was at her side holding her hand and telling her it was ok to go. She was not conscious so I was not sure if she could hear me but at the same time she took her last breath which was like a gasp a tear came out of her left eye (the same side I was on). I just can't explain it but  a very peaceful feeling came over me. I knew she was in a better place, where that place is I  don't know. I don't believe in heaven or hell, but I do know our spirit or soul continues to live even after our bodies die. I miss my mother but at the same time I feel her presence with me daily.

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         Jeramiposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I had a very similar experience when my wife died years ago.
         AND   seconds after she exhailed her last breath, a strange feeling came over me, when I felt being kissed on the top of my head and a sensation ran down the full length of my spine. I have never felt anything like that before or after.  I can't describe the pease that was present for ever so short of a time.

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      A Troubled Manposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      What is a 'spiritual experience'? What happens to you exactly?

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      cmontijoposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Well for me it wasn't a voice it was...at church it was Juvenile reunion and we were there praying, and well the group leader said let's do a few minutes of silence and pray to ourselves. While everyone was sitting there quiet and peaceful, i opened my eyes and saw a Golden silhouette walking from the altar towards the area we were all sitting. I think I'm the only one that saw it, because I asked one of my best friend and he told me that he felt a presence but he didn't see a thing. After that day many good things started to happen in my life and in my family.

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2. 71

   Cagsilposted 12 years ago

   Hey Kittythedreamer, I'm sorry but I don't want to burst your bubble, but come on already. Any supposedly "spiritual" experience is due to the right brain section of humanity's two chamber brain.
   
   To be completely honest with you, there's no such thing as spirituality, except for those who claim to be mystic in their view. Any mention of divinity? Is just a person who is intellectually dishonest with themselves. There's actually no such thing.

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      Jeramiposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      How do you know that when a spiritual connection is made,
      when it is made;  that side of your brain isn't titillated?
      
      Which came first ? the chicken or the egg thing.

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         Cagsilposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         The egg came first. Secondly anything spiritual is intellectual dishonesty with self. So please.

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            Jeramiposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            SO  Please??   ??? what?
            
            How old were you when you first noticed ;  or became aware of your abundance of Grandeur?
            
            You know ?  The absolute authority to determine who is foolish and who isn’t
            
            
            edit    Good night.

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            1. 71

               Cagsilposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Divinity? That's what.
               
               Irrationality is noticed, just like an ego is notice, just like truth is noticed, just like wisdom is noticed and just like stupidity is noticed.
               Good night.

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      lone77starposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Proof, Cags?
      
      Such certainty, but no proof! Tsk, tsk!

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         Cagsilposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Perfect display of your dishonesty. Good show. It also shows your lack of knowledge.
         
         Wisdom overrides any proof a mystic like yourself requires.

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   nasakeposted 12 years ago

   With me it was quite recently. I was performing a circle casting session with my coven and a new member had a long background in Haitian Vodou. He suggested that we invoke the help of Ezili Freda, the Vodou version of Aphrodite i suppose.
   
   In that circle i could feel a strong pressure all around me, pressing down on me and suffocating me... in a nice way. Until that night i only saw gods and goddess's as archetypal bi-products of lifes eternal source... now i can't see the world like that anymore. I know now that if you reach out for a connection with divinity you will get an answer.
   
   Just like if scientists through something of a building, their gravity will surely make it fall.

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4. 72

   lone77starposted 12 years ago

   It's hard to choose just one. In my 61 years, I've had dozens, each with their own special meaning and power. Some incidents may not have seemed divine to some, but they do to me, now that I look back at them in the context of everything that has happened in my life.
   
   One is my "miracle on Wilshire Boulevard" (see Hub, "Anatomy of a Miracle" for more detail). Thirty-three years after the incident, I realized that the assaults which triggered the miracle had been utterly forgiven by me. I mean forgotten! That took my breath away as much as the incident itself. I've had dozens of other miracles happen, but none this visible to the world-at-large.
   
   When I was 8, my 13-year-old cousin was playing on his gym set in his back yard and I happened to mention that if he did not believe in God, he wouldn't be able to make it to the top. Later, I didn't know why I said it, but my cousin was flabbergasted that he suddenly couldn't get to the top. Then he said that he believed. There was a little bit of terror on his face, but he seemed genuinely to have changed his mind. I nodded and said that he would not be able to reach the top. And he did.
   
   When I was 3, I had a dream that later recurred many times -- a dream of flying. I realized in the dream that a very ancient skill was suddenly remembered and that flying was effortless. After I flew for awhile, I started to have doubts. And I started to sink. Below were dark claws reaching up to clutch my feet. I immediately woke up each time, my feet kicking and my arms thrashing. What is amazing about this dream is the lesson learned about the vast gulf between faith in miracles and doubt.
   
   When I was 21, I experienced my first out-of-body incident. I could see clearly everything around me, but I was no longer in my body. It sat on the other side of a wall and window -- the grayish-blue blinds were closed -- and I hovered about 5 meters in the air. I could see the nearly empty parking lot and the light fixtures which lit up that space. And then I realized that the light was passing right through me -- I was not casting a shadow. That made me self-conscious and I could once again feel my body.
   
   In 2004, while writing a novel on the days right after the sinking of Atlantis, I came to a scene where the hero -- a woman named Merla -- was consecrating the ground on the coast of Sardinia-Corsica (one island at the time). Refugees had been arriving all morning, joining in the hours-long ceremony. The last ship arrived and the man that stepped out looked just like the lover that Merla had thought had died months earlier. When, in the scene, the man turned to face Merla and she could see that he was indeed her long lost Aten, I was overcome with emotion. The room grew dark and I could see the scene as clearly as I can see this computer screen as I type this. I had heard about rivers of tears, but I had never seen it or experienced it. But right then I had a river of tears flowing down my face from profound relief and joy at the reunion. This was quite a bit more emotion than I can attribute to an author writing about his characters, no matter how attached I was to them. This looked like a memory. It felt and tasted like on. The only way for it to have been a memory is for it to have been a gift to me from a higher power, or for it to have been my own (the spiritual me).
   
   And far more recently, I read a hub by a Hindu. It discussed loving God and how a young apprentice might learn how to increase his own love for God. The master dunked the apprentice and wouldn't let him up for a very long time -- minutes! When the apprentice finally caught their breath, the master told him to love God more than the breath he wanted so much. That day, I tried it out, but wasn't yet ready. The following day, I felt the time was right and held my breath much longer than the usual 20 seconds that made me uncomfortable. My love of God took all fear away. And I held my breath for another minute, feeling the stoppage in my sinuses, but also feeling completely at ease. After another couple of minutes, I felt as though I could go on far longer. It seemed I was receiving everything I needed. And after another minute, I felt I no longer need to hold my breath. I had learned the lesson.

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5. 61

   nasakeposted 12 years ago

   Cagsil, why do you have to do that, it makes no sense. If people want to believe something, then why does it bother you? It seems the only person here with something to prove is you. It wont be long before your opinions/ insults will hurt somebodies feelings and frankly that just isn't necessary.
   
   I have quite a scientific mind, and i work hard to stay sceptical about things. I have a major in physics, philosophy and psychology and i really feel as though i don't owe you anything. So in future, why don't you just stick to writing positives, instead of passing your own insecurities onto others.

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      Cagsilposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Irrationality must be addressed. Aside from that, irrational beliefs can lead people to taking actions which can become a detriment to all of humanity. If I have to explain that any further? Then it's likely you couldn't wrap your mind around it.
      Nope. Nothing to prove. Wisdom speaks for itself, just like truth does.
      Then I suggest they see beyond themselves. Living in this world isn't about the individual person's ego or self. It's about something bigger.

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6. 59

   knolyourselfposted 12 years ago

   Everyday is a spiritual experience with the divine.

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      Disappearingheadposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Really? Please describe a typical experience with the divine that is an everyday event?

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   knolyourselfposted 12 years ago

   "Really? Please describe a typical experience with the divine that is an everyday event?"
   
   "Everyday is a spiritual experience with the divine."
   
   Reading your homepage, you are a Christian. You cannot have divine experience because your divinity is in another dimension, only known to your mind.
   
   Whereas I as a pagan, have my divinity now and always now, and thus just writing this is a divine experience.

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      Disappearingheadposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      You still haven't described a typical experience that demonstrates a daily divine occurrence. How is writing your message an example? Did some supernatural set of fingers press the keys for you? All you have written is rhetoric.

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8. 59

   knolyourselfposted 12 years ago

   Yesterday was to be the end of the world. I had my parachute in case I got raptured and they
   changed their minds half way up. I had my monks robe so if I made it all the way I would at least be dressed for the part.

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      Disappearingheadposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      So you can't answer my question then. Provide an example that demonstrates a daily experience with the divine. Something supernatural or out of the ordinary experience of everyone else. Something that couldn't be described away as a feeling or imagination in your head.

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   habeeposted 12 years ago

   Mine was prolly when God literally told me what to do to help my youngest daughter out of a very bad situation.

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    knolyourselfposted 12 years ago

    No I can't. There is nothing I can say that you will understand. In theater you can play a part in a play or you can watch from the audience. You are in the audience and the only way you can understand the acting is to play a part on stage.

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       Disappearingheadposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       More rhetoric then. Nothing concrete. Nothing that you can describe to anyone. Use of analogies to give the impression you are experiencing something divine and to try to convince people that what you imagine you have is exclusive. Emperors new clothes.

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    nasakeposted 12 years ago

    Cagsill, I resent the remark that my 'mind couldn't get around it.' It seems its you with the limited mind. If living is not about the self and it is for a greater picture than even you are referring to something 'divine.' Not in its literal sense but in the sense that you believe we are all connected to something greater. That is no different.
    
    Disappearinghead: As a pagan, you spend every waking moment living alongside the divine, for it is within you and around you. It is the make up of the planet and the universe, and all the dwells within its endless boundaries. Him typing his message very well could be an act of experience with the divine if he openly lives his life aware of what is around him.

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       Cagsilposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Then apparently you resemble it. You would have no reason to resent the remark, because I'm not assuming things which I don't know about you. I just made the statement because there are too many people who just don't use their mind in the capacity many others do. So, you've not a single reason to resent the remark unless you resemble.
       Actually, my mind isn't limited at all. It's based on knowledge, wisdom, experience and understanding reality, which spirituality isn't a part of.
       Purpose my dear human. Purpose. Purpose is bigger than YOU or I. Divinity is just a mystic's illusion, portrayed in history as something else. It's intellectually dishonest.
       Connected? In a manner sure, we all have consciousness which is based in reality, not some mystic belief.
       Sure there is, one is based on understanding life and is completely rational. The other is just pure BS.

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          kittythedreamerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          It's truly sickening that you spend every waking moment of your day on hubpages' forums tearing up other people's experiences that they are trying to share with others. Your delusions of grandeur are frankly appalling. Apparently you are much smarter and wiser than us, oh great one.

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          Cresentmoon2007posted 12 years agoin reply to this

          You say your mind isn't limited but I find that to be wrong when you are limited when it comes to beliefs. I usually accept people, no matter what they believe or don't believe. However I do not respect it when people are down right cruel to one another because it is that cruelty that causes more struggles in this life that is not needed. Being open minded is the opposite of limiting oneself. Which you seem to be doing. Next time I suggest you not post things unless you plan to be nice. If you have nothing to do with your time besides putting people down then that means you yourself do not have that much of a life. Maybe you should go out and hang out with you friends, if you got any that is, and then you'll find less time to be causing people to feel down on themselves.

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             paarsurreyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

             A limited human being having unlimited mind?!
             
             I think he (cagsil) wanted to say that he is open minded; that is a good thing.

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       Disappearingheadposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Nasaka, All I'm asking for is some description of this divine experience that someone could objectively point to and confirm it is an experience that is out of the ordinary natural daily experience of anyone else, Chrstian, agnostic or athiest. I could easily state that typing this, going for a walk, eating an ice-cream is a divine experience, and by the rules that define paganism, you would just blindly accept what I said was true. I see nothing here that couldn't be put down to a nice warm and fuzzy idea.

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12. 59

    knolyourselfposted 12 years ago

    Divine experience is more about feeling with the body than understanding with the mind. The mind interprets what the body feels. If the mind's interpretation denies the feelings, what is to be done?

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       Disappearingheadposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Ok then, so next time I've got a hunch about something, that's a divine experience and if I accept that, I'm an instant pagan. Great, and every pagan will smile and think I've seen the light.

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    knolyourselfposted 12 years ago

    Don't think every pagan cares whether you see the light or not. Pagans are not evangelicals and missionaries. They are just people progressives get to steal from, because their feelings cannot
    be adjudicated in courts of law.

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    nasakeposted 12 years ago

    NO, i think its gone a bit off track. Going for a walk could be a spiritual experiance, should the walk have purpose as such. For an example, if you go for a walk purely to appreciate the surroundings, and you are the type that believes the divine is in all, then you have performed a task that is spiritual in nature. But i mean really take it in, see it, hear it, smell it and feel it. Realise whatever the elements of your walk are doing for you and in return what you can do for your surroundings.
    
    Pagans don't think any body see's the light, i believe that Pagans say that life is but one short lesson, never to be mastered. They don't recruit and they don't scorn others for their opinions. There is slight resentment sometimes between certain pagans and christians, but that is set in history. Those are the ones that don't understand they're own beliefs. It isn't very pagan to scorn Christianity just as it would not please the Christian God that there is discrimination. During wars lies get created, that is a fact. During conversions, more lies get created. These said Pagans should accept that during war it is every man for himself, and Christianity wanted to grow. These said Christians should also accept that lies were created and should see that first hand. It is only logical. I believe the two faiths are what one would call, "Stuck in a rut." And i personally believe that action should be taken amongst our generation to ensure that this doesn't continue. When you really go in to it, who can actually prove what faith is correct and what isn't. Why does it even matter? Religion and living in general is about being happy. So why can we not all be individually happy. Why should one need to follow and one need to lead. That is my opinion.

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    paarsurreyposted 12 years ago

    The Creator God does speak to His chosen people called messengers prophets:
    
    [72:27] He is the Knower of the unseen; and He reveals not His secrets to any one,
    [72:28] Except to him whom He chooses, namely a Messenger of His. And then He causes an escort of guarding angels to go before him and behind him,
    
    http://www.alislam.org/quran/search2/sh … p;verse=26

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    paarsurreyposted 12 years ago

    Some minor spiritual experiences are given to ordinary people so that one could know that spiritual experiences of the messengers prophets were real and truthful; they are just given a taste of them.

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    knolyourselfposted 12 years ago

    Mental interpretation.

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       paarsurreyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       It is expalined by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad- the Promised Messiah in one of his books "Haqiqatul Wahee" or "The reality of Revelation".

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    knolyourselfposted 12 years ago

    "books "Haqiqatul Wahee" or "The reality of Revelation"." Mental interpretation. How many interpretations are there out there?
    This last George Bush was told that seven Brazilians were killed in Iraq. He became uncharacteristically very agitated and deeply sorrowed. He asked: "How many is a Brazillion?"

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    Mikel G Robertsposted 12 years ago

    It seems to me, if my understanding is accurate, that pagans/paganism in the sense I have seen explained here today. Isn't really 'Paganism'.
    
    Paganism is the worship of seperate, opposing entities. What I see described here is a joining with the many aspects of a single entity. An entity I call God.
    
    Walking along a road and feeling a divine prescense, and further up the road feeling a change in that prescense, doesn't (to me) make the changed prescense a different entity, just an entity saying something different.
    
    Naming the different moods or different ways God expresses itself... Calling the femine qualties/the feminine side of God 'The Goddess' doesn't prove the existence of dual supreme beings, that are different but equal. It is merely a way for a very limited being (human) to begin the attempt at understanding the infinitely complex entity the Supreme Being is.
    
    For me the definition of the word supreme means multiple gods can't exist. God by definition is Singular/Supreme.
    
    That doesn't mean there can't be many entities with the powers that Pagans ascribe to these entities they call gods. They may even be the means by which God(the Supreme Being) had always communicated to humanity.
    
    So don't be mistaken, I am by no means trying to say that what pagans experience and call interactions with diverse gods doesn't happen. I am merely stating that in my opinion they are using words incorrectly. They are using a word that defines a singular entity in the plural(for example:the many I's';all of the Me's'; the pinnacle's' of that mountain; The very best's'.
    
    Best, Supreme, Pinnacle are all words that describe entities that are singularly without an equal. The term 'god' is by definition a single entity without peer. Perhaps the terms demi-god and such were an ancient attempt to correct this?
    
    

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       paarsurreyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

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    knolyourselfposted 12 years ago

    "Paganism is the worship of seperate, opposing entities."
    My understanding is these would be spirits. Everything in the material world is said to have a spirit. God is another issue altogether. From understanding of Paganism of the past, they usually held a supreme being to be a different or
    higher entity.

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       kittythedreamerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       That definition is incorrect. "Opposing entities" is not what Pagans believe in. Mostly we believe in entities that work together or are all a part of one source.

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    nasakeposted 12 years ago

    Mikel Roberts i suppose it depends what way you want to swing it. Alot of pagans believe in a single entity, that is the makeup of everything, and that certain gods and godesses are merely archetypes of personality from that same source. Others believe that the seperate gods do exist and have their own forms/ personalities etc...
    
    Paganism is actually everything outside of an Abrahamic Religion, so, not to offend you, but your statement about "Isn't really paganism" isn't correct in any sense. Unless ofcourse you were mistaking the source I spoke of for a Creator God. The pagans that believe in a Creator God i believe are called Christo-pagans. But ofcourse you have tonnes of set paths e.g. Druidism, Shamanism, Vodouisant, Wiccan (unfortuantely) and worse than that, Satanism. (This falls under paganism due to its occult status- though could be argued that it is Abrahamic- with Satan being the bi-product of God.

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    paarsurreyposted 12 years ago

    Mikel G Roberts wrote:
    The term 'god' is by definition a single entity without peer.

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       Disappearingheadposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       so what do you think of that Paar?

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          paarsurreyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          I think it is correct; what is your objection if any?

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