Paganistan: Notes from the Secret Commonwealth
In Which One Midwest Man-in-Black Confers, Converses & Otherwise Hob-Nobs with his Fellow Hob-Men (& -Women) Concerning the Sundry Ways of the Famed but Ill-Starred Tribe of Witches.
Godhood to Go Around
Dïos Akhilleús: “godlike Achilles.”
If there's an adjective pretty much guaranteed to set Abrahamic teeth on edge, it's probably “godlike.”
In its pantheonic impoverishment, the Abrahamic mind views any comparison of human to “God” as, in effect, lèse-majesté: a diminution of divine majesty. Or something.
Pagans, of course, see things differently. For us, with our divine plenitude, there's godhood to go around.
For Achilles, of course, the adjective is literally true: his mother was a goddess. But that's not what's really going on with “godlike.”
“If you want to understand the gods,” said Sokrates, “look at excellence.”
That's what made the ancient Olympics a religious experience.
I heard myself referring to a friend's neighbor the other day as “the godlike Paolo.” In Paolo's case, this references sheer physical beauty. I tell you, if anyone has the butt of a god, it's Paolo the golden.
(Paolo qua Apollo, perhaps? Hmm.)
There are other forms of excellence besides a godlike form, of course. There's also beauty of mind, beauty of talent, beauty of behavior. The godlike Albert Einstein I sing.
In the generous world of the paganisms, there's godhood to go around.
If you want to understand it, look at excellence.
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