Recently I was asked who my patron God was. At first I was tempted to use my stand by answer of Cernunnos or any one of the Celtic Gods. But I decided to do some soul searching and take a look at things a bit more critically.
First I wanted to figure out which God I most identified with. Which God I would say that I most wanted to emulate in my life to make me a better person. Which God's story most appeals to me and touches me on a deeper level. I went down my list of Gods from around the world and I came up blank. Not one of them touched me, at least not in a way that I identified with. Not even the Celtic Gods with whom I do feel a close kinship. So I started feeling a bit lost. Just who was my patron God???
During all this I was having a discussion with a friend about one of our share interests in a scifi TV show. He said that he wasn't sure if he wanted to keep seeing the character written as "an unleashed god". At the time I wasn't sure what to make of it but the comment stayed with me for some reason. Later I had a moment of epiphany where a great many things clicked into place for me.
Now many of my friends who know me, know that I am a freak for all things Doctor WHO related. I love the show. Longest running Scifi TV show ever. Beats out Star Trek by about 3 years. I have been a fan of the show for over 28 years give or take a year. I am the biggest nerd in the room when it comes to this show, with trivia in my head that would make most fans cringe.
It was after my discussion with a fellow fan about the character of the Doctor that I realized just who my patron God was, it was the Doctor from the TV show Doctor WHO. I idolize this character. To a lesser extent I worship him. I do my best to emulate him and live up to his code of conduct. I see him as the Divine aspect I want to aspire to.
This really got my cogs turning. Here I am worshipping a made up character and aspiring to be like unto him. I wonder if there are others out there that have similar situations in their lives. After all surely this is probably how the Gods of ancient peoples came into being in a way. It got me thinking that maybe, just maybe, our culture isn't so much turning away from religion here in the modern world as some think, that maybe folks are just adopting new Gods to replace the old ones. When I mentioned my idea to a friend I was told that I really need to read Neil Gaiman's book "American Gods". After hearing a bit about the plot I plan to soon.
I personally don't think that it is so crazy of a notion that we create new Gods to worship. I think it is how we as humans cope with the craziness of life. Perhaps it does fly in the face of more traditional Pagan paths. But in the end one's relationship to Divinity is not something someone can share, it is a personal journey. Yes, The Doctor is my patron God. Maybe for someone else it might be Lt. Ripley from the Aliens franchise. Or even Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider franchise. Whatever you choose to find peace with let it be your journey.
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Did you mention Ripley for points boy??? Hehehehehe... you worship who you wana! I just wished i could get the TARDIS playset outta mah livingroom!! WAHHH!!
ReplyDeleteSociologically and psychologically I can see your logic, but in my heart of hearts, I don't--can't buy into it. I believe divinity is more than all that. Perhaps it's just a difference in how you and I define the word "god," but still......I just believe that it's more than that.
ReplyDeleteits hard for him to describe in words EXACTLY what the doctor means to him... you cannot and never will understand what the character and the show means to him. alot of folks think it is silly and thats just fine. maybe its the fact that wolfe, like myself, sees divinity in ALL forms of art... and Doctor Who is art defined.
ReplyDeleteImagine if you will turtlewoman that the Divine is something unknowable. Oh we can see facets of it, but our minds cannot comprehend it in its entirety. So we create "Gods" to help us make sense of the Divine. We create aspects like Pan or Brighid to make sense of the Divine we admire most and most want to be like.
ReplyDeleteSo here is a Character that has been a part of world culture since 1963, that is close to 50 years!!! It has touched the lives of many. It inspires people to live lives similar to it. It has a strong moral code. What would be wrong with considering said character an aspect of the Divine source???
Eviltwin is correct, I do see the face of "God" or "The Divine" in all forms of art. But that face is hard to relate to at times. The Doctor is a face I can relate to day in and day out. This is not to say that he is the only aspect of the Divine that I worship, just the one that I feel closest to.
oh and our beliefs don't matter turtlewoman... When we die we will know if we were right or wrong. Till then the fun of being human is to try to figure it out.
ReplyDeleteYour "heart of hearts" may not allow you to "buy into it". It could be that you cannot let go of superstitious nonsense like "Gods" and are not ready to look at things in a scientific or "sociological or psychological" point of view. Or it could be that you are correct and that there is more to the Gods than just what we decide that there is.
Trouble is no "God" has ever communicated with us mere mortals in any provable way ever. Dreams, they don't cut it because no one can verify. Visions don't cut it for the same reason. Both of which can be considered the mind playing tricks on us. The same goes for voices or just "gut feelings".
But we feel the need to believe in something higher than ourselves. So we fashion "Gods" to supply that need.
It all comes down to which came first, the chicken or the egg??? Did the Gods create us or did we create them???
"Did the Gods create us or did we create them???"
ReplyDeleteWhy can't they do both?
First of all, if there's anything by Neil Gaiman you haven't read yet, go do it. Right now. I'll wait.
I like Ebil's take on it; gonna go all Joseph Campbell Gods-n-Heroes too. Why can't fictional creations be inspiration from the Higher Ups, a way of translating Gods-as-Avatars into forms that modern people can relate to more? Think about the Awen symbol (among all the other multitasking it does) also being past, present, and future.
Even if they aren't, and are instead constructs that show what we aim for (or the opposite), they're still valid if someone can point to them and say "this illustrates my ideals".
Either way, you could do a lot worse than The Doctor. Some of the heroes of the past were selfish and made some serious clusterfracks; how many bothered to try to clean up after themselves?