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What does your deity/higher power look like? Would you recognise them if you met them?
What about angels? How do you visualise them?
This week's Spiritual Newsletter is all about Gods and Goddesses, and the passage of time.
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What does your deity/higher power look like? When you pray, or worship, how do you visualise them? Having grown up in a Western Christian family, with Western Christian picture books, and then attending a Western Christian primary school, the way that I visualise God, and especially Jesus, is bound to be completely incorrect. The Jesus of my youth was light-skinned, with long, light brown hair and blue eyes, which doesn’t align with the region where he was born and grew up in. Nobody in this day and age can truly know what Jesus looked like, but it is interesting that we seem to have Westernised him.
Gods and Goddesses have historically been depicted in many different ways. As someone who loves cats, the ancient Egyptian Bastet was always going to stand out to me. There are several Gods and Goddesses from that time who look a blend of humans and other species – Horus, for example, and Anubis. Of course, hybrid deities are not exclusive to ancient Egypt. There is Pan, from ancient Greek religion and mythology, who has the horns and hind legs of a goat, and Cheiron, whose appearance differed from other centaurs because of his heritage.
Some faiths readily depict their deities, and people may have depictions of them in their own homes, whereas others believe that there should be no images or statues created of their God, nor of their God’s representatives. In the latter case that leaves the visualisation up to the individual, and it is likely that despite there being common themes, each person’s idea of what their higher power looks like is at the very least slightly different.
This is not necessarily a bad thing. The mental image we form of our deity is a personal one, just as our relationship with them is personal. We each of us have our own faith, and grow our own bond, and despite subtle differences, each bond is special. Faith is quite a unique power. I call it a power because we have each of us been granted the ability to choose what we believe, and what we do not believe, and this faith (and lack thereof) has shaped the world around us. Yet, as personal as it is, it is subject to time, and trends, because who now believes in Zeus? What happened to Horus and Anubis? I am reminded of the novel Small Gods by Sir Terry Pratchett – an interesting read for followers of any faith, or none – in which he shows clearly the differences between performative and true belief, and the way in which this changes over time and affects religion and perhaps even deities – what happens to deities when people stop believing?
I’m a non-religious monotheist and, as said, I was raised in a Christian household. Throughout my time on this planet I have seen the religion of my youth change. Some branches have become more open and inclusive; others’ views and actions are so far removed from the teachings of Jesus that I wonder if a new religion is on the horizon. We’re a fascinating species, we humans. We imagine, and we create, each in our own way. My mom has a set of candles that’s over half a century old. They’re little angels, all blonde and sweet with little halos above their heads, but we do not know what we would see if we were to encounter an angel. Would we recognise one if we did?
One day, we will know for certain. And it may turn out that one of us was right all along. I wonder who that will be.
Kit of House Lannister
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Spiritual: April 10, 2024 Issue [#12501]
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