Are the gods self aware beings?

From: Colin Watson <watson_at_csd.abdn.ac.uk>
Date: Wed, 16 Nov 1994 15:42:53 GMT



Michael:
> Are the gods self aware beings?

I think any kind of awareness that a god might have would be totally alien to human concepts of self awareness.

Look at it like this: How self-aware are humans? You suspect you exist, but are you aware of *how* you exist? Are you aware of what each and every neuron in your brain is doing? Do you care? Is there anything you can do about it?

I think this is in some ways analogous to gods/worshippers. If you imagine a god to be a person; worshippers are the cells which make up its body (ie. its cult). The god seems to be more than the sum of its parts.

Worshippers can be no more aware of the true nature of their God than neurons are aware of the Mind. They serve in faith, without understanding. Conversely, the god is not consciously aware of the activity of each and every worshipper (just as the Mind is not directly aware of neuron activity in the brain).

Somehow, if things go well, the worshippers do what they can to support the cult and the god tries to supply what the cult needs, at the same time trying not to do anything willfully dangerous to its existence.

Most of the everyday interaction between God and worshippers is of a low-level, reflexive nature which the God is barely aware of. The worshippers can relate to this and are kept happy; it seems to them that God thinks and acts at the same level as they do.

But, despite the best intentions, God is (metaphorically speaking) just as likely to pick at an itchy scab, re-infecting a wound; or sink 10 pints of an evening, destroying countless braincells because it seemed a good idea at the time. And the worshippers are left wondering why God has turned against them. ie. *Conscious* divine acts may be difficult for worshippers to understand.

Now, obviously this isn't a perfect analogy. In Glorantha gods seem to have somewhat less freedom of action than Humans; and worshippers are generally less deterministic than single neurons (tho I sometimes wonder in the case of Storm Bullies). But hopefully it demonstrates why I think a God, if it is self-aware at all, will have awareness which is fundamentaly different from that of its worshippers.

___
CW.
hoopy answers r us


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