Is it possible for Them not to love?

[SkySamuelle]

I wonder what your experiences are with this particular topic, which is a little difficult for me to face, in all honesty.

Is it possible for the gods you work with not to love? I'm not talking the peripheral ones, the deities you come to now and again and don't have a strong one-on-one working relationship with.  I'm talking about the Main Ones.  The first and foremost in your life, your patrons.

I understand that some pagan faiths, like branches of Heathenism, for example, might believe that the gods aren't as interested in you as you are them, and that's a cultural thing (right?).  I get that, and maybe it's not those that I'm asking about, because that's sort of a given.

The others, though.  The ones that you want to love you, you expect and want to love you.

Is it possible, that even though they chose you (does it make a difference if you chose them? I think so), even though you work with them every day and do offerings and want to love them, that they're not going to/don't want to/can't return that love?

 
I tend to think that the love a deity can have for an human follower probably resembles a lot to something in between the love we can come to have for our pets and the love an artist has for their creations, with a side of a thing someone feels for their tool after forging it and using it well.


If you really think about it, we don't really love our deities the same exact way we love our human family or friends either - we expect or accept or want different things from those relationships, because those relationships are on different levels.

In a similiar way, different relationships with different deities can fullfill different purposes. Out of the deities I honor, I received occasional rushes of love from two - I have no idea of what Hermes feels for me, if anything but amusement at all, and it's not fundamental to my involvement. I respect Him, I hope He eventually sends me some good luck my way and try to learn His lessons so I'll get over some issues - loving Him or being loved by Him would probably make noT a major difference.

Or... maybe I am not expaining this well - if I had a need to master certain lessos of His and He felt nothing but a passing interest in molding me in certain aspects (which it might be, all things considered) I would still make the necessary work as long as I feel it improves me and my life.

So while I think it's possible to make a deity's work without being loved by Them or without loving Them , I think it's important to remember it's not a matter of us being unwhorty, but more like ... not being the perfect/right fit for Them?

If we accept them as individuals, we have to accept they have personal tastes and distastes that can make us not necessarily or equally loveable in their eyes.

I write this because a big part of your difficulty seems to steem from the feeling this goddess is somehow finding you lacking.

Maybe Her interest in you takes a shape is not as warm as Her role might indicate to you, and you translate that as a lack of affection or maybe the affection is truly not there but She still sees in you something whorty of shaping, which is no small accomplishment. It may be hard to tell the difference but in the end,  I would imagine the question comes back to whether you feel fullfilled by your service to that deity - if you love the work you do with/for Her or if you find it beneficial, is it important how much/what She feels toward you?

[NibbleKat]

I tend to think that the love a deity can have for an human follower probably resembles a lot to something in between the love we can come to have for our pets and the love an artist has for their creations, with a side of a thing someone feels for their tool after forging it and using it well.


If you really think about it, we don't really love our deities the same exact way we love our human family or friends either - we expect or accept or want different things from those relationships, because those relationships are on different levels.

In a similiar way, different relationships with different deities can fullfill different purposes. Out of the deities I honor, I received occasional rushes of love from two - I have no idea of what Hermes feels for me, if anything but amusement at all, and it's not fundamental to my involvement. I respect Him, I hope He eventually sends me some good luck my way and try to learn His lessons so I'll get over some issues - loving Him or being loved by Him would probably make noT a major difference.

Or... maybe I am not expaining this well - if I had a need to master certain lessos of His and He felt nothing but a passing interest in molding me in certain aspects (which it might be, all things considered) I would still make the necessary work as long as I feel it improves me and my life.

So while I think it's possible to make a deity's work without being loved by Them or without loving Them , I think it's important to remember it's not a matter of us being unwhorty, but more like ... not being the perfect/right fit for Them?

If we accept them as individuals, we have to accept they have personal tastes and distastes that can make us not necessarily or equally loveable in their eyes.

I write this because a big part of your difficulty seems to steem from the feeling this goddess is somehow finding you lacking.

Maybe Her interest in you takes a shape is not as warm as Her role might indicate to you, and you translate that as a lack of affection or maybe the affection is truly not there but She still sees in you something whorty of shaping, which is no small accomplishment. It may be hard to tell the difference but in the end,  I would imagine the question comes back to whether you feel fullfilled by your service to that deity - if you love the work you do with/for Her or if you find it beneficial, is it important how much/what She feels toward you?

Well, I have to say that everyone has made a lot of interesting points. And in truth, everyone has really, really helped me with my view of this particular goddess.  I suppose in theory I never thought of deities as being teachers/professors/bosses in context of myself.  IT was a "it's for other folks!"

...so, this is a good ol'fashioned whap on the head with a newspaper to say just the opposite to me.  I don't think the gods are incapable of love, like I mentioned before.  I agree that it could be love like you have for a child, a pet, or a piece of art you've created.  There are different kinds of love, and even if one doesn't get the love that they want that is edifying to their own personal needs and wants, that doesn't mean that the love isn't enough.

It also doesn't mean that if there isn't love, if it is, at it seems in many cases mentioned, a molding-the-clay relationship or something else, that it isn't worthwhile.  They are there for a reason.  If we happen to fit into what They want, then that's what we're here for, and if that means we're a pet, a piece of art, a child, a student, then that's the way it'll be, and there's something just as wonderful and fulfilling and right about it.

And I'm good with that.  And I am glad that you folks could show me that.

That's why I love the Cauldron. :thup: