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Author Topic: Oldtime Gods and Newfangled Technology & Movements  (Read 2799 times)

anonymus

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Oldtime Gods and Newfangled Technology & Movements
« on: August 23, 2015, 07:41:07 pm »
Just thought of interesting question. Assuming the gods and goddesses exist, how do you think they've reacted to all the changes over the past century both technological and societal. On the one hand they're supposed to be more knowledge and wiser than us but on the other hand they must be at least a couple hundred thousand years old. Thoughts opinions?

Sarah

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Re: Oldtime Gods and Newfangled Technology & Movements
« Reply #1 on: August 24, 2015, 02:00:43 am »
Quote from: anonymus;179154
Just thought of interesting question. Assuming the gods and goddesses exist, how do you think they've reacted to all the changes over the past century both technological and societal. On the one hand they're supposed to be more knowledge and wiser than us but on the other hand they must be at least a couple hundred thousand years old. Thoughts opinions?

 
I think gods and societies change and grow together, One example is how I experience Brigid as a having a sphere of influence over modern technology because what is smithcraft if it isn't historically appropriate technology?
Knowing when to use a shovel is what being a witch is all about. Nanny Ogg, Witches Abroad

Sophia C

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Re: Oldtime Gods and Newfangled Technology & Movements
« Reply #2 on: August 24, 2015, 03:52:33 am »
Quote from: anonymus;179154
Just thought of interesting question. Assuming the gods and goddesses exist, how do you think they've reacted to all the changes over the past century both technological and societal. On the one hand they're supposed to be more knowledge and wiser than us but on the other hand they must be at least a couple hundred thousand years old. Thoughts opinions?

 
I guess there are two ways of thinking of this (or maybe more and I've only thought of two!) In American Gods, the old gods are fighting new gods - of technology, computers, TV, modern music, etc. The old gods don't understand either these new things, or the gods of them. That's the school of thought that says that the gods are from the old world (literally, in the case of American Gods) and can't understand the new world.

Another approach, though, might be to realise that, even though we see the world as changing very fast because we're in the centre of it now, maybe the world doesn't change that fast, from the viewpoint of someone who sees things very differently. Maybe the people who worked with that new-fangled bronze wondered whether the gods could keep up with them - and thousands of years later, we just see humanity sliding from one form of tools (technologies) to another, with old deities seeing it all as the folly of humanity - or the fun of us, maybe.

From that perspective, I see some of the gods as cheerfully taking on new technologies of all kinds. I imagine Mercury as taking gleeful charge of IT and modern communication technology (while having fun dropping Skype calls and prompting us to send those emails that we immediately regret once we press 'send'). I can see Morrighan enjoying digital tarot decks and oracular ipod playlists, thinking that she could have done with these at the Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh. Ogma seems to enjoy my forays into scholarship just as much when I'm researching via Google Scholar and Dragon Dictate to write my papers as when I'm in old musty libraries or writing with ink fountain pens. (Though he does seem to be a fan of the British Library.) I imagine Airmed and Brighid enjoying modern healthcare and medical treatments very much. I have no doubt that Camulus (Brythonic war god) is very impressed by nuclear weapons and unmanned drones. Taranis (god of the wheel and thunder) might enjoy cars and rock concerts. Hard to say whether Epona and Macha like modern horse-racing - they probably either adore putting money on the horses, or worry about their safety too much. Lugh must love football and test cricket and the iron man contest. I suspect Coventina protects the canal systems and waterways of Britain, looking after the exploited, insecure people who live on barges and house-boats. Maybe Elen of the Ways looks after our motorway system and you can meet her at bleak service stations all the way up the M1, if you look hard enough.

I used to wish I was more of a classic Pagan, liking crafts or playing lots of musical instruments or dancing all the time. I'm increasingly accepting that my love of technology and the modern world is not a bad thing. As an urban druid (TM), it works for me, sort of as the vehicle for my path. I'm already setting up online groups for Pagans who like that sort of thing, and I'm thinking that I need to go further with my tech-happiness and get good at things like doing readings online, and adapting old hoodoo workings to computer-based life, and online rituals and what have you. I'm not an olde worlde Pagan, and I don't think my gods are olde worlde gods either. (It helps that I'm dedicated to a very chaotic deity who's just as happy to interrupt my life technologically as she is doing it the old fashioned way.)

...I may need to start make offerings to Mercury and to Brighid of the Forge before using my computer...

- Leithin Cluan, worshiping the gods through her iPhone since 2010.
"We're all stories, in the end. Make it a good one, eh?"
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Weatherwax

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Re: Oldtime Gods and Newfangled Technology & Movements
« Reply #3 on: August 24, 2015, 05:01:42 am »
Quote from: Naomi J;179171
As an urban druid (TM), it works for me, sort of as the vehicle for my path. I'm already setting up online groups for Pagans who like that sort of thing

 
Ooh, do let me (us?) know please? I'd be very interested.

As for the gods, unless they have very specific (and limited) spheres of influence, I think they evolve with time, too. They have in the past, we can trace the evolution of many gods and goddesses from the early Bronze Age to the Hellenistic/Roman periods, so why not in our time?

Sophia C

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Re: Oldtime Gods and Newfangled Technology & Movements
« Reply #4 on: August 24, 2015, 05:13:06 am »
Quote from: Weatherwax;179172
Ooh, do let me (us?) know please? I'd be very interested.

 
So far the groups I've set up (with other people) are for specific interest groups - Pagan PhD students, Pagans from minority/marginalised groups. Both are just FB groups right now but anyone interested in either can message me and I'll add them on Facebook. Hoping to expand the second one away from Facebook when I have time to put into it!
"We're all stories, in the end. Make it a good one, eh?"
- Doctor Who

Aster Breo

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Re: Oldtime Gods and Newfangled Technology & Movements
« Reply #5 on: August 24, 2015, 01:58:42 pm »
Quote from: Weatherwax;179172
As for the gods, unless they have very specific (and limited) spheres of influence, I think they evolve with time, too. They have in the past, we can trace the evolution of many gods and goddesses from the early Bronze Age to the Hellenistic/Roman periods, so why not in our time?

Or perhaps the gods are doing more than simply evolving to keep up with technological advances. Perhaps they're the ones driving the advances.
"The status is not quo."  ~ Dr. Horrible

Weatherwax

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Re: Oldtime Gods and Newfangled Technology & Movements
« Reply #6 on: August 24, 2015, 02:19:25 pm »
Quote from: Aster Breo;179194
Or perhaps the gods are doing more than simply evolving to keep up with technological advances. Perhaps they're the ones driving the advances.

 
More on the lines of what I'm thinking. If they're part of everything as opposed to almost-humans with super powers, it makes more sense that they should be a part of whatever changes (material/spiritual/philosophical) that we're going through (and by "we" I don't just mean us as humans.) Everything evolves (those that survive anyway) and everything is a force in the whole scheme of 'things' -some are bigger forces.

That's how I see it anyway. :)

Darkhawk

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Re: Oldtime Gods and Newfangled Technology & Movements
« Reply #7 on: August 24, 2015, 02:43:28 pm »
Quote from: Naomi J;179171


 
Your post mostly makes me think about how Orthodox Judaism deals with matters of "We have a rule about lighting a fire on the sabbath" and figuring out what sorts of modern things "count" and which ones don't.

If human beings can figure out when electricity is symbolically the same as a fire according to relevant principles, it seems obvious to me that the gods - more intimately connected with symbological manipulation and extrapolation - would of course be totally capable of doing the same thing.
as the water grinds the stone
we rise and fall
as our ashes turn to dust
we shine like stars    - Covenant, "Bullet"

carillion

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Re: Oldtime Gods and Newfangled Technology & Movements
« Reply #8 on: August 24, 2015, 03:27:49 pm »
Quote from: anonymus;179154
Just thought of interesting question. Assuming the gods and goddesses exist, how do you think they've reacted to all the changes over the past century both technological and societal. On the one hand they're supposed to be more knowledge and wiser than us but on the other hand they must be at least a couple hundred thousand years old. Thoughts opinions?


My take on this is that people's toys change but people , not very much .(and for that matter, the toys only evolve from past models, there's little that's 'new'). All one would have to do is look through the eyes of a person in any given age and one could figure out their 'stuff'. People are more difficult to understand and they carry the deity narrative.

Redfaery

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Re: Oldtime Gods and Newfangled Technology & Movements
« Reply #9 on: August 24, 2015, 03:48:41 pm »
Quote from: anonymus;179154
Just thought of interesting question. Assuming the gods and goddesses exist, how do you think they've reacted to all the changes over the past century both technological and societal. On the one hand they're supposed to be more knowledge and wiser than us but on the other hand they must be at least a couple hundred thousand years old. Thoughts opinions?

 
My patroness Saraswati is prone to making odd pop culture references, that *I* don't always get. She loves the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and really enjoyed the movie adaptations of The Hobbit. Since she is a patron of artists and writers, I'm not actually surprised that she's remained up to speed on the various permutations of storytelling in these past millennia.
KARMA: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

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