Just curious on what everyone's view of what deity is. This can be your belief or any information you have surrounding other beliefs.
I personally go by the concept that everything is connected and infused within everything. That there is a source that is all. But this source also encompasses all. This source is then broken down into various aspects or true forms. Generally this can be done by separating into masculine and feminine aspects such as the Mother Goddess and the Father God. This can also be separated into aspects of elements.
I will utilize various gods/entities in my works. I view these to be parts of the whole. For example, while the father god is just one part of the whole, there are also various parts to the father god. These would include any male concept available. This could be Jesus, Lucifer, Superman, etc. The use of an individual is more for refinement of the energy that connects everything, the source.
To me, a deity is a complex being of energy, having some sort of influence over everything. The Earth, spirituality, you and the person next to you, who falls in love with whom, ect. Having a belief that all being are tied into one source, or one "being"/ deity, is called Universalism.
I understand deities as a term I use that is translated from Canadian Inuit, Indweller.
As an animist and polyspiritist (as opposed to polytheist), I believe everything in the world has a soul, and is in essence a non-human soul.
This is the rocks, plants, animals, weather, celestial bodies, earth itself, etc.
The greater non-human persons are practically, gods. These can be the god of a particular mountain, forest, or stream, Bay, Countryside, more local Indwellers. Other great Indwellers are the Indwellers of the Wind (the Devil), Earth(Nicnevin), Seas, Sun, Planetary Bodies, etc.
We rarely deal straight with the greater Indwellers. The Devil is typically spoken through little Devils, divine messengers, daemons.
It could be various. For example see ancient text Atrahasis:
"When the gods instead of man.........."
According to some ancient doctrines is something like "evolution". But on spiritual plane. And people who - for example, through meditation - will receive a special forces may in next life among the gods. Some ancient mysteries was about it.
Good question. Deities are mental projections of human thought. They are somewhat a psychic phenomena as well, some to greater degrees than others. A shared pool of deep living thought from which real wisdom and insight can be attained, especially if you are open to learn.
