Sunday, June 9, 2019

Gods of the Norse


If one studies the lore and the history of the Norse it quickly becomes clear that their Gods are different then other Gods and Goddesses. These differences have been deduced by the lore, the Norse and their ancestors personally experiences, and all of the modern day personally experiences followers of the path have. The main reasons why the Norse Gods are different are thus:

1. They are not omnipotent 
There are multiple instances and examples in the lore where various Gods go searching for knowledge and wisdom. One such example is Odin plucking out his own eye to gain wisdom from the Well of Mimir.


2. They are not immortal
The Gods rely on the Golden Apples that are kept by the Goddess Idun to stay ageless. They can also be killed. Such examples are in the death of Baldr and Kvisar (in addition to all of the deaths and chaos in Ragnrok). 


3. They are fallible
There are numerous instances where they act out of emotion (Freyr giving up his powerful sword in his quest for love), are morally flexible (The gods made an oath if payment with a person to build a wall around Asgard but found a way to get out of holding up their end of the oath), and go to various lengths to get that they want (Freya slept with multiple dwarves to get the Necklace of the Brisings).


4. They don't necessarily have purviews 
In the lore and history it is rarely stated that the Gods control certain aspects of the realms or are in charge of various elements. The Gods depicted in the primary source materials are larger then life personalities. The Norse, their ancestors, and modern day interpretations/followers of the path have attached various purviews to the Gods based on their personality traits and the types of myths, situations in those myths that they are involved in, the emotions involved in those myths, and personal experiences of the spiritual. These associations have also been popularized by the media, Marvel, and Hollywood.


All of these aspects with the combined knowledge and belief of how the Gods expect their patrons and kin to have a plan B (this promotes self sufficiency and preperation) in life and dealings (they do not pick us up and carry us in the sand) with them makes the Gods very humanistic. This humanistic aspect makes the Gods extremely relatable which helps those on the path.

This is how I talk about the Gods/the divine and relate to the Gods personality. Though, I have been part witness to and part of multiple conversations where one side is describing them like I have and the other side says yes but that is only how they are perceived and experienced with our limited resources (this is meant to represent our five senses, the limitations of our perception by our brain, and other spiritual limitations our physical bodies) - this connects with the fact the existence, time, matter, energy, and space are completely different for the divine and other spiritual beings. This ongoing debate (for lack of a better term) has inspired me to do some research regarding the divine and have gone back to the Vedics. 

This has led to the conclusion that each God simultaneously exists in three different forms. The first form being the anthropomorphic one that the Norse, their ancestors, and the follows of the path experience and relate to. The second form being an celestial existence and this his how they interact on that level, and third being a cosmic intelligence. Cosmic Intelligence is the idea that the deities exist as a force the permeates and is a part of everything (including every person - the divine spark if you will) in the galaxy. It is described in the Srimad Bhagavatam 2.1.32-33:
“Oh King, the rivers are the veins of the Cosmic Person and the trees are the hairs of his body. The air is his breath, the ocean is his waist, the hills and mountains are the stacks of his bones and the passing ages are his movements"

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