I have 13 minutes to write this, to try to sum up what I feel about Zeus at this point. I am not done with him, but I want to sum up what I feel as I write, as I am right now, so that I can move forward and explore some aspects of the God that are of particular importance to me.
Zeus is, for lack of a better expression, God. His very name means God. Not the God that is all things, that is not where my religious beliefs lie, but rather, he is the God that the Abrahamics refer to, the one who is being invoked when I say O My God, and the one whose presence is felt in all of the strange and sometimes maniacal rantings of the Abrahamic Religions.
Zeus is not that God, not in the sense that he condones or expects the zealotry of the Christians and Moslems, but his influence is felt by them and they mistakenly see him as being the one and only.
Zeus is vast, which is saying something for a God, as all Gods are vast beyond our ability to comprehend, but Zeus is vast and permeating. Like the sky which we use to symbolize him, he is everywhere. We walk through him, breathe him in, feel on our faces as the wind blows. He is there between and within us . So ever present is he that we are never, ever, out of his influence.
Zeus is sovereign, and as I have already alluded to, I believe it is because he is like a medium through which all other Gods act. He is like a buffer between us and them, between the blinding and dangerous fires of divinity and the delicate senses of mortality. He is like a king, because he doesn't just rule and mandate, but mediates between many powers. Like a king who must control the power, ambitions, and needs of his court, he is the hand that rises and stops an action that could destroy, or allows another that can create.
As a deity, Zeus is not only ever present, but eternal, as are all the Gods, but he is also one of the Gods who I believe has, from time to time, incarnated in the world. Was it as a human being, an eagle, a bull? I cannot tell you those with certainty, but I believe this incarnation has given him the power he holds, because it has made him the medium of contact between disparate powers.
We adore and honor him for his protection, and in doing so acknowledge and help maintain his place in the hierarchy of the divine.
2 comments:
when you said "the one who is being invoked when I say O My God" i know how you feel. I am open about my faith so occasionally i get a look when i use this phrase. its as if only Christians are allowed to use it.
Right, yet it is used by everyone, from Christians and Jews to Hindus and any number of other faiths.
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