As promised, this thread is about my opinion on whether one should simply follow a religion in order to "save the race", the most important benefit of believing in benevolent spiritual forces, and why we should get over the idea that the gods are out here to "punish" us.

First, I will start by saying that I am like Plato and the Neoplatonists, who believed that there is a Ultimate Creator of the universes, the gods, humans, animals and other beings. This Creator created the gods of different religions, like Shiva, Amun-Ra, Venus, Freya, etc.

I believe that this world is infused with supernatural forces, as shown by the numerous people reporting near-death experiences and other paranormal activities. This tells us that there must be forces, both benevolent and malevolent, that are from another world different to ours.

In this regard, the Gods are real forces that transcend Nature, not just mere archetypes or simple “forces of Nature” like sun, wind, fire etc. The plane of existence that created Nature and its phenomenon is also the plane that contains the Gods (pic: Mount Olympus).

I therefore, do not believe that we should follow a religion simply because we have a human-based motivation, though of course, there is nothing wrong with starting to follow a religion because of that, for example: pragmatism.

Before I elaborate further on why I think we should believe in a religion or spirit, I want to affirm one point: the gods are not here to “punish” or to “doom” us for “not following them”. Our pagan Gods in no way function like Abrahamic gods.

The conquest of Abrahamism, and then modernity and post modernity, are the results of living in the Dark Age. One should notice that no modern Pagans have complained about being mistreated or reproached by the Gods for not following them after a thousand years.

You also have free will to follow or not follow a God, though they will influence this world anyway. Here is the Botticelli painting which was made during the Renaissance. It was that of Venus. Compared it to a medieval Painting. Venus clearly has prevailed over Yahweh!

You see, even if no one worshipped them for nearly two thousand years, the Gods still try to influence the world when possible. The Renaissance, the Romantic era in the 19th century, and the post-60’s explosion of non-Christianity spirituality, are witnesses to (1/2)

to the influence of the Gods, trying to steer us in their direction, amidst this very flawed world (2/2).
Picture: Morrigan, goddess of war in Irish mythology.

Clearly, our Gods exist eternally, and will only end with the world’s end. The narrative of Ragnarok of some gods “dying” should be seen as a metaphor for the process of dying and being reborn after Ragnarok (which btw, is more like the end of Kali Yuga than the Apocalypse).

So, as the Gods exist forever, they also influence the realm of the living, and that of the “dead” (read: living outside of body, as a soul). Here, lies my argument for why we should follow the Gods. It has to do with overcoming the fear of Death.

We are here to help preserve our people, right? But here is the thing, what if “our people” turn on us, as many of them are doing now? And what if, we as humans have moments of doubt and fear, when we think that no benevolent and divine creature will come and help us?

You can say what you want about the Crusaders and Islamist fanatics, but there is a common trait among both of them: They all believe their god is benevolent towards them, and they believe if they die for their religion, they will go to a better place after death.

Therefore, these Abrahamists have NO FEAR OF DEATH. And since they do not fear death, they will do anything they can for their god, and their people. So this is the main reason why I follow my Gods: because I want to go to a better place after I die.

I also follow them because I believe they are real and benevolent, but I believe that a religion must serve the purpose of telling us what to do in our ultimate moment.

I do not put my faith in “my race”, even if I want to save them. My race, should they die in this world, will likely be recreated, in a better form, in a better world, after having die gloriously in combat against the dark forces of this world.

By the way, I want to say here that I, or the “religion” I believe in, follow a number of different European gods.

I am Northwestern European, so I will follow Celtic and Germanic gods. My civilization is also influenced by Greece and Rome, so I will follow some Greco-Roman gods.

Ultimately I see them as coming from One Source, like Plato. Each God/ Goddess is the expression of an aspect of the Divine, and also contain the link to all other aspects and to The Source Itself.

For other people, however, I simply tell them to pick the gods most suitable to their temperament. One way or another, one God or Goddess will lead them back to the Divine.

What about, if you don’t want to worship a God, or to believe we can become our own Gods? This is a controversial topic, but I think there is a satisfaction answer.

I believe, you can choose to believe that we can become our own Gods, or we will obtain the Godhead but never become close to the Gods as humans. It doesn’t matter, because your own spiritual practice and process will direct you to the same end of becoming more spiritual.

We will either become our own Gods, or we will become like the existing Gods. Either way, we will all become Divine.