Godheval

For those things which others refer to as “gods” or “deities”, this philosophy will adopt the gnostic term “Aeon”. Aeons are defined as collective manifestations of thought phenomena – complexes of ideas that are near “universal”, so as to take on a very “real” quality – real here meaning “existing in the physical world”. In this way, the world itself is an aeon – independent of religions such as Wicca or philosophies such as the Gaia Theory.

More specifically, Aeons are waveforms born of human thought  – deotypes – and change through random copying variations as their stories are told and retold.

Their form at any given time is a result of memetic selective pressures in the ideosphere. Some aeons are the “children” of others, as opposed to evolutions, because a story retold and altered as it travels may remain the same where it originated, resulting in two separate but related forms of the same aeon – parents and children.

For example, the “Father” of the Christian trinity, often depicted as an old European man in the heavens, can be seen as an evolution of the Greek Zeus, who also wore a long white beard and resided in the sky. Likewise Jesus Christ may be a conglomeration of various figures who preceded him, perhaps even incorporating the story of a real life person crucified around the time he was said to have lived in order to strengthen his myth.  Whether or not the “Son” or the “Father” actually exist, how they manifest in the consciousness of their believers is likely to differ from their physical or metaphysical reality.  They become, for each believer, a subjective phenomenon.

Do these phantoms of human perception have any bearing on “reality”, as we humans understand it? They may, perhaps by way of the collective consciousness – the ideosphere – influence real world events.

No scientist has ever observed a black hole, yet it is taken for granted they exist based upon the behavior of other celestial bodies in the area where they are suspected to be.  Aeons exist insofar as they are able to influence the world by proxy through those who believe in them.

Consider a holy war in which two sides each believe that their god exists, and that the god of the other side does not. And this is why they are fighting. Whether or not either god truly “exists” is irrelevant, because so long as the believers believe, their swords will be driven to strike their enemies.

Also consider the countless situations in which people act altruistically or at least charitably.  Barring situations where charity is merely a vehicle for proselytism, many people do so in order to follow the example of their god or gods.  A great number of non-profit organizations are religious in their mission, or have religious foundations.  Whether or not the god or gods that form that foundation exist is less important than how the idea of divinity inspires their good will.

Whether or not aeons exist – in flesh or spirit – is irrelevant, as in any case they operate on a subversive level, beneath or beyond human consciousness., and – at least for now – remain outside of our ability to observe them.  But where people act on what they believe to be their gods’ behalf, those aeons may as well be said to exist.

Aeons are subjective thought phenomena – perhaps projections of something greater – and manifest through the actions of those who believe in them.  As they enter the collective consciousness, meaning that multiple – even many – people agree on the details, their ability to influence the world increases.  This, for all intents and purposes, makes them as “real” as any other phenomena.

Aeons, like black holes, have tremendous effect on their surroundings, regardless of whether or not they can be observed.  The important question may not be whether or not aeons exist physically or metaphysically but whether or not they created or were created by their believers.

Either way, their ability to influence the world is formidable.