Not sure where to put this...

[Loopus]

Hey everyone. WARNING - what follows is a veritable mass of verbal diahorrea that has come from a bit of soul searching ive been doing lately. it contains my opinoons about things like religion and philoaophy. i just wanted to put it down somewhere. further, im using my tablet, so spelling and punctuation will suck - sorry.

So, the way i see it is sorta like this.

Personally, i follow no God, but i do believe in a deity. odd, huh? well, i believe in the (and i made this up) manifestation of belief. if billions of trillions of people in history believed in - for example - the christian god, then surely there must be some truth in there somewhere?

so, following from that, how would one worship this deity, this concentration of belief? well, by doing things that are fulfilling to yourself. if this deity is composed of belief, then performing acts that increase your belief in something would be worship, yes?

in the same one, i guess this deity would have different aspects dependant on the action - for beating pb's or running an extra mile, for example, the deity will be a Warrior, as you follow an agressive path. or, for example, mine has been more scholarly lately as i try work out what the hell i actually believe in.

like i said,nonsensical, i just needed a sounding board

[Kevin Mack]

Write a novel about it, not a theological book. It doesn't stand up to logical scrutiny.

[Loopus]

I guess its heavily influenced, in a weird way, by Scottish culture. A novel would suit it, yes. Like the Silmarilion.

[Starstuff]

You might get a kick out of Neil Gaiman's American Gods.

[Artinum]

Lupus, I'd recommend reading Terry Pratchett's "Small Gods". The plot behind that one is almost exactly what you're saying about belief. Millions of people believe in the great Om, and lo, he appears to smite the heathens. His Church grows into a powerful empire, with heretics put to torture and death by the Inquisition. One day Om decides to manifest himself and discovers he's stuck as a tortoise - because despite the temples and the powerful church and everything else, the people do not believe in him any more. He has exactly one true believer left.

[Artinum]

Oh, and I'd also recommend Scott Adams' "God's Debris". Scott considers the paradox of a God that is all powerful and all knowing, and asks exactly why he'd create the universe. What purpose would it serve when he could produce any outcome and know what any experiment would do? His conclusion - there is only one question that God would be unable to answer. Could he commit suicide? The universe is the answer to that question - the stuff left over from an exploding omnipotent being, slowly piecing itself back together.

[Loopus]

Starstuff - ill get googling!

Artinum - i loved Small Gods, but did not remember it until now, thanks for reminding me! I will most definetely go order Adams' now, that sounds amazing.

Interesting to see that people are actually thinking about this the same way as I am.