Do the Gods Know Everything?

November 11th, 2007

Many believe that the Gods are omniscient and omnipotent. While I agree that together, the Gods know and control everything, each God as an individual does not.

Instead, each God has a domain, or realm, They control. For example, Aphrodite’s domain is Love. This means that though She is an expert in things relating to love, it does not mean that She is good for asking questions about money (unless maybe it’s the love of money).

I’ve learned this through my experiences with my different Gods. Sometimes I would ask a question that was outside of the domain of the God I was working with. The result was frequently an answer that was so cryptic that it was not decipherable, or it was not really answering the question I asked.

If I asked a God to help me with a spell that was outside of Their domain, the spell normally did not work. Nothing catastrophic happened, but when I asked Chronos, the God of Time, to help me make money faster, nothing seemed to happen. Maybe it did work, but the landlord cannot wait a thousand years. Hermes has turned out to be a much better choice for such spells.

Sometimes I’ve talked with people who believe that all Gods are one God, where They are interchangeable. This would mean that They are omniscient and omnipotent. To me, it is an idea that springs more from the monotheism of Christianity that our society is immersed in, rather than a solid study in the Gods.

The only way I am able to reconcile the idea of any deity’s omnipotence with my experiences is to think of the Monad. The Monad is the sum total of everything. It includes all matter, all energy and all dimensions in the Universe. One could say that the Monad is omnipotent and omniscient, but I think this isn’t a helpful way to think of it. To work with someone or something (including through prayer), it must be something distinguishable from yourself. The Monad is not separate from yourself, myself, or anything.

To me thinking of all Gods as one God is like saying that all humans are really the same human because we are all part of the same humanity. This isn’t true for humans, and from my experience, it isn’t true for Gods. And just like some humans know a lot about some things and very little or nothing about other things, the Gods specialize in Their divine domains.

As above, so below.

Do you agree or disagree? Feel free to leave a comment.

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8 Responses to “Do the Gods Know Everything?”

  1. Chell Says:
    November 11th, 2007 at 3:25 pm

    Great topic! I think of it much the same way. Also, humans or Gods would never be able to fool or to win against a(nother) God if a single God knew all or was all-powerful.

  2. Livia Says:
    November 13th, 2007 at 1:11 am

    I think you’re absolutely right. The “all gods are one god” bit is a hangover from monotheism indoctrination. I also think there’s a tendency to lump gods together in an attempt to negate cultural differences and make peace between the races. And I think it’s a bad move to do this; it’s a dishonest oversimplification that only leads to trouble. Anyway, nice post.

  3. Wendy Says:
    November 16th, 2007 at 11:35 am

    I agree, but for a slightly different reason. Gods from the same pantheons interact with each other, which they would not be able to do unless they were of separate mind. Why bother?

    I also agree that it’s pointless to ask Zeus how to stay faithful or ask Dionysus how to stay sober or save up money. They just don’t do those things– it would be like asking your couch surfing friend to pay the rent for a few months while you’re away, he may try to help but it’s not realistic.

  4. Morninghawk Says:
    November 16th, 2007 at 4:30 pm

    Chell: Yes, mythology (and the universe the mythology symbolizes) would be much more boring if only one God knew everything.

    Livia: I hadn’t thought of the lumping of Gods together as a way to negate cultural differences. That is an interesting point. There has been a big push to mix everyone together as one big happy world family since the 1960s. I agree with you in that it is a dishonest oversimplification.

    Wendy: I like your examples… Definitely asking Zeus about staying faithful would lead to some unexpected results!

    Thanks for the comments.

  5. phoenix Says:
    March 3rd, 2008 at 6:32 pm

    excellent post, really enjoyed reading this! and was kinda funny, can just imagine telling my landlord to wait a thousand years :)

    i think i differ from your way. I believe all the Gods are part of a whole.. actually now you made me think.. I’m not so sure now.. I always thought they were separate entities, but then i read a piece which made sense to me about the Gods being part of a whole..

    I think this is a really deep topic.

    mind if i blog about it?

  6. Morninghawk Says:
    March 4th, 2008 at 12:52 am

    I’m glad you liked it. Feel free to blog about it. I’d be interested in reading your take. Thanks for the comment.

  7. phoenix Says:
    March 4th, 2008 at 7:24 pm

    cool thanks. just posted a blog, and I thought I had a total different idea than what you have, but if im not mistaken it seems almost the same :)

    you really had me thinking about this one! thanks again for this great post!

  8. Morninghawk Says:
    March 9th, 2008 at 10:46 am

    Thank you for the compliment. I’m glad you found some inspiration in it. Your post is quite interesting and I recommend everyone go check it out.

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