Deities, Numbers, and their Web

I believe that there is an infinite number of deities, which correspond to all events, entities, and abstractions both existent and possible. They might be said to “ride” these; at the least they are associated with and control them, to a greater or lesser extent. There are an infinite number of deities because there are an (at least potentially) infinite number of events, entities, and abstractions; if the deities were associated with the numbers alone they would be infinite, but they are not only related to each entity, event, or abstraction, they are also associated with each combination of them. So not only would they be associated with A, B, C, and D, but with AB, AC, AD, ABC, ABD, BCD, and ABCD. And not only that, but with BA, CA, etc., since the order of associations matters. And not only that, but the intensity of each element matters, so we have A1, A2, A3, etc., and not only A1B1, A2B2, etc., but (AB)1, (AB)2, etc. You can see, I’m sure, how the number gets real big real fast.

These elements therefore form a web made up not just of them, but of their interconnections, which because of their infinite number and the necessity of connecting with all other elements and combinations of elements, consist of the elements with connections reaching out in an infinite number of directions, perhaps best seen as existing in an infinite number of dimensions. Each element will differ from the one next to it on each of these interconnections by an infinitesimal degree. The deities that form these nodes of the web (and perhaps even on the interconnections?) are nonetheless discrete personalities.

Among other things, most of which I’ve yet to understand or develop, are four important implications.

First, it explains how more than one deity can have their origin in a single one. For instance, Jupiter, Zeus, Týr, and Dyaus Pitar are separate deities, but can be traced back to the single Proto-Indo-European deity *Dyḗus Ptḗr. How can the original deity *Dyḗus Ptḗr “split” into these four deities? The answer is that he doesn't need to. There are an infinite number of deities attached to him on the web of interconnecting deities. When a particular culture changed its beliefs or cultus connected with *Dyḗus Ptḗr, the deity “slides” along one of the strands in the web to another deity just like *Dyḗus Ptḗr, only with the difference(s) related in the change. Since different cultures change in different ways, they would slide deities along different strands, and for different distances, and the cultures would end up with different deities, close to each other at first, but getting further and further away as more change occurred. The result would be separate gods that had their origin in a single one. At no point in the process of change would the god worshiped be non-existent; the change would always be a pre-existent deity. The original god wouldn’t have “split;” it would be the conceptions that were association with them by descendant cultures that would have split.

Second, the belief in the web means that whatever concepts may be associated with a particular deity, a deity corresponding with those concepts exist. Thus, if someone sees Lug as a solar god, there is a god out there who has not only the historical characteristics of Lug, but also those of a solar god. Or, closer to my heart, if someone believes that Cernunnos is a Lord of Animals, there exists a Cernunnos with all the characteristics of the historical one, but who is also a Lord of Animals. (Of course, this doesn’t mean that Lug was a solar god to the ancient Irish, or that Cernunnos was a Lord of Animals to the ancient Gauls, and that we can’t argue about that.)

Note that this applies not just to individuals, but to groups. If in a group of people person A believes god N is A’, person B believes he is B’, and person C believes he is C’, then the god N that they are worshiping is A'B’C’.

Third, any imagined deity exists; there is a node that corresponds to their imagined characteristics. Tolkien’s Valar and the Sypekdho vy of my Tuadem exist. “Imagined” is therefore not the right word, then; “discovered” is. And, since the characteristics of these deities include their appropriate cultus, imagined/discovered forms of worship exist for them. They even gladly receive prayers in a made-up language which for them is real.

Finally, if all this is true, what about monotheistic deities? If there is an infinite number of deities in existence, then surely they must exist too. How can YHWH/the Trinity/Allah, for whom there are no other gods, exist in this web of an infinite number of gods? Must they not have their own place in the web? If so, then how can it be said that all their characteristics, one of which is that they are the only god, are true? And if not, how can we say that all possible deities exist?

I say that they don’t, and in fact, can’t exist. The important phrase here is “place in the web.” By being defined as the only Gods, they have been placed outside the web, and it is only deities that have a place in the web who exist according to this belief; indeed, they draw their existence from their place in the web. And since it is this place that defines not just their existence, but their nature, it follows that a monotheistic God, who has placed itself outside of the web, has no nature and therefore no existence.

Of course, all this depends on my concept of the web of deities. But I believe that it naturally and necessarily follows from a belief in polytheism, and having experienced a number of deities, I plan on staying a polytheist.