Aidonian's blog

monotheists tend to submit themselves to their God and in their worship, form a relationship with their God. Polytheists also form a relationship with their Gods but our relationship is different. Ours is reciprocal. We give freely our worship, our prayers to the Gods and in turn, They bless us.

I have read that some Christians label this as a form of a contract. Here is the thing. Just because we offer the Gods, does not mean we will get it. It

When we pray, we pray for various reasons: to offer praise, for health, for others we care about. When we offer incense, libations and whatnot, we commit to the Gods that we offer that for them in hope that they will help us. Than its up to the Gods if They want to help us or not. The Gods do not need our worship. They are immortal, divine beings, far removed from our sphere. But through our worship, our prayers, our rituals, we can connect with Them, to establish a relationship.

The Gods will help you; they support you; they have an interest in your well-being and in your progress. Yet you yourself must first try and be willing to exert effort to achieve the things you want. Then, if you petition their support, the Gods will work by your side and help you, if what you desire is truly for the good.

The famous fable of Aisôpos, Herakles and the Wagoner , illustrates this point of Hellenic religion. It is the tale of a man whose cart was stuck in the mud. He prayed to Herakles or Hercules, to help him. The God appeared and insisted that the man get up and push the cart with his own effort in which case he would work beside him.

There is a similar fable, The shipwrecked and Athena telling the story of a rich Athenian sailing with other travelers, but the boat was overcome by a tempest and capsized. The traveler prayed to Athena and offered her great sacrifices if she should save him. One of the other travelers swam near and told him, “Indeed, pray to Athena, but start swimming!” hence the proverb known to everyone in Greece:

“Together with Athená, move your own hand.”

Of course this is not so unfamiliar to us who have heard the familiar phrase, “God helps those who help themselves.” And we agree. In other words, the approach in Hellenismos is not passive: we do not simply receive, but our action is a major constituent in the fruition of a prayer. Perhaps we are unwilling to take the action required to improve our situation. In such a case, the assistance of Gods is limited by our own inertia, making one’s progress much slower than desired.

One thing we must take into consideration when we pray, we can only pray for things that are possible without violation of natural laws. The Gods made them, so They can not violate the very laws that they made. The Delphic maxim “Pray for things possible.” showcases this perfectly.

So the argument that worship in polytheism is a contract is not true. When we engage in a contract, both parties have to uphold that contract and what is asked. In that sense, one can not state that the same can be applied to worship in polytheism. We offer our worship freely and while we do give Them things like offerings, we do it because we want to. Because we want to establish and develop our bond with our Gods, not because we are obligated to do it. In the past, it may seem more like an obligation because they felt that if they didn’t, the Gods would send their wrath on them and the order would fall. Now, we know better and that it doesn’t work that way. Now we have the freedom to do it because we want to, not because we must do it. Like i stated before, the Gods won’t do things for us, if we won’t do it ourselves. In other words, if we want the Gods to help us, we must shown Them that we can help ourselves. So saying that worship and praying in polytheism is a contract between human and divine is ridiculous. It doesn’t work that way, it never has.