Gods, Goddesses, and the divine.

What! You've never sought the divine?

But the myths define and express the religion. And science eventually busts all literal myths. Religion must keep up with science and adapt their myths to the current knowledge or the myths become meaningless and die. That's what's happening now, half the world is bogged down in meaningless, irrelevant myths, and the other half is without a myth or is searching for one a person at a time.

As it happens, no i haven't. There is no good reason to assume that there is any such thing as "the divine." However, you need to re-read your own OP, with all that bullsh*t about gods and goddesses dying. I was responding to that--if you think your OP emphasized "the divine," i suggest you need to work on your exposition skills.

But Set, it ain't over yet...

Since the divine is a subjective experience, I don't understand how one can say that it doesn't exist; it's like saying that beauty doesn't exist.

On the other hand, I have to admit that a spiritual quest or search is folly, maybe a necessary folly, but, still, we're wont to do it. It's something like a dog chasing its own tail.

I don't understand why you're even using the word "divine". If it is just your appreciation of art, music etc. or whatever you find has profound meaning to you personally. Why confuse the issue with a word that's historically been applied to deities? It seems you're after two separate answers. Yes, gods "die" when nobody worships them anymore. Yes, the "divine" remains because, like the gods, it exist only in your mind. Are you even associating gods with divinity? Why would I need Zeus or Jehovah to appreciate Vivaldi?

Following along for a bit, re what people are thinking. I get Setanta's points though I believed as a kid before I then stopped cold. I agree with Tom Tom too. But that isn't why I bother to post. It's to say thanks, now I'm going to the living room to put on Vivaldi.

No, "we" are not wont to do it. Some people, already steeped in the god botherer traditions of their childhoods may feel such an urge. Others, not so much.

You're proposing a false analogy. One can at least point to what it is that they experience as beauty, for others to agree or disagree, but none the less to understand the motive of he or she who has so judged. "The divine" is a subjective experience which takes place entirely in your head--you can't show anyone what might be called evidence.

So like, we were drinkin' beers all afternoon, and eatin' this super hot, five alarm chili at Bubba's house, and then we switched to beer bongs. The next mornin' when i got up i had this . . . this e-piss . .. this e-pith . . . you know, that thing where you suddenly see the truth, and . . .

Exactly!
The divine is the eternal.

“Via Joseph Campbell: My friend Heinrich Zimmer of years ago used to say, "The best things can't be told," because they transcend thought. "The second best are misunderstood," because those are the thoughts that are supposed to refer to that which can't be thought about, and one gets stuck in the thoughts."The third best are what we talk about.”
― Heinrich Robert Zimmer

You haven't been able to demonstrate that any such thing as "the divine" actually exists, yet you decide to pontificate so far as to say that it is "eternal." You're babbling. Quoting that old bullsh*t artist Campbell or any of his cronies not only doesn't impress me, it convinces me that you'll believe anything anyone tells you if it seems obscure yet mystical.

Nevertheless, an assumption not without some merit. There is an unmistakable similarity between Greek and Roman mythology and the account written in Genesis chapter 6.

Of course one approach to the divine is music, including Vivaldi. But one doesn't even need the arts, just nature and the universe with its beauty and horror, because virtue springs from within and is not imposed from above.

People have trouble with the word, divine, because its been hijacked and defined by the fundamentalists and literalists, and its association with a patriarchal monotheistic god. But to reject the divine is to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Now, I'm not trying to impress old, crusty intellectuals or convert atheists or fundamentalists. I'm trying to give choices to the young, confused people who are disillusioned with their religious upbringing or lack thereof, and who are searching and questioning. I'm trying to point them in some direction, give them some hope. And A2K needs a continuous infusion of new people, young and old, who are looking for new ideas.

A nice sentiment, but 'The Divine - It's real and it's all in your head' doesn't have much staying power.

Speaking of Vivaldi try this: "Gloria" played by students of North Texas University. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvZYhxT5Mf8