Oh My God. Do you have any idea how many times a day those words are uttered? But how many of us say it without thinking about it? It's become "the thing to say" when you're amazed. When you're surprised. When you don't really know what to say. But how many of us still think of God when we say it?
Some might say it's not right to use the Lord's name in vain. But when I use it, how do you know it's your god I'm referring to? Maybe I have my own concept of the divine. In fact, I'm pretty sure I do. To me, the names and faces we associate with dinivity are nothing but a way for us to make sense of something that is, quite simply, beyond our grasp. I refer to a goddess as often as to a god. I won't get into the why or how of that, right now. Maybe I'll write another post about that. Maybe not. ;-)
Today, I wanted to talk about why people can't just agree to disagree. Yes. You guessed it. That's my approach.
For that purpose, I will share my Divine Cake Theory with all of you.
Original image courtesy of Canva.com
Tiny's Divine Cake Theory: This Witch's View on Religious Differences
Let's think of Divine Energy as a cake. Why? Well, why wouldn't we? Everything is made better when you add cake. Right? Right.
I actually got this idea from a contemporary Buddhist quote. It involved cake and religions. I can never quite remember it, and I couldn't find it again when I looked for it. But I never forgot the bottom line. This theory has stuck in my mind, growing and evolving like... uhm... Dinosaurs?
Who Wants a Slice?
If Divinity were a cake, every religion is a way of cutting the cake. Yes. In this post, we can have our cake and eat it too. Every single belief system or religion approaches the cake in a different way. Some will cut a traditional wedge out of our cake. Some will take a slice off the side. Some prefer the strawberries--or maybe the icing. Those are the sneaky ones that swipe their finger through!
But in the end, they eat the same cake. Chocolate cake, buttercream filling, and whipped cream and strawberries on top. They just approach it from a different direction.
Enough of this Cake Talk, Tiny. You're Making Me Hungry!
Religions are like that too. They are a way for our minds to grasp something that is beyond our understanding. Humans have an innate need to do this: most of us need to understand the things in our world. If something is too abstract for our minds to deal with, we'll pour it into a less abstract mold. Yes. I'm still sticking to my cake analogy. Some people make tiered cakes and other prefer bundt cakes. Both are quite tasty, if prepared well.
So, every time we have an argument with someone whose beliefs are not the same as ours, we should try to remember that. They too, are trying to make sense of the world.
Does it matter that I feel very close to my goddess? More so than her male counterpart? Does it matter that you call your god Shiva? Or Quan Jin? Maybe you meditate over Buddist mantras with the hope of gaining insight.
In the end, every religion boils down to some very important basics. Love. Acceptance. Wisdom.
The universal truth behind them remains the same. I don't know if my views are correct or not. When are we ever certain of something like that? But I know that they are mine, and I've gotten used to them. I'm quite fond of them. Very much like my favourite cake molds.
I did decide a long time ago, that I was OK with disagreeing with people. I don't mind when someone tells me they believe different. Whatever makes them happy. I decided to let it go, as long as they returned the favour and refrained from converting me too.
Let me tell you: it certainly keeps life peaceful.
@anikekirsten, thank you so much for planting the idea of posting this in my brain. It took me a while, but I finally made it through. ;-) Hope you like it, darling.
As always, dear reader, thank you for sharing with me.
Hugs
Tiny
This is such a neat (and decadent) metaphor for such a (somehow) complicated subject!
I definitely agree that we should all accept that maybe we're wrong, maybe you're right, and that we're all given the same evidence to suggest we're right.
It's like a poem I wrote about at one point and it says "If you believe I'm going to Hell, then why make living here Hell too?"
The more we accept others for their beliefs, the better we'll be at fulfilling our own. Bigotry is not a Christian ideal, nor is it of any other main religion (I just know about Christianity most because duh).
I rambled.
Hi!
Don't worry. I basically rambled too. Waves
I really enjoyed this. a lot of parallels in the way we view religion. except that i want to eat the whole cake.
I can't blame you! ;-)
I'm here for the cake. What? It's cake.
Hands over a slice of cake.
Or do you prefer a spoonful of frosting?
this is why I eat pudding.
Pudding doesn't look this pretty though. ;-)
true, but, the outside view is not always the truth... as they say.
🍰 they need a pice of the cake.
Preaching to the choir! 🖤🖤🖤 I loved reading through this.
Late to the show, but yay! I'm so glad you got to post it, Tiny! As I've probably fangirled a lot already, I'm enamored with this approach to religion and beliefs of all. I've already started integrating it more into my world-view and, each time you talk about it, I understand it so much more. People could change the world with this approach.
This post is great, but I can't get past the talk of cake, or the pictures
Generally, 'don't hate' works well for all things :)
I might have had a little too much fun with the cake. But the picture was so adorable! How could I not?
Despite my lack of belief in anything of the divine, I have a scholarly love for religion. Anthropology, human history (including pre-written) and the civilizations they've built are my jams. One of the reasons I find it so interesting is that, if you look close enough, many religions - if not all of them - are intertwined and bits and pieces of one are spread across several others. I, too, use 'oh my god', but it's more of an automatic response because it's been used around me growing up.
Well, it's an automatic response for most of us, now. Although I use "oh my goddess" as often as "oh my god." There is, indeed, a lot of cross contamination between different religions, but I do believe it's more than that. Similarities often exist between religions that haven't had a chance to contaminate one another. If you ask me there's also often a universal truth behind them that will translate into any belief system. Even atheists make sense of the world, in their own way. ;-)
That, or because we are a transitory race, we move from one place to another taking pieces of our religions with us and creating new ones. If you look how the theories of the origins of humans, we have a few places we've developed, and then branched out from. For instance, one of my favorite examples is Lilith of Jewish lore. There are so many goddesses that are her exact story, like she makes an appearance in one of Gilgamesh's stories, where she resides in a tree that Inanna wants to use for a throne. Gilgamesh then comes and shoos her away. Then there's Lamia, from Greek lore, that share many traits of Lilith. Some scholars believe Lilith might have been someone in history, a ruler or leader at some point, maybe. How Mesopotamians and the other tribes would show reverence to the new leader or 'god-like' being was that they would create new stories about them defeating former leaders. They believe that since she plays a role like that in a story, she was likely a leader, and people who still followed her spread her throughout other lands that they traveled to.
Sorry, I went off on a tangent. We're a race with a terrible sense curiosity and need for exploration, so I believe that we just took bits and pieces of our lives and carried them with us to new parts of the world.
Also, caaaaaaaaaaaaaaake. I want it. All of it.
I love this, of course. Something similar that always stuff with me
Basically, no matter what way you choose to worship, it's the right way. Love this message of tolerance!
Yeah. I like that one too. But I couldn't make as cute a cover image with wheels. :-D
Hugs
Fantastic post and a concept I have always agreed with. A few years ago I completed the philosophy side of my degree in Economics.Politics and Philosophy. Going into philosophy I hoped to get a better understanding of the world and have some good arguments against religion. However I emerged agnostic as I realised nobody knows and Faith is completely at the opposite end of evidence. I therefore respect people who have a faith as it makes them happy when grappling with life's mysteries. I personally like the ideas of Neitzche where we should become our own gods and be our own judges of good and evil. Ultimately as long as you are happy and not encroaching on another persons happiness I don't care what faith you have.
I really just wanted an excuse to use that cake picture. ;-)
I just wanted an excuse to rant
LMAO
This is an excellent post and something many people ought to remember. But they also need to remember that just because you think the cake is perfect cut your way doesn't mean everyone else has to cut it the same way!
Exactly!
Sometimes it seems like there is a basic need for religion in humanity. I think that's how we are supposed to be at this time and age. I agree there are many ways to look at one thing. All seeing something different from their choosen angle. The interesting question is why some people feel the need to denying somebody elses views. But maybe that has to do with the different perspectives of the different people.
You hit the spot, right there. That's what it's all about. To each their own slice. There's plenty of cake. ;-)
I just realised I don't even want somebody else trying to eat the same slice of cake I am eating.
I used to be Christian. Then I realized that a lot of what was being preached and some of the things in the Bible made no logical sense.
That and supernatural entities, to me, are copouts instead of answers.
But, as you said, we all have different views. And there's nothing wrong with that. As long as you have something to keep you living, who am I to judge?
There's a quote about religion that I thought was interesting:
-- Richard Dawkins
Like I said on the block last night: non-religion is a religion too. They can sniff te air around the cake. Leaves more for us. ;-)
This is great!
Can you tell I love cake? :-D
Growing up as a nonmember of the Mormon church in a predominately Mormon area, I've always been turned off to religion. I'll have pie. 😂
You can slice that in numerous ways too. Lots of crust, or not too much... Or you can scoop out the filling with a spoon...
Great post. Yes to all of that.
Unfortunately cake is used by many different people, for many different reasons. Sometimes even to make something inedible look good from the outside. As you point out, the problem is not with the cake itself.
Thank you for this post, I really love cake but never thought about how well this metaphor actually fits to describe this problem!
Is there any occasion where cake doesn't fit? Especially pretty cake with strawberries on top? ;-)
Maybe only when I've already had a piece of chocolate cake and a piece of Limburgse vlaai with apricots... In all other cases: bring on the pretty cake with strawberries on top! ;-)
Or Smurfentaart. Noby, you haven't lived until you've tasted Smurfentaart. It's vlaai actually, filled with apricot jam, topped with whipped cream, topped with white chololate curls. Do they have that in the Netherlands?
Decadent food goals
We call that abrikozen-slagroom-vlaai, and yes. It even includes the white chocolate curls. Why would you call that Smurfentaart? Weird Flemish people! Ans yes, it's always my first choice whenever I get to have my birthday. (Unless Schwartzwalder-kirsch (without the kirsch) is available)
Wow! Great and lovely post.
The cake looks delicious!!
Thank @tinypaleokitchen for sharing this post.😊 💙
Wow the cake look so yummy
nice cake
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