Gods: an installment in the series on the Symbolic Process

I've been telling my friends that I'm interested in something I'm calling 'the symbolic process,' these days. So someone gave me the book American Gods, by Neil Gaiman (2001). This fictional adventure is about a show-down between the ancient gods, led by the old Norse god Odin, and the gods of modernity--the ones who run the internet, and so forth. One of my favorite parts was when they (the main character, who is human, and the god Odin) take a sharp right turn off the highway and take a shortcut through the backstage of reality. In order to evade their pursuers, they walk in this realm that has a black, slick ground. When they arrive at their destination--a cabin in the countryside--it turns out that a month has passed in this ordinary reality, even though it didn't seem that long in the black, slick backstage shortcut. That reminds me of explanations we hear from Buddhism (and other traditions) about how time passes differently in various realms. For example, Asanga went for a day, or something like that, to the Tushita pure realm to receive teachings from Maitreya, and when he got back, fifty years had passed in this human realm. (I'm trying to check the exact timespan; one source just says 'sometime thereafter'! -- probably because the story is so incredible.)

In Buddhism, we also hear about demi-gods (asuras), beings who have incarnated into one of the upper realms where they have superhuman powers but are obsessed with competition. It was fun to read in American Gods something about this kind of rivalry amongst the gods.

These gods were dependent on the offerings made to them by humans. Their strength depended on how much the humans believed in them and paid homage to them. The forgotten gods lost power. In fact, the very reason that gods from all over the world ended up in America--in the book--was because they were brought here in the minds of the people who immigrated here.

That leaves me wondering about the warnings we receive not to worship worldly gods; they might help you out on certain occasions, but they are unreliable and basically self-interested.

It also makes me wonder about the offerings that I make to the transcendent beings--enlightened Dharma protectors and yidams. Does their power, or let's say effectiveness, also depend on the devotion of the people who believe in them and who call on them for assistance?

As modern-day Americans, who have forgotten the gods of our own ancestors, we really don't believe in gods at all. In American Gods, Odin challenges the goddess Easter to find anybody off the street who knows who she is, even though Americans still celebrate the holiday called Easter. (Do you know who Easter is?)

At best, we can relate to the Buddhist deities and Dharmapalas as archetypal beings, invoked only as a means of activating our own inner power. Our offerings are usually half-hearted and tentative: "Well, I'll just try this and see what happens."

I'll still be wondering for a while how to resolve this split-brain sort of outlook.