30 | Polytheism, Reality, and Empathy

Welcome to the Cow Behind the Barn: A podcast exploring humanity, the world, and the divine, as experienced and interpreted by an artist. I’m Kevin Caldwell, a co-finder of the Table Collective.

“Is empathy real and does it matter?”

That could be another way of framing the questions of the past few Episodes! My more considered way of expressing that would have been to ask whether empathy is a quality of the divine (or whatever is ultimately real), and whether it factors in ethical equations for human life. Or, to use the other words I have landed on, are there ontological and existential dimensions of empathy? 

As I was concluding the last Episode, I identified what I thought would be my next destination on the trail through the land of empathy and its connection with ultimate reality, and particularly the divine. That trail leads through various types of theism: atheism (or non-theism), pantheism, and monotheism thus far. I said my next stop would be what is called panentheism, with Christianity as the religion in focus. 

In passing I said I might mention polytheism briefly in the process. 

Well, as often happens, things took an unexpected turn. While preparing what I thought would be brief comments about polytheism, I kept finding more things I felt needed to be said and in the end this Episode became all about polytheism!

But first, a little detour.

 

An Opportunity to Go Deeper

Recently, one of my regular listeners asked me if I plan to elaborate on any of the topics that arise during these Episodes. That is something I am thinking about for the future, but meanwhile, there is another way to explore further some of the themes that I look at here.  

If you’ve listened to even a few Episodes, you know that two features of the Cow Behind the Barn podcast as I ask questions about the nature of the world and myself and the divine, are my inter-spiritual approach to the major religions of the world, and the way I weave my own art into the mix. A simpler way to label those two elements of the podcast is to say I explore spirituality and creativity together as I look at big questions about the cosmos and who we are, and whatever it is people have called the divine or the sacred or ultimate reality. 

I have worked on an entire course that explores this intersection of creativity and spirituality, spirituality and creativity, art and religion, religion and art.  

It is an online course called “Wisdom for Artists from Ancient Wells, and it is really a journey of discovery, exploring the creative, spiritual, and relational essence of our nature as human beings, drawing water from the wells of 6 major spiritual heritages: Moses, the Bhagavad Gita, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Jesus and Muhammad. 

There are 7 in depth reflections on each of those 6 wells, there are creative practices, and there are opportunities to share with others your own creative work either as part of a cohort community moving through the material together, or in a self-paced model.

In addition to deeper experiential insight into Moses, and the Gita, and Buddha, and Lao Tzu, and Jesus, and Muhammad, by the end of the course most participants end up with at least 6 fresh creative works… poems, paintings, drawings, songs, or fresh creative inspiration for roles as teachers, professional lives, parents, and for the art of being human.

And, in addition, it might be a chance for you and me to meet as well! At least, I hope so!

I helped in the development of the Ancient Wells course in my role as a co-finder of the Table Collective, which you’ve heard me mention in the introduction to every Cow Behind the Barn Episode. If you have been enjoying the Cow Behind the Barn, I think Ancient Wells may be something you would appreciate as well. If that interests you, there is more information on our website, at tablecollective.art. Hope to see you!

Now, back to Cow Behind the Barn and the trail of theisms…

 

Crawling on the Floor Again

As I mentioned a few moments ago, I assumed I could skim over polytheism quickly. But, just as in Episode 1 when I talked about the surprises of crawling on the floor looking for lost toys with my granddaughter, so too…I was surprised by polytheism. Or rather, by my own ignorance about it! As I said then, “it is amazing what you find when you don’t find what you are looking for.”

As with every theism, there is a lot to say about polytheism that I won’t have space to include here. And since my purpose is to explore whether empathy is a quality of reality, including whether it is a quality of divine reality, I will use that narrower purpose to focus my attention. Which means when I approach polytheism, I have two questions. 

1-What is polytheism’s view of ultimate reality?

And…

2-What is the source of ethics in polytheistic worldviews, including any ethical elements directly or indirectly connected with empathy?

I will take those one at a time.

 

Ultimate Reality and Polytheism?

Polytheism is a type of theism, and within theism, it contrasts both with monotheism, the belief in a singular supreme divinity, and with pantheism, the view that ultimately the divine is the only reality. Polytheism is of course the belief that there is more than one divine being, often a pantheon of gods and goddesses, often worshiped or served or consulted for help by means of ceremonies and rituals intended for a specific divinity.

How many gods, what are they like, and how is their nature, or natures, and the nature of ultimate reality connected? The answers to such questions depend upon which type of polytheism we are looking at.

Therefore, I will begin with describing polytheism, and I will do that in three ways: 

Cultural 
The contexts from which different versions came historically.

Theological 
The types of deities often found in polytheism.  

Typological 
The categories given to different types of polytheism by philosophers of religion.

 

A Cultural Description of Polytheism

In random order as they came to me, here are some of the families of polytheistic religions:

Egyptian, Roman, South Asian, East Asian, Eurasian, the Americas, European, Scandinavian, Celtic, African, and Modern/Neo-pagan (within which some would include Wicca, for example).

That list gives only a glimpse into the complexity of the matter. There are some not on the list that I am sure I am missing. In addition, leaving aside the missing examples, just within each of those on my list there are a wide variety of polytheistic expressions. I can’t, obviously, elaborate each of their differences. But I can list examples of the types of deities we might find. Which takes me to the next way to describe polytheism.

 

Theological Description of Polytheism

This list will also be incomplete. I am not presenting a list of the names of the different deities, which of course vary depending on which cultural context they function within. But here is a list of examples of types of gods found in polytheistic worldviews:

Creators
Hero’s
Death 
Life-death-rebirth
Love 
Mother 
Royal (when kings and emperors are seen as embodiments of a god)
Solar
Lunar
Celestial (the sky itself, other planets)
Land
Rivers 
Oceans
Water
Gods of the various Arts

 

And one more worthy of mention as well:  a common divinity taking various forms as Trickster.

Now, in practice, polytheists don’t express devotion to all the gods in their various pantheons. The mere scope would make that impossible. Instead worship and devotion tends to be focused upon one or a few, sometimes as an ongoing general practice in which a devotee chooses one or a few gods for special attention through the course of life, and sometimes depending upon the need of the moment (as when a devotee of a celestial divinity makes an offering to a water divinity prior to crossing a river, for example).

 

Typological Descriptions of Polytheism

Polytheism involves the worship of multiple deities. But some forms do not necessarily deny the existence of a single, ultimate source. Polytheistic belief systems grapple with the concept of ultimate reality in various ways. One dividing line in the way ultimate reality might be seen in polytheism is a distinction which anthropologists and philosophers of religion categorize as hard versus soft polytheism. 

 

Hard Polytheism

Hard polytheism emphasizes that each deity is truly a separate, real, and distinct being. There are, of course, types of hard polytheism. As I mentioned above, it is common for a devotee to select one, or perhaps a few, of the gods for specific allegiance. This can take the form of what is called henotheism, which acknowledges multiple deities but focuses on the worship of one that is considered higher than the other gods in stature, but not in terms of being their source (which would be an example of monotheism). I would call this practical monotheism, because it is monotheism “in practice.” 

In addition to henotheism, hard polytheism can also be expressed in what is called monolatry. This is similar to henotheism. But in this case the distinction is that a devotee chooses to worship a single deity within a pantheon, without denying others, and without the assumption that the god they choose for worship is supreme in comparison to the others.

The key here is that hard polytheism recognizes multiple deities as distinct beings which truly exist. As such, the gods are not metaphors for, or names of, the different attributes of a supreme divinity, which would be monotheism. Nor are the gods and their qualities ways of speaking of an all-pervading force or spirit or divine essence, which would be pantheism. Nor are the gods, to use a theory that is much more contemporary in its development, projections of different aspects of human nature and human experience and behavior. That type of polytheism could be espoused by an atheist! 

 

Hard Polytheism in Creative Reflection

Before I describe soft polytheism, I want to pause here for a reflection on this as an artist. My poem “Myths and Gods” was written years ago (and is published in my book of poems, titled like this podcast, “The Cow Behind the Barn”).  In the creative process, I tried to imagine my way into what I now realize is a “hard” polytheistic world, specifically the Greek world of Homer, and the entangled relationships of the gods and human beings with all the tragedy and pathos of that interconnection, and with the frank depictions of the vulnerabilities of the gods. I invite you to “feel” all of that along with me. Myths and Gods…

 

Myths and Gods

There is a mist, growing,

Darkening the eyes of the gods,

Rising from the plains

Beside the waters of Skamandros.

The ground is dark with riverlets of blood

Black immortal nectar

From Olympian veins.

 

Agamemnon, finally a leader,

Lord of men,

Stands above the bleeding wreckage.

Battle boasts surrender

To birds and beasts

Preying on the dead flesh

Of Athena, Apollo, and Achilles.

Zeus is in the arms of Hera, dead.

 

The Greeks ride in victory

Singing of conquest

And swinging swords above their heads.

Agamemnon is a conqueror.

Ajax defeats Odysseus.

And Paris chooses a wardrobe for the slaying of the gods.

  

I admit I found the poem more evocative now than when I first wrote it years ago. Now, what of soft polytheism?

 

Soft Polytheism

Soft polytheism tends to view deities as manifestations or aspects of a single, overarching God, or of a greater all-pervading essence of some sort. I went to some pains to show how hard polytheism did not end up being a type of one of the other theisms, and now I will explain how soft polytheism does end up that way.

One type of soft polytheism views the different gods as metaphorical representations or aspects of a supreme deity. In other words, monotheism. As an aside, what is often called pluralism in theological circles is very similar to soft polytheism, at least functionally. What I mean is that pluralism not only sees all religious systems and theological frameworks as equally valid but also tends to view each religion’s names for God, and concepts of God, as different ways of referring to and calling upon the same Being, rather than as actually different gods.

In other forms of soft polytheism, the gods are viewed as aspects or emanations of a transcendental absolute principle, or spirit, or essence which is immanent in all things, including in some cases, in all the gods (where those are seen to be actual beings as opposed to names or qualities). This is very close to pantheism. In fact, when people refer to the Bhagavad Gita as an example of polytheism, they are correct if by that they mean soft polytheism.

Given that I have focused on both pantheism and monotheism already, and that different types of soft polytheism in the end are in fact an expression of one or the other of those two, I think it will be more valuable here to look at hard polytheism, in terms of my question about the relationship between empathy and ultimate reality.

But I am not done with soft polytheism! Later in the Episode I will include a creative offering that I might say seems most at home in a soft polytheistic way of seeing things. 

But for now, hard polytheism and empathy.

 

Hard Polytheism and Empathy

By narrowing my question in this way, I find I immediately run into a problem: the question of the nature of ultimate reality is left unanswered by hard polytheism.

So, where does that leave me in terms of my main question? If hard polytheism does not have a consistent view of what is “really real” beyond the worlds of humans, nature, and the gods, where do I turn to find the answer as to where empathy fits into all of this? 

I will start from the question of whether there is a ground and source for ethics in polytheism, and if so, what that may be, and then work back from that to my bigger question. To use the terms that I coined in previous Episodes, I will start from the existential questions of empathy and work back to see if there is anything ontological.

 

Polytheism and Ethics

In my research I came across a very helpful, long piece about polytheism in Britannica which surveyed multiple examples of polytheism and its historical developments and much more. It was global in scope, and explored beliefs, rituals, almost everything. In fact, everything except one thing: ethics.

However, that does not mean that polytheism can’t provide a grounding for ethics, nor that polytheists have no ethical frameworks. Where do those frameworks come from?

Polytheism sometimes draws ethical guidelines from the behavior and teachings of the gods. Polytheistic pantheons include deities with specific attributes and behaviors which can serve as examples for humans to emulate. The stories of the gods tell of moral dilemmas and choices, which can be seen as examples of right and wrong. However, many of the stories of the gods include bad choices made by different deities in the face of such dilemmas, and thus reveal questionable ethical behavior on the part of the gods. This raises the question: how do humans decide which example to follow, which is virtuous or morally exemplary?

In some cases, polytheistic deities may have given human beings guidance through sacred texts, oracles, or other divine manifestations. In such cases, there is something other than the actions of the gods to guide moral wisdom for humans. There is the moral teaching of the gods even if they don’t follow it themselves!

It should not be surprising to find that there would be different systems of ethical wisdom, given the “poly” in polytheism. And that is the case. Different deities have different ethical (and unethical!) behaviors and responses.

However, there are some polytheistic traditions which have incorporated philosophical and moral frameworks that emphasize more universal values like reason, justice, and compassion. For example, some Greek versions of polytheism incorporated Stoicism. We might see this as a way of incorporating some sort of natural order that governs the universe and human behavior, similar in some ways to the Tao of Lao Tzu. And in such cases, “right” ethical conduct would be understood as aligning with this natural order.

Even in cases where such a universal principle is not present, there can be a positive aspect in the “poly-ethics” of polytheism. Given that the source of ethics in polytheism includes a number of divine models, human traditions, universal principles, and philosophical insights, ethics within a polytheistic framework can result in a more nuanced understanding of how to apply morality than in some applications of monotheistic ethical frameworks which tend to develop single codes assumed to be universal in the sense of applying in the same way in all places, at all times, for all situations.

As a result of the more universal aspects within polytheistic ethics, and even accounting for the nuanced variations, one thing I have noticed during my research, is the fact is that polytheistic religions share common ethical principles with other belief systems, including principles such as love, compassion, justice, and respect for others. 

 

What About Empathy

Polytheistic myths sometimes tell stories of divine empathy and compassion. But these do not seem to be qualities that are shared throughout the pantheons, nor are they always abiding qualities in the moral character of particular deities. Let me elaborate.

First, many polytheistic religions have specific deities who are specifically associated with kindness and care for their people, while other deities do not share that character at all, or to a lesser extent. There is a difference between compassion being the quality of some of the divine beings, and compassion being a divine quality across the board. 

Then second, there are examples of specific deities who are sometimes kind, but not as an abiding feature of their nature. Zeus for example, at times exhibits compassion, but he is often portrayed as a powerful tyrant. 

But all of this has yet to answer whether empathy is an element of the divine character in either sense: either as a quality of specific deities but not others in a pantheon, or as a quality in a particular deity even if it only shows up now and then.

Compassion and kindness? Yes, within the limitations just outlined. But empathy as we are using the term?

No.

That does not mean that polytheistic ethicists might not advocate for empathy as a core ethical, and thus existential, facet of an ethical system. And while I do not think one can make the case for it as an ontological element, as an ingredient grounded in the nature of things as they are, that does not mean that ethics and philosophy within a polytheistic framework can’t result in a more ontological grounding for empathy.

Let me give just one example, given my time limitation. I mentioned Stoicism above, as an example of a larger more universal framework or principle wedded to polytheistic traditions within the Greek world. 

That “wedding” results in a type of the soft polytheism I discussed earlier. And as such, this seems a good place to include the creative offering I mentioned then. Typically, I first explain something in an Episode and then include an artistic expression, but in this case, I will offer the art first, and then describe the conceptual framework.

The art is a song, titled “Shimmer.” It is streaming on all the normal platforms as well if you want to re-listen to it.  Here it is:

 

Shimmer      

There are auras in the attics 

There are spirits in the dawn 

Something’s living out in the black holes

The tongues of angels are singing in our songs

There’s a glowing inside the dry leaves 

A steady breathing underground 

There is laughter in the stones of mountains 

Eyes of light and fire are watching all around 

 

I shiver with a longing 

I’m shaking with a hunger 

I shimmer in the silence 

Of the living flaming temple carved deep inside me

Beyond the shape of cats in my windowsill

Beyond the barrow lands and tombstone hills 

I see a crimson new day fog sent here to find me

 

I have been fired in a furnace 

Tempered by cold and burn

Hammered out on an anvil 

My leathered skin a map of every road I’ve traveled 

I’m stacks of stone in quarries mined

Some treasured and others tossed aside 

Time is grinding every treasure down to gravel 

 

There are auras in the attics 

There are spirits in the dawn 

Something’s living out in the black holes

The tongues of angels are singing in our songs

There’s a glowing inside the dry leaves 

A steady breathing underground 

There is laughter in the stones of mountains 

Eyes of light and fire are watching all around 

 

Sunlight in the shadows 

Moonbeams in the dawn 

I see morning’s giddy madness 

All dressed in flame and dancing in wild abandon 

I grab my hat and join the line

Move my heavy feet to keep the time 

With the rhythm inside us all, down in deep canyons 

 

There are auras in the attics 

There are spirits in the dawn 

Something’s living out in the black holes

The tongues of angels are singing in our songs

There’s a glowing inside the dry leaves 

A steady breathing underground 

There is laughter in the stones of mountains 

Eyes of light and fire are watching all around 

 

Watch us shimmer in all that shimmers

In the shimmering we all shimmer

All is shimmering and we shimmer 

In the shimmering we are shimmering

We shimmer

 

What might the relationship between empathy and ultimate reality be if something like soft polytheism were true?

 

Stoicism, Soft Polytheism, and Empathy

Stoicism is often depicted as if it were the opposite of compassion and caring, and empathy. “She remained stoic in the face of tragedy” is an example of an expression which reveals the common idea that being stoic is some sort of emotionless resilience. While Stoicism does focus on cultivating emotional control, it doesn't mean that it can’t also foster empathy.

True, Stoics aim to manage emotions and seek clear and rational ways of understanding the world. But Stoicism also encourages self-awareness, examination of our own thoughts, feelings, and biases. This can increase our ability to understand others more fully and deeply.

Stoics focus on cultivating virtues which can lead to more compassionate and empathetic behaviors. For example, acting in ways that benefit society as a whole requires empathy to understand what would be of benefit to others. In keeping with this, Stoicism emphasizes actively listening to others’ thoughts, and emotions, even if they differ from our own, in order to treat others with gentleness and kindness.  

All of this encourages human beings to act in ways that are kind, compassionate, just, and yes, empathetic. It encourages existential empathy.

What of ontological empathy?

It is true that polytheism can include empathy as something ontological, an aspect of the essential nature of a specific divine being. And as in the case of Stoicism, there are instances where empathy can be argued to be part of the natural order, which is actually more real or ultimate than the gods. 

However, the fact remains that in polytheism empathy is not generally or commonly something I would understand to be an ontological reality, a characteristic of what really “is”.

Where does that leave me?

 

Summary and Next

With the exception of polytheism my exploration of the connection between reality and empathy in the various theisms (atheist, or nontheist, and pantheist, and monotheist) suggest that there is a common thread which stitches empathy into the very fabric of ultimate reality, and in the cases of pantheism and monotheism, the divine.

And so now, after my unexpectedly longer detour into polytheism, I am ready to get back to what I thought was the main trail and take up the final theism on my list, panentheism. Which will bring me to Christian views of all of this. 

All of which I will explore…next time.