Against Worship

When I first began reading books on Neopaganism, interactions with deities being described with words such as "communing" turned me off. As far as I could tell, religion largely consists of the worship of deities. Deities are better than us, and we ask favors of them. This is true of religions all over the world, even so-called "atheist" religions like Buddhism. Thus, I thought Wiccan descriptions of communing with the God and Goddess just as silly as Christians who talk about having a "personal relationship" with Jesus, a historically anachronistic (and thus wrong, in my view) theology if there ever was one.

But what's so great about worship? I certainly don't think much of worship in any other context. Worship of political figures disgusts me; I have to bite my tongue when I see friends fawning over Obama (or Reagan for that matter, but that's not so common now). Worship of sports heroes or movie stars is simply bizarre. The number of famous people deserving of admiration is really quite small, and I have never found anyone I thought I could adore, fawn over, or worship.

I don't think worship is healthy in any form, however mild it may seem. I realize that many people are inspired by people who are great at what they do, and that this attitude often tends toward worship. So is worship in that context a good thing? No, I say, for two reasons:

1. Even if someone becomes a great pianist or scientist or writer because they are inspired by some great figure in that field, that doesn't mean that behavior is healthy. Need I remind everyone that the highly driven type A personalities who reach the top in their field often struggle with psychological problems and/or misuse and abuse their loved ones? They are often deeply unhappy despite the obsessions that make them great; in fact, the obsession that makes them great probably leads to their misery. They often cause great harm to others. So as much as I often respect the quality of the work produced by such people, I cannot say that it justifies the hero worship.
2. Being inspired by a great person is different from worshiping them. They are separable, at least in theory. I could be inspired by a great pianist to work hard and become a great pianist myself, even though I don't think much of that great pianist personally aside from their natural talent and work ethic.

When we do see people worshiping other people in a political context, it is never a good sign. Those who seek power are corrupt, and those who actually grasp it even more so. Power in whatever form corrupts even the best of people (see a previous post of mine on how this can happen in Pagan communities). On an even stronger note, I would add that to have a leader is to ask for problems, and for similar reasons. Power by itself tends to produce admiration and worship. That is no doubt why the Occupy movement has thus far eschewed electing leaders.

If I were still a Christian and believed that God demanded worship, I would probably attempt to find a way to justify it despite my misgivings about worship in any other context. Luckily, I am not; I'm just a Pagan, and now I'm beginning to rethink my relationship with the God and Goddess in light of this newfound attitude toward worship.