Love and Worship
Sep. 26th, 2006 01:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emberleoSo, this will not seem terribly significant to many of you, I'm sure, but it's something I've wrestled with, so it counts as a kind of epiphany to finally put a finger on it this way:
Worship is not an expression of subservience. Worship is an expression of Love. More to the point, Worship is any expression of love.
It happens that Service is a major category for expressions of Love. It happens that Gifts are as well. These seem to be the two most commonly cited forms of Worship. But Verbal Affirmation, Physical Affection, and Time Spent are all expressions of love as well. And to me, a Desire to Know is the essence of Love itself - so anything that qualifies as expressing a desire to get to know me better registers as an expression of love.
Love Languages == Forms of Worship.
What's strange is that my human love languages don't seem to be the same as my divine love languages. With the Gods, my primary form of expression seems to be crafting gifts - my desire to know Them is expressed via an increased ability to make gifts that will please Them.
With humans my primary language seems to be Spending Time. Gifts are actually least significant to me by themselves. Or rather, Financial Expense is least significant to me. Gifts that show an understanding of who I am go over quite well, because they qualify as the result of a desire to get to know me.
But you don't really have to know me all that well to find shinies I will like - I'm a crafty pack-rat with overtly expressed tastes. I'm pretty sure I'm trivially easy to shop for, if all you're aiming for is my "Ooh! Shiny!" reaction. And I will never, ever complain about that, because I really do LIKE the Shinies. ;]
I suspect I have a tendancy to make people who do the giving feel loved simply by readily accepting their expressions of love towards me. Shinies make me demonstrably happy, but that's not quite the same as making me feel loved.
And I think I have finally put a finger on why I always feel just a tiny bit guilty when somebody gives me a shiny that I like - because I know they're trying to make me feel loved, and I know they aren't succeeding as directly in that as they probably think they are, because there's a layer of removal for me. So... it feels a little bit like lying, even though I'm not faking my happiness in the slightest.
--Ember--
Worship is not an expression of subservience. Worship is an expression of Love. More to the point, Worship is any expression of love.
It happens that Service is a major category for expressions of Love. It happens that Gifts are as well. These seem to be the two most commonly cited forms of Worship. But Verbal Affirmation, Physical Affection, and Time Spent are all expressions of love as well. And to me, a Desire to Know is the essence of Love itself - so anything that qualifies as expressing a desire to get to know me better registers as an expression of love.
Love Languages == Forms of Worship.
What's strange is that my human love languages don't seem to be the same as my divine love languages. With the Gods, my primary form of expression seems to be crafting gifts - my desire to know Them is expressed via an increased ability to make gifts that will please Them.
With humans my primary language seems to be Spending Time. Gifts are actually least significant to me by themselves. Or rather, Financial Expense is least significant to me. Gifts that show an understanding of who I am go over quite well, because they qualify as the result of a desire to get to know me.
But you don't really have to know me all that well to find shinies I will like - I'm a crafty pack-rat with overtly expressed tastes. I'm pretty sure I'm trivially easy to shop for, if all you're aiming for is my "Ooh! Shiny!" reaction. And I will never, ever complain about that, because I really do LIKE the Shinies. ;]
I suspect I have a tendancy to make people who do the giving feel loved simply by readily accepting their expressions of love towards me. Shinies make me demonstrably happy, but that's not quite the same as making me feel loved.
And I think I have finally put a finger on why I always feel just a tiny bit guilty when somebody gives me a shiny that I like - because I know they're trying to make me feel loved, and I know they aren't succeeding as directly in that as they probably think they are, because there's a layer of removal for me. So... it feels a little bit like lying, even though I'm not faking my happiness in the slightest.
--Ember--
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-26 07:36 pm (UTC)You just made me admit I knew something I keep acting like I don't know!
Being is inside. Of course the gods see our being. But we are not only creatures of being, we are also creatures of DOING - that is, externalizing our being, making things manifest in the world as action and object. Giving gifts to the gods is not for the benefit of other people, it is for our own benefits, that we have the satisfaction of DOING, and that we can recieve our gods' appreciation of that work.
It's all well and good that the gods see straight into us, but we don't see straight into Them. Their gracious acceptance of our outward expressions of love are what make us feel loved by THEM.
--Ember--
The queen of 'do-ing'...
Date: 2006-09-26 09:00 pm (UTC)"DINGDINGDING"
that just makes sooo much sense to me!
wow.
Sparrow
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-27 06:01 pm (UTC)I think I got it. I feel just like Eliza Doolittle right now. I have been struggling, all this time, trying to manifest Be-ing externally, where it can be seen. And failing. As you know. Until just now, we didn't have the words to explain that Do-ing is Be-ing on the outside.
Have I got this right finally? Being is the dream, the inspiration, the idea that you wake up with. Doing is turning it into something that others can see. Making that necklace, putting on that Feast. Whatever. Do-ing is the channel that makes what you are visible!
(I'm so excited)
Sparrow
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-27 06:32 pm (UTC)But do you see how it correlates that you can't have the DOing define the BEing?
--Ember--
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-27 07:22 pm (UTC)"I am, and being what I am this is what I do that makes it visible?"
Sparrow
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-27 08:05 pm (UTC)--Ember--