Mortals and Deities

Information

Class: Philosophy & Religion
Wc: 1,229

Publishing

Aut: Heisl yla Lueanuih
Dt: 289-316 A.T.
Ogn: N/A

Related Links

• the Ontiba
• Religion
• Ontautt
• Existence And What It Is

Mortals and Worship

Are the eight immortal Ontautt fallible and inconsistent? Lately this question had needed pondering. While facts cannot be enumerated in this instance without travel to Astran – nigh-on-impossible, it cannot be understated – the logical conclusion to this series of thoughts is that they are in fact fallible and inconsistent. But though I have given you my conclusion first, we must proceed through the logical steps I have taken to reach said conclusion. The preceding conditions for the thought process should be obvious, but in case they are not, they are thus:

• The omniscience of at least one Deity, chiefly Aster
• The omnipotence of all eight Deities
• The immortality of all eight Deities
• The mortality of all other Omneuttians

Proceeding, we examine what are colloquially known as the ‘Deity Wars’. After some 50 years of reported peace between the Deities after the creation of Sham’ayn and Taruthe, the festering of Extiru‘s feeling of uselessness kickstarted a war that lasted many decades. This was the first of two ‘Deity Wars’ the second of which concluded reportedly before the Timekeeping Reset. As a pact of this reset was recorded in the Ontiba, with part of this pact being the further stoppage of all interference on mortal affairs from the Deities.

It is clear that something is amiss here – nearly every major delineation of Uatti believes that their parental Deity or Deities are personal, that is listening to their worship and reacting appropriately. A large portion of these delineations have denominations whose central tenants are the appearance of a Deity, Deities, or Early-Omneuttian in a mortal form after the Timekeeping Reset. Either these beliefs are not true and the Deities have kept to their pact or they have not. We are forced into a binary, and continue into a further one – one set of Omneuttians who believe that these Deities are fallible and inconsistent and one who continue to persist that they are neither of these.

A more simple and succinct route to this conclusion is a study of the poor and meager amongst us. In all denominations I have studied save for some Turath, it is believed that those who are poor in nutrition, housing, wealth, or any combination of these are in this condition due to their own devices. However this is simply not the case. Nearly three hundred years post-Timekeeping Reset and one can find generational poverty among the more quickly reproducing Sentient Species. It is no fault of the daughter and the son if it is true that the parents are meager by their own hand. And yet, the children of the daughter and son are meager all the same. If there are personal Deities who help those who are reverent consistently, then why exist the meager? Certainly they worship – they are often without work leaving them much time for reverence. If they are omnipotent, then how can the meager remain so? If they are unaware of the meager or their pleas for aid, then they certainly cannot be called omniscient. If they are neither omniscient or omnipotent, then they are certainly fallible. This is not to suggest the Eight are malevolent – my personal belief is that they are indeed benevolent – just that they are indeed fallible.

Deities and Reverence

Note from the Publisher: Heisl yla Lueanuih was a scholar at the Zini dul Eialuean- part of the Hipulkish. The following is a collection of his last notes, arranged in an order that made sense to the editor, who knew Heisl.

For my life, I have largely asked the same questions over and over, often returning the same results, as one would expect. The deviation from the norm is within the realm of expectations and is still important data. One of my most-asked questions is thus: “What good does reverence do for the mortal?” The answers vary wildly, but are fairly consistent within practitioners of the same faith, with some minor variations between denominations. It is an important note that some denominations of certain faiths deviate from the main faith in the same ways – indicating that across Sentient Species and faiths that Omneuttians have the some of the same thoughts on the matter. We are alike in our differences. But I have digressed.

The present question at hand is of reverence and its impact on the mortal. The inverse question has been addressed in my previous work Mortals and Worship. It matters not here where one falls on the discussion of whether you believe Ontautt to be fallible and inconsistent as we Omneuttians are- but instead ‘what does our reverence do for us’ shall be examined. Across Omneutta there are many forms of worship, from the inherently pragmatic worship of the whole of Poria faith to the belief in a certain sect of Sha’an worship that Sham’ayn’s personal battles on Astran are the cause of the entire Sentient Species lack of structure. It is without question for non-Taunatt [those Omneuttians who do not believe in the Ontautt] that the Ontautt have had influence in the lives of mortals — we have seen this influence in the quests of legend as told in all of the books of Ontiba, as well as several anecdotal reports of the Eight manifesting in their mortal forms as part of the daily lives of Omneuttians. To answer the original question of reverence and its benefits (if any), a new question arises. Does reverence lead to this influence, or is it reverence a non-determining factor to the influence of the Eight in mortal affairs?

It is then worth examining the importance of mortal affairs in the lives of the Ontautt. Unlike mortals, the Eight have no fixed end for their life- in that we feel the obligation to commence our lives before an unescapable death catches us. As we are aware of death, this knowledge shapes our lives. Without a death, is the life of an Ontautt lacking in any regard? For many, a passion or drive in their life is both driven by inevitable death and seeks to postpone the event with meaningful work. For scholars there is an imperative drive to reach conclusion of research before death, or observe a most detailed note-taking practice so that in the event of death research may continue. Is this missing drive the reason for the influence of mortal beings in the lives of immortals? Perhaps, and this could be attributed to a number of things — an actual obligation to interfere with certain mortals’ lives on account of prophecies of some sort or pacts between the Eight, a desire to see their own (or others’) Sentient Species advance or pushed back through the efforts of mortals, or if one subscribes to the theory of fallible Ontautt, a desire for temporal feelings that are the result of interference in mortal affairs.

It is clear then, that reverence does nothing for the mortal. The Eight have rewarded the reverent, yes — but they have punished the reverent just the same as they have rewarded the Taunatt at times. However, one cannot call for the sudden cease of all reverence in Omneutta. This action or inaction would not only be impractical, but could anger the Eight. For even if they care not if they are revered or not, a widespread and sudden lack of reverence is not suggested, in the case that Ontautt are in fact, susceptible to temporal feelings of rage.