What God Looks Like

[Nungali]

By collating different descriptions and 'habits' of  'Yahweh' from the Old testament and Jewish Bible ,   a writer has conjured up a physical image of their  ' God '  :

 

 

" A supersized, human-shaped body with male features and shining, ruddy-red skin, tinged with the smell of rainclouds and incense. His broad legs suggest he was accustomed not only to straining, leaping and marching, but sitting and standing resolutely stiff, posing like a ceremonial statue. His biceps bulge. His forearms are hard as iron. There are faint indentations around his big toes, left by thonged sandals. Beneath his toenails there are traces of human blood, as though he has been trampling on broken bodies, while the remnants of fragrant grass around his ankles suggest strolls through a verdant garden. The slightly lighter tone of the skin on his thighs indicates he was most often clothed, at least down to his knees, if not his ankles. Minute fibers of fine fabric — a costly linen and wool mix — indicate that his clothing was similar to the vestments of high-status priests. His penis is long, thick and carefully circumcised; his testicles are heavy with semen. His stomach is swollen with spiced meat, bread, beer and wine. The chambers of his heart are deep and wide. His fingers are stained with an expensive ink, and there are remnants of clay under his fingernails. On his arms are faint scars left from the grazes of giant fish-scales, and the crooks of his elbows, slightly sticky with a salty oil, bear the imprint of swaddling bands, suggesting he has cradled newborn babies. Traces of the tannery fluid used by hide-workers wind in a stripe around his left arm and down to the palm of his hand — a residual substance left by a long leather tefillin strap.

" His thick hair is oiled with a sweet-smelling ointment, and shows evidence of careful styling: the hair-shafts suggest it was once separated and curled into thick ropes, while slight marks on the back of his scalp indicate it has been partly pinned beneath some sort of headgear, and his forehead is marked with the faint impression of a tight band of metal. Although his beard reaches beneath his chin, it has been neatly groomed, while his mustache and eyebrows are thick and tidy. The hair on his head and face shimmers — first dark with blue hues, like lapis lazuli, then white and bright, like fresh snow. And one glance, he has the beard of his aged father, the ancient Levantine god El; in another, it is the stylized beard of a youthful warrior, like the deity Baal. His ears are prominent, and their lobes are pierced. His eyes are thickly lined with kohl. His nose is long, its nostrils broad — the scent of burnt animal flesh and fragrant incense lingers inside them. His lips are full and fleshy, his mouth large and wide. It is at once the mouth of a devourer and a lover. His teeth are strong and sharp, his tongue is red hot. His saliva is charged with a blistering heat. The back of his throat is a vast, airy chamber, once humming with life. Below it is an opening of a cavernous gullet. Shadowy scraps of another powerful being, the dusty underworld king, cling to its walls. "

 

" All these details appear in various books of the Old Testament. Here’s a sampling .....

 

https://www.thenotsoinnocentsabroad.com/blog/descriptions-of-gods-body-in-the-bible

[old3bob]

 

I'll take ineffable

[Apech]

17 hours ago, Nungali said:

By collating different descriptions and 'habits' of  'Yahweh' from the Old testament and Jewish Bible ,   a writer has conjured up a physical image of their  ' God '  :

 

 

" A supersized, human-shaped body with male features and shining, ruddy-red skin, tinged with the smell of rainclouds and incense. His broad legs suggest he was accustomed not only to straining, leaping and marching, but sitting and standing resolutely stiff, posing like a ceremonial statue. His biceps bulge. His forearms are hard as iron. There are faint indentations around his big toes, left by thonged sandals. Beneath his toenails there are traces of human blood, as though he has been trampling on broken bodies, while the remnants of fragrant grass around his ankles suggest strolls through a verdant garden. The slightly lighter tone of the skin on his thighs indicates he was most often clothed, at least down to his knees, if not his ankles. Minute fibers of fine fabric — a costly linen and wool mix — indicate that his clothing was similar to the vestments of high-status priests. His penis is long, thick and carefully circumcised; his testicles are heavy with semen. His stomach is swollen with spiced meat, bread, beer and wine. The chambers of his heart are deep and wide. His fingers are stained with an expensive ink, and there are remnants of clay under his fingernails. On his arms are faint scars left from the grazes of giant fish-scales, and the crooks of his elbows, slightly sticky with a salty oil, bear the imprint of swaddling bands, suggesting he has cradled newborn babies. Traces of the tannery fluid used by hide-workers wind in a stripe around his left arm and down to the palm of his hand — a residual substance left by a long leather tefillin strap.

" His thick hair is oiled with a sweet-smelling ointment, and shows evidence of careful styling: the hair-shafts suggest it was once separated and curled into thick ropes, while slight marks on the back of his scalp indicate it has been partly pinned beneath some sort of headgear, and his forehead is marked with the faint impression of a tight band of metal. Although his beard reaches beneath his chin, it has been neatly groomed, while his mustache and eyebrows are thick and tidy. The hair on his head and face shimmers — first dark with blue hues, like lapis lazuli, then white and bright, like fresh snow. And one glance, he has the beard of his aged father, the ancient Levantine god El; in another, it is the stylized beard of a youthful warrior, like the deity Baal. His ears are prominent, and their lobes are pierced. His eyes are thickly lined with kohl. His nose is long, its nostrils broad — the scent of burnt animal flesh and fragrant incense lingers inside them. His lips are full and fleshy, his mouth large and wide. It is at once the mouth of a devourer and a lover. His teeth are strong and sharp, his tongue is red hot. His saliva is charged with a blistering heat. The back of his throat is a vast, airy chamber, once humming with life. Below it is an opening of a cavernous gullet. Shadowy scraps of another powerful being, the dusty underworld king, cling to its walls. "

 

" All these details appear in various books of the Old Testament. Here’s a sampling .....

 

https://www.thenotsoinnocentsabroad.com/blog/descriptions-of-gods-body-in-the-bible

I just assumed he looks a bit like me.

[Nungali]

1 hour ago, Apech said:

I just assumed he looks a bit like me.

 

 

[NorthWide]

Well if Jesus is his son... well I think its pretty obvious.

Slightly red tinged middle eastern man with scars, straight Brown hair and straight teeth. Dressed in a Red Robe and a black and white ornate inner robe with a yellow foursided diamond. The red is really dark, indescribable. 

Almost forgot to mention he was about six foot or six foot one

Edited December 31, 2024 by NorthWide

[Nungali]

5 hours ago, NorthWide said:

Well if Jesus is his son... well I think its pretty obvious.

Slightly red tinged middle eastern man with scars, straight Brown hair and straight teeth. Dressed in a Red Robe and a black and white ornate inner robe with a yellow foursided diamond. The red is really dark, indescribable. 

 

Sorta like  'Bengal red'  ? 

 

 

This one got more yellow on his 'inner robe'  .

 

 

 

 

Almost forgot to mention he was about six foot or six foot one

 

 

So how tall is he now ... got bigger , or did he shrink in old age  ?

[Sir Darius the Clairvoyent]

It is a good read. Main take away, and I think the intented takeaway, is that he is very antropromorphic. And he is. Which seems strange to us today, somehow. How the ancients regarded God is big question. How we regard God is just as mysterious ahahha. But humans have protrayed gods as humans for a long, long time. Like here:

Spoiler

 

Or even further back, like here: 

Or here, the main man himself: 

And here:

Possibly even here, who knows:

 

We all agree that we do not think Michelangelo attemptet to paint God as he is, right? But for whatever reason, I am less likley to give them that benefit the further back we go. Odin rides a horse named sleipnir, the son of the god Loki (in the form of a mare) and the stallion Svadilfari who belonged to the jötunn that built the walls of Asgard Just for fun I googled the conquestes of Zeus: 

• Europa
• Io
• Semele
• Ganymede
• Callisto
• Dione
• Persephone
• Nemesis
• Thaleia
• Alkmene
• Danae

Are we to belive this is literal? I think that would be dumb. I find it more likley they saw god as in nature, in ancestors, in fate, spirits and so on. 

 

Spoiler

 

The Germans, however, do not consider it consistent with the grandeur of celestial beings to confine the gods within walls, or to liken them to the form of any human countenance. They consecrate woods and groves, and they apply the names of deities to the abstraction which they see only in spiritual worship.

Tacitus, Germania

 

All that is from the gods is full of providence. That which is from fortune is not separated from nature or without an interweaving and involution with the things which are ordered by providence. From thence all things flow; and there is besides necessity, and that which is for the advantage of the whole universe, of which thou art a part. But that is good for every part of nature which the nature of the whole brings, and what serves to maintain this nature. Now the universe is preserved, as by the changes of the elements so by the changes of things compounded of the elements. Let these principles be enough for thee; let them always be fixed opinions. But cast away the thirst after books, that thou mayest not die murmuring, but cheerfully, truly, and from thy heart thankful to the gods.

Meditations Book II, Verse 3

 

Most honored of immortals, many-named one, ever omnipotent,

Zeus, prime mover of nature, steering all things by your law,

Cleanthes, Hymn to Zeus

 

16. O Sun, sole traveller of the Heavens, controller of all, Surya, son of Prajapati remove thy rays and gather up thy burning light. I behold thy glorious form; 1 am he, the Purusha within thee.

Isha Upanishad

 

 

Hard to belive any of these pictured God as man, no? I do not even think they had religion, in the sense that we got religion, as in a book and set of customs and beliefs we are to activley buy into and follow, because it is written. Rather, they just did what they had always done and believed, in a sense (I imagine). You put porridge outside at winter so that your ancestors dont go hungy. Bury them with some shoes with nails in, cause it is cold and slipery where they are going. And what kind of idiot buries their dead? How does their essence then enter heaven 

 

I’m wondering if I might be autistic, as I have an amazing ability to make Chinese people feel uncomfortable (unintentionally ofc). I once started asking this guy how they do their religions and stuff in his tradition. He told me they burned paper money so that the dead could have it. Hate to say it, but I couldn’t help but laugh a little, imagining them up there in the heavens at a grocery store… but really, it is no more/less dumb than any other sacrifice, is it?

 

Animism is the said to be the "oldest" form of belief, is it not? I went to britannica for a definitions:
"animism, belief in innumerable spiritual beings concerned with human affairs and capable of helping or harming human interests." I mean, pretty much what we are doing today, is it not? I imagine you have some thoughts on this, based on your studies?

 

Edited 15 hours ago by Sir Darius the Clairvoyent

[Nungali]

11 hours ago, Sir Darius the Clairvoyent said:

It is a good read. Main take away, and I think the intented takeaway, is that he is very antropromorphic. And he is. Which seems strange to us today, somehow. How the ancients regarded God is big question. How we regard God is just as mysterious ahahha. But humans have protrayed gods as humans for a long, long time. Like here:

  Hide contents

 

Or even further back, like here: 

Or here, the main man himself: 

And here:

Possibly even here, who knows:

 

We all agree that we do not think Michelangelo attemptet to paint God as he is, right? But for whatever reason, I am less likley to give them that benefit the further back we go. Odin rides a horse named sleipnir, the son of the god Loki (in the form of a mare) and the stallion Svadilfari who belonged to the jötunn that built the walls of Asgard Just for fun I googled the conquestes of Zeus: 

• Europa
• Io
• Semele
• Ganymede
• Callisto
• Dione
• Persephone
• Nemesis
• Thaleia
• Alkmene
• Danae

Are we to belive this is literal? I think that would be dumb. I find it more likley they saw god as in nature, in ancestors, in fate, spirits and so on. 

 

  Hide contents

 

The Germans, however, do not consider it consistent with the grandeur of celestial beings to confine the gods within walls, or to liken them to the form of any human countenance. They consecrate woods and groves, and they apply the names of deities to the abstraction which they see only in spiritual worship.

Tacitus, Germania

 

All that is from the gods is full of providence. That which is from fortune is not separated from nature or without an interweaving and involution with the things which are ordered by providence. From thence all things flow; and there is besides necessity, and that which is for the advantage of the whole universe, of which thou art a part. But that is good for every part of nature which the nature of the whole brings, and what serves to maintain this nature. Now the universe is preserved, as by the changes of the elements so by the changes of things compounded of the elements. Let these principles be enough for thee; let them always be fixed opinions. But cast away the thirst after books, that thou mayest not die murmuring, but cheerfully, truly, and from thy heart thankful to the gods.

Meditations Book II, Verse 3

 

Most honored of immortals, many-named one, ever omnipotent,

Zeus, prime mover of nature, steering all things by your law,

Cleanthes, Hymn to Zeus

 

16. O Sun, sole traveller of the Heavens, controller of all, Surya, son of Prajapati remove thy rays and gather up thy burning light. I behold thy glorious form; 1 am he, the Purusha within thee.

Isha Upanishad

 

 

Hard to belive any of these pictured God as man, no? I do not even think they had religion, in the sense that we got religion, as in a book and set of customs and beliefs we are to activley buy into and follow, because it is written. Rather, they just did what they had always done and believed, in a sense (I imagine). You put porridge outside at winter so that your ancestors dont go hungy. Bury them with some shoes with nails in, cause it is cold and slipery where they are going. And what kind of idiot buries their dead? How does their essence then enter heaven 

 

I’m wondering if I might be autistic, as I have an amazing ability to make Chinese people feel uncomfortable (unintentionally ofc). I once started asking this guy how they do their religions and stuff in his tradition. He told me they burned paper money so that the dead could have it. Hate to say it, but I couldn’t help but laugh a little, imagining them up there in the heavens at a grocery store… but really, it is no more/less dumb than any other sacrifice, is it?

 

Animism is the said to be the "oldest" form of belief, is it not? I went to britannica for a definitions:
"animism, belief in innumerable spiritual beings concerned with human affairs and capable of helping or harming human interests." I mean, pretty much what we are doing today, is it not? I imagine you have some thoughts on this, based on your studies?

 

 

 

I'll comment on one part based on my practice ;

 

"Hate to say it, but I couldn’t help but laugh a little, imagining them up there in the heavens at a grocery store… but really, it is no more/less dumb than any other sacrifice, is it? "

 

That depends on the person's intent .   Take offerings for example .   When I have my morning tea , out in the garden (or at other times ) I have the habit of tipping a bit out on the ground .   Now I dont think 'Big Mum'  is  down in the earth and taking a sip , nor do I think she is sucking it up into the sky where she is floating .    Some people might , thats up to them .

 

Its a token of my appreciation and gratitude  and a recognition that  everything comes 'out of'  ( formed from )nature and returns back to it and dissolves  ; 'solve et coagula ' .  Even so ,  I like to offer tea with milk and 2 sugars  as that is how most indigenous take their tea     .    What's going on here , in a way , is I am  'dealing with my unconscious'  that will make changes ,eventually ( I mean eventually in practice for someone starting a practice  -  for me I have been doing it long enough to  see the change  )  in thought, psychology , behavior , mood ... even  'body chemistry ' .

 

So although I dont consciously  think   my cup of tea is 'going up to the heavenly cafe '   I make actions   - as  if I do think that -  to make changes in my whole psyche , which is mostly regulated BY the unconscious/ autonomous  parts  of my 'self' .   Thats 'ritual magick' 

 

There are those that think the opposite   , thats it is practically and materially  literal  ; thats mostly  'religion'  .... yet religion relies on magical technology  ascribing that technology and acts to a literal  or external explanation .

 

- Oh, the other thing I was going to say , maybe the reason  you have the 'amazing ability'  to make  Chinese  feel  uncomfortable around you  is if you ask what they do for religion  ,   and   then  laugh at the answer .... well ,  ......      

 

 

[Nungali]

I always like the definition of God that 'Friday' gave .   That is 'Friday' in the version of the Robinson Crusoe story called ' Man Friday  '  - a version of the story told from Friday's perspective - VERY different from the original 'Judaeo - Christian ' version .

 

Crusoe is trying to teach Friday Christian religion .   Friday asks many questions about Crusoe's God and the answers confuse him and eventually Crusoe even ties himself up in knots trying to answer  Friday's questions . he gets annoyed and impatient with Friday and challenges him about his own belief in God . " God is everywhere and in everything " Crusoe insists .   Friday agrees and says that  how he can see  his  God everywhere  and worship him in everything .  Crusoe exclaims " Ha! " as if he has caught him in a trap and  demands " Show me this God of yours then ! "

 

Friday picks a banana and holds it up .   " You heathen !   You cant seriously worship a banana ! "

" Yes, I can . "

" How ? "

" Well, first I peel it lovingly, then I smell its nice smell and then I taste it  and chew it, then I swallow it , all the time  being aware of what I am doing , appreciating it and giving thanks for it ."

" You cant eat God !  What are you? A damned Papist !   Show me another God ! "  Friday points at  Crusoe .  Crusoe , proud and feigning embarrassment   " Well, ... yes , I can see how a savage like you might think a  Christian Englishman like  me might  seems to be  a God, but I am not really . "

" Oh But Master , I think you are, you have just not realized it yourself ."

" Look, forget that, show me another  of your Gods ."  Friday points at himself .  " Oh, now you are just being ridiculous ! ."

" But Master , you said God is everything,  and is in everything ."

"Indeed he is Friday ."

" Then why cant he be in this banana ?"

" Look Friday ! ... I think theology is too deep a subject for you .... I know !  What YOU need is to be baptized !  "

 

 

Spoiler

In case you want more of Friday's wisdom :