Moonobserver Posted October 15, 2019 Share Posted October 15, 2019 Since recognizing the problems with traditional Christian theology, I have been through numerous phases; I've had neopagan leanings, made a transition from there toward Taoism and more recently identified with Deism. I haven't discarded any of these as patently false; it feels more like moving from room to room in a large house built of spiritual and philosophical possibilities. Some might dismiss this as the proverbial "cafeteria religion", but I would remind such critics that if they're going to compare spirituality to nutrition, they should concede that a balanced diet requires variety. Thus I now find myself mindful of what each of these spiritual directions has given me. Deism has provided me with an intellectual approach to metaphysics and a way to ponder the mechanistics of a material cosmos and the phenomenon of its existence. Taoism, from its Eastern approach, has shown me the universe as an organism in the flow and harmony of its being. Neopaganism has put personal faces on the transpersonal forces of life and given me a way to relate to the universe being-to-being. I consider all as having merit and none as mutually exclusive. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midniterider Posted October 15, 2019 Share Posted October 15, 2019 I believe these religions/philosophies you mentioned do have merit. People seem to practice or at least ponder these ideas so I think there is value to be found in them. Whether or not science has shown belief systems to have objective physical truth to them or not is irrelevant to me. If I want to pay my respects to my own imaginary friend, I'm good with that. Someone is always going to think I have a screw loose whether I worship pagan gods, cast spells, drive a Chevy, root for the Raiders or whatever. Believe however you like. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
older Posted October 15, 2019 Share Posted October 15, 2019 2 hours ago, midniterider said: Someone is always going to think I have a screw loose whether I ... drive a Chevy, Well, that settles that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Joshpantera Posted October 15, 2019 Moderator Share Posted October 15, 2019 6 hours ago, Moonobserver said: Since recognizing the problems with traditional Christian theology, I have been through numerous phases; I've had neopagan leanings, made a transition from there toward Taoism and more recently identified with Deism. I haven't discarded any of these as patently false; it feels more like moving from room to room in a large house built of spiritual and philosophical possibilities. Some might dismiss this as the proverbial "cafeteria religion", but I would remind such critics that if they're going to compare spirituality to nutrition, they should concede that a balanced diet requires variety. Thus I now find myself mindful of what each of these spiritual directions has given me. Deism has provided me with an intellectual approach to metaphysics and a way to ponder the mechanistics of a material cosmos and the phenomenon of its existence. Taoism, from its Eastern approach, has shown me the universe as an organism in the flow and harmony of its being. Neopaganism has put personal faces on the transpersonal forces of life and given me a way to relate to the universe being-to-being. I consider all as having merit and none as mutually exclusive. I never spent any time with deism, because my interest in the pantheism's sort of over rode it. But I can see if someone went from theism and then deism before discovering the pantheism's the experience would be different along the way. I guess that I skipped neopaganism too, except that I sort of stumbled into it on my own without knowing exactly what it was I was doing. I've spent a lot of time with @midniterider going over the issue. I didn't formerly know what I was doing while toying around with talismanic stones and tinkering around a bit with some things that basically amount to modern magick. Maybe that's neopaganism? In my mind it was just exploring my own consciousness and looking at things like talismans and then eventually spells and things like chaos magick as tools that people use in order to try and affect things with their own minds and consciousness. The possibility of interconnectivity, to the extent of minds being interconnected too. But again, interconnection is a pantheist belief. I think I've done something similar to this cafeteria idea. Because not only are these things not mutually exclusive in my mind, but you can add atheism to the list. Because none of it entails belief in the existence of a literal god or deity. Eastern philosophy, neo-paganism, pantheism, and atheism all existing side by side. And atheism being the dominant factor while not seeing any of the others as representative of any literal deities. Spiritual thinking absent god belief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Joshpantera Posted October 15, 2019 Moderator Share Posted October 15, 2019 6 hours ago, Moonobserver said: Since recognizing the problems with traditional Christian theology, I have been through numerous phases; What about this? You're new around here. Take a look at some of our consciousness threads and let me know what you think? This is a good one: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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