Religion ~ Personal Debate.

[greenleaf]

I want to attempt to get some feedback on your religious, spiritual, none believer, athiest (as some regard it as a religion), and other faiths that have made you what you are as a person and where you are now in that ascention process.
I don't wish to have a thread full of arguments as to who's is the better or which is the right/wrong belief/faith to have [there's too many of these already!] only the actual effect you have personally gained from it (hope I am making myself understood), so would prefer not to have loads of quoted text and proof... please your own words from your heart.
If your beliefs are personal to you, you don't have to say what they are, just how they make you feel and how they a part of your personal growth.

I hope you understand my request.

Peace Is Easy '~greenleaf~'

[lottie]

My father brought me up to believe in whatever i wanted to believe in, being an athiest himself did ultimately affect my point of view because you look to your parents for guidance but i discerned by the age of about 10 or so that not believing in 'god' or a religion as such made sense because of the things that didnt add up in the story of the bible (i have been brought up in a predominantly christian society).

I suppose i prefered to just not think about it!

As i got older though my interest in the paranormal and phenomena grew and although i didnt know why i still knew they happened so i supposed i believed in things happening that we cannot see or explain but it wasnt the work of a bearded man hovering on a cloud judging and condemning us proclaiming to love us, being high and mighty but putting some of us through the most horrific traumas during our mere existence here as a human being!

Then i reached the age of 25 and started getting into the conspiracy stuff through a series of calculated synchronicities that led to picking up a David Icke book on 9/11 and has led me here, 2yrs almost to the day! :)

Now, ive sat on the fence for a while with the religion thing and upon pondering your post, it suddenly occurred to me that religion is just a word to me....it means nothing, i will happily accept others beliefs if that's what they want to think, but for me i belive i am just me, a tiny part of an infinite awareness, something i cannot comprehend in my limited pysical existence.
I kind of can comprehend it or i can feel it but i cant explain it....i feel connected as if im everything but just me too...i suppose a good metaphor is 'im a droplet but im also the ocean simultaneously'.

So i could just be this little part existing and experiencing 'Charlotte's Life' but im also everyone else experiencing themselves too. To my 'default charlotte' ive not existed here before on Earth as obviously this is my first experience- i cant remember anything previous to 1yr old, yet Ive always been able to feel emotions, physical pain, i know how it feels to experience things that i havnt actually experienced in this lifetime.....as if ive either lived before or im (droplet) tapping into the 'ocean' of what appears in this lifetime to be seperate beings and they're life experiences.

I probably sound like a fruit loop and that was longwinded but i havn't really thought about it too much untill now and felt now is the time to express it!! Ive nowhere near finished...im sure i'll go off now and ponder it more!!:D

Thanks for catching my attention with your thread Greenleaf:)

[thelonious]

As you can probably tell from my avatar, I am a Unitarian Universalist.

The UU's are a liberal religious denomination that is non-creedal but requires acceptance of certain fundamental principles fro church membership:

1. The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
2. Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
3. Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
4. A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
5. The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
6. The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
7. Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

UU's do not always agree with one another on theologically issues. Personally, I am a Panentheist.

[esowteric]

Thanks greenleaf,

Personally, I'm not religious and have been studying the works of the Sufi Idries Shah since around 1986. Yes, I know that if you look up the word "Sufi" you'll come across references to things like Muslim mystic, and all I can say is that I sure as hell don't fit that bill. :)

Maybe you could call me a universalist dervish (a dervish being one who's still on the Way rather than a Sufi who's already walked the way and come back to help others like a bodhisattva)? I respect others' rights to their religion -- or to no religion -- but I'm not religious myself. I try to be a "seeker after truth" (as the Sufis call us) and sometimes fail miserably.

Regards,

[psychicdefender]

I had a lot of doubt in me as a younger person, doubt about myself, perhaps created by bullies during childhood and even friends 'using' (if only subconciously) me as the butt of most of their jokes. I then started reading Divid Icke and others, this led me into an even 'lower place' (if the whole world is being deceived by 'mega-bullies' where does that leave me...) I took psychedelics and other drugs as a way to escape but also to try and break this programming. In a round about way it worked, here's what happened.

I had hit rock bottom, having had a gradual descent into what was a living nightmare, full of strangers talking to each other in public as if they were mocking my thoughts, even my friends although probably unawares seemed to be doing this. (by this time I was hanging around with a different group of friends who normally treated each other and me with love, kindness and respect). If you like the universe was 'ganging up' on me, I had wandered a long way from where I was meant to be.

One night it all got too much, and I prayed, the details of which I won't go into. The very next day EVERYTHING changed, the 'demons' had gone, I was more confident, I started to read the Bible and nothing in Christ's words was a mystery. I found I could do 'light-work', prayers were (and are) answered, and the list of experience goes on and on.

Overall, by embracing God, a loving kind and forgiving God and the fact that there is more to this universe than the 'five-sense prison' I have become more confident in myself, more in tune to others needs, better equipped to meet those needs suitably, I am healthier, wiser, peace filled and occasionally overflowing with love. I'm still learning though and it is a pleasure, never a chore.

[drael]

When i was about 13, i was very interested in quatum physics, and theoretical physics in general. At about 15 or so, i came across my first magickal text, about druidism. I studied many religions and philosphies, as well as psychology, attempting to sythensize what i knew and had experienced. I touched on nearly everything. Nothing really put it all together. I almost couldnt live without knowing something of the mystery. For some years, i was an agnostic/atheist. And during some of those years i got into wicca, and broader magick. University philosophy made me think a fair bit about these things. Then i started channelling, speaking with spirits, aliens all sorts. I did this without much of a clue about the proper rules, and ended up unbalanced a few times, before i stopped channelling all together (apart from my higher self/guide/god). The strange experiences, and mystical revelations i had during this time were very formative. I had direct experiences with god, i re-experienced things like jesus's crucifixtion, and i learnt the nature of truth. I also during this time discovered torsion theory (david wilcock), which finally managed to bind together all my experiences - all psychic phenomena and the laws of magick. One thing i had struggled with was wanting science and spirituality to be compatible, and this solved that problem. Its never been so crystal clear :) Of course icke just fit in for the most part, with everything i already had learnt.

For me awakening is about the nature of knowing, of knowledge. We live in a world where everything is divided into catergories arbitrarily, demarked by words and beleifs. The truth is really unnamable, and can only be vaguely gestured at. This is the true nature of occult symbolism - for in an abstract symbol the truth can be captured in a far more real fashion, than in a concrete term. This is IMO one of the ultimate weapons of mind control used against us - our very terms, concept and ideas are all materialistic or discreet in some fashion; it binds us to a fixed idea of reality.

Heres some books i still find invaluable:

Divine cosmos, david wilcock
Magick in theory and practice, crowley
Anything hermetic, mystic (Daoism included) or gnostic - the kyballion is a good start...
The law of one channellings
Emerald tablets of thoth

[greenleaf]

OK.. now for anyone reading this thread from here [thank you all contributors].. making sure you've read all the above you can CLEARLY see that whatever belief structure makes the man, there is absolutely no conflict. So when anyone tries to tell you we are entering a 'Holy War', IMO this is being done by people with a natural hatred and use mans most powerful tool against himself.. his faith.
It does hearten me to find that in these little attempts [I know it wasn't a brilliantly thought out one..i'm not exactly well endowed with brains].. I seem to find what people truly feel, the same answers come up.. love and acceptance.