The Return To Innocence

http://www.upworthy.com/best-explanation-of-religion-i-have-ever-heard-and-im-practically-an-atheist

Dear every religious person: Listen to this. This guy is a bishop, and he's better at explaining organized religion as separate from the godhead than almost anyone I have ever heard. Dear every nonreligious person: You will be nodding vigorously and appreciating people like this man so much you'll wish every religious person was like him.

This is why I'm pagan. This is why I have no religion. The godhead - a single god, many gods, a source of energy, the higher self, nature, the universe, however you want to identify with it - has nothing to do with praise, fear, love, hate, organization, community, or what each person does in life. It just exists. It hangs around in its own dimension, formless, genderless, minding its own business, occasionally feeding off the soma of belief from living beings who find it pretty and comforting. It lets those beings shape it into whatever form they can recognize most. And since it is so pretty and comforting, people look to it and embrace it. If it makes them feel good, hooray! But to invent controlling concepts like Heaven and Hell just to scare people into running like children to your arms - born again, as it were, as this man says - is not a good way to explain your belief systems.
I'll say it again, but I believe Neil Gaiman did it best with "American Gods" - the idea that all gods are a sort of Mobius strip, circling back to creating themselves out of the minds of humans until they become real incarnations and sustain themselves on human worship... Except I like to think they originate in dimensions both outside our worlds and within our minds. Not quite panentheism... more like the universe being our own selves.
See? I'm so eclectic I don't want anyone else to "convert" to my belief system. I don't even know how to explain it. This is what happens when I'm raised by an atheist and agnostic both with very open minds.

I see color everywhere. I taste color everywhere. I hear, sense, feel, and connect with color. I cannot imagine a world, any world, without color, even in my dreams, even without my eyes. I speak in color. Everything I touch makes me explode in color.

People ask me why I can't use my mild psychic skills to 'heal' myself. I still have trouble explaining exactly why that is not possible. I can only pull, manifest, and manipulate elemental colors and cosmic colors so much.
I do not expect people to know what I mean. My perceptions are my own. However, I know many people who understand what I mean.

"It's something about the color..."
It's always something about the color.

Often, I dream in octarine, the color of magic. Everything is magic, and everything is color, and color shows me the depths of the universe that I cannot fully reach, not until I join that cosmic wave, full of indescribable colors that define what it means to exist.

This is why religion will never work for me. Not enough color. Not enough expansion. Too much external force. I need more color. I need more inside. I need my whole brain, which cannot happen unless the dead white matter and the damaged neurons somehow move again.

I am my own connection to whatever forces move existence. I am responsible for my own existence. My Higher Brain, my Subconscious, my Quantum Psychic Brain, and my Self are working together to create the most intense positive energy I have ever realized.

My transformation will come only from within myself. I am waiting. I am moving in directions that feel so right to me, no matter what external forces claim. I am opening myself to every past hurt, every negative feeling, and shifting them into the light. It it is a constant cycle, and it hurts so much that sometimes I cannot handle it. Meditative techniques are like lifelines.

The important thing is that I keep going. I keep growing. That is what matters. I am following the colors. I am the colors. I am made of light.

Bright eyed, bushy haired, bright colors, babbling due to painkillers and happy muscle relaxants and healing gemstones and all that weird pseudoscience silliness that I believe in despite my atheist agnostic upbringing.

I've been pagan since I was a teenager, so hah. Polyagnostic polytheist pantheist eclectic witch who will believe even if proven completely wrong. Even when my atheist skeptic parents insist that it's just my brain and that psychic powers don't exist, I will agree because that is true, too. There are so many truths out there. I love quantum everything.
See, I follow the Discworld concept: Even if a deity manifests in front of be and insists it is a great god, I will tell it "That's nice. Just because you exist doesn't mean I believe in you. I believe in my Higher Brain smushed with my Subconscious, which you possibly came from. But since you are here, let's party anyway. Red wine?"

I also follow the concept laid out by Neil Gaiman in "American Gods." I firmly believe that Man created God, and the Universe created both Man and God, and all gods everywhere sprang fully formed from Man's brain because Man's brain is more complex and extreme than we can ever conceive. The universe is bigger than everything. And we are all made of bits of the universe, and if we create a belief system with gods and spirits and entities, the cosmic consciousness of the Universe will go, "Huh, they really want this stuff, don't they? Well, shit, why not?" And the bits of our brains connected to the Universe will make our gods and entities real to those of us who truly want and desire the realities of those gods and entities. Like, our Higher Brains and our Subconscious Brains smash together to create a whole knew kind of brainpower, with psychic knowledge and spiritual knowledge and such.

So. I believe that humans can be psychic. I have had psychic experiences myself.
But I am actually skeptical whenever someone says they can easily predict the future. Time is always moving, see. The future is extremely fluid and rather non-Newtonian, simultaneously. No one person can consistently know the exact future without fail, because every possible future is slippery and plastic (not the polymer plastic, the physics type of plasticity: "In physics and materials science, plasticity describes the deformation of a material undergoing non-reversible changes of shape in response to applied forces. For example, a solid piece of metal being bent or pounded into a new shape displays plasticity as permanent changes occur within the material itself. In engineering, the transition from elastic behavior to plastic behavior is called yield.").
So, precognitives can see several futures at once, but it's all flexible. Like, predicting lottery numbers would be rather implausible. Knowing a precise fixed group of numbers at an exact time in a specific future is really hard to nail down. That's why the classic skeptic question "Well, why haven't any psychics won a big lottery?" is essentially technically correct. It's hard to nail down such a small, specific thing. And then there is seeing a changeable future: Seeing bits of a future that can be prevented or altered. Is that actually predicting the future? Which future is it predicting if the predicted future was changed? I do believe in forms of precognition. It's just that precognition in general is so hard to pin down all the time.
See how complex it all is? It's like quantum physics. Psionics really is no different from deep quantum physics. Can we truly prove what we cannot see or measure? I completely believe in clairvoyance, telepathy, retrocognition, psychometry, communication with the dead, and other such powers. It's all quantum, and the human brain is quantum and insanely complicated.

And I have also always believed in All The Gods, so whenever someone asks me if I believe in God, I always ask "Which one?" which leads to confusion and people thinking I'm, like, evil or something and must be saved or whatever that means. *shrug* I don't care. I like what I like and I don't want to push it on anyone because my faith is mine and your faith is yours.

I just ask that you please please do not attempt to convert me to Christianity, because nope nope nope. I am fully Pagan, as I have said. But I am also Jewish on my mother's side, which makes me fully Jewish*... and I know that Christianity is a Jewish heresay: Yeshua (that Jesus guy) was just a highly intelligent Jewish man who explored various belief systems, including paganism and Buddhism and Hinduism and such, and then returned to talk about it all, since he was never part god, he was just a very good human orator with mild psychic abilities.
*(I should add that my heritage is also Russian/Romanian/Hungarian on Mom's side, with Sicilian/Greek on Dad's side. So I would say that I'm Jewish with Sicilian, Greek, Russian, Romanian, and Hungarian heritage. I choose to have no part in the Jewish religion or culture, but I have deep respect for said culture.)

So, no. I am who I am and if you leave me alone I will not roll my eyes and facepalm at you. I love you all, I always will... but I can love everyone without being bothered by proselytizing. Love is love is love is love. There is no wrong or right, there is only love. Also books. Books are love. Stories create us the way we create stories.

http://www.bloggersbase.com/spirituality-and-faith/pilot-of-caprica-polytheism-monotheism-bad-morality-of/

I am absolutely fascinated by the theologies of the SyFy show Caprica.
I personally have never felt "OMG persecuted" as a polytheist, but I have noticed that an overwhelming number of prominent monotheists I've watched or read have had something negative to say about polytheism. I swear I sense fear under their words.
The pilot episode of Caprica shows what happens when one religious extreme takes it too far. In a polytheistic society, a cult of monotheists detonates a bomb, killing hundreds if not thousands, probably establishing monotheism as the sort of thing that makes people lock their doors at night.
Any sort of fear-mongering religious practice is wildly upsetting. Pastors who insist that anyone who doesn't believe in a one true god will be condemned to eternal torture. Soldiers willing to kill populated areas because their commanders told them they would be rewarded by a higher power. It has always happened, it is happening right now, and it will always happen, because every fundamentalist believes that divinity is on his or her side even if that side involves violence, willful malevolence and maliciousness.
I hate when it becomes a game of "My god is better than your god." Seriously, people? Just have your beliefs and live happy.
Religious extremism is terrifying no matter which god is worshiped. Bottom line: Keep your deities. Don't talk shit about people who keep different deities. Don't forcefully proselytize unless you know damn well that the person you're preaching to wants to listen. Don't try to claim that your deity is the best deity, or the only deity, or the right deity. In the end, everyone will die and go to whatever afterlife they most believe in. This includes atheists and antitheists. Rotting in the ground and becoming physically part of the earth is probably a form of afterlife.
I'll always be a polytheist. I may not be devoted to any particular deity or pantheon right now, but I'm a hard polytheist. I was raised by an atheist mother and agnostic father who accept and respect my beliefs. We have very interesting philosophical conversations. I hope that eventually, everyone -- monotheists, polytheists, henotheists, pantheists, panentheists, kathenotheists, monolatrists, atheists, antitheists, agnostics, deists, spiritualists, animists, shamanists, etc etc -- will learn to get along and not try to kill each other over the idea that one general theism is better than another.

As Calvin once said, "I'm significant! ... screamed the dust speck."

http://thepeacearch.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8079&page=2
This entire "Kathie Lee Gifford insults pagans" thing just amuses the hell out of me.
I have to agree with the poster Midnight Rider, in the above thread:
"Some people take it for what it is. Some people go out of their way to be insulted. Crying havoc every time someone makes an off-coloured joke or what you deem as an insult makes you look silly. Bottom line, I feel secure enough in my belief system not to have to justify it by calling for the head or job of someone I perceive as having insulted that belief system."

The woman made a prejudiced comment on live TV, made an insincere apology, probably does think pagans are "bad and nasty" regardless. So what? It happens. People think and say all sorts of things, in private, in public. This just happened to be very public. People will throw insults around like peanuts; there are members of every belief system who will hate members of other belief systems, etc etc etc and so on forever. Holding hands and singing "Kumbaya" and "Get Together" while signing petitions isn't going to make it better any time soon. Me? I'm going to shrug and say, "Well, she's not very educated on the subject, isn't she? I feel sorry for her." And I'm going to turn away. She probably got a million letters and emails saying how horrible she is. Someone is always going to write a letter or an email. It's what people do. And that's fine. But the hysteria is becoming hilarious.

In conclusion: Let's get over it and get on with it.

Something Vicki posted today made me think. I realize that I'm basically on the same kind of path she is, exploring and expanding to all these belief systems that feel "right" to me, becoming truly eclectic. There's an inherent beauty and comfort in the security of religion, and there is also an inherent beauty in comfort in the wild expanse of not having a religion. I think it really, truly depends on the individual. We cannot hope to change someone else's mind about these things unless he or she wants it. This is why I don't like any kind of proselytizing, from any belief system.
And interestingly enough, this applies to my earlier entry on how certain books can become phenomenons. Just because I don't like a certain book and someone else loves it, doesn't mean we must fight over it and tear each other apart. It's not the book itself, it's the behavior and attitudes of the people who read the book. It's not the religion itself, it's the behavior and attitudes of the people who follow -- or criticize -- the religion.

Vicki said:
"The thing about any religion (no intention here to offend anyone... just my personal viewpoint) is they *really* are invested in the nice neat little boxes that make everyone feel better and more secure in a basically very *unknowable* mysterious universe. It takes alot of courage to see & accept just What Is right in front of you without interpretation. All religion provides so many security blankets and structures within which to live so you can feel safe ... [snip] ... I think my way is a combination of so many things I've learned and now am unlearning! :) As I allow the ego & identity structures to dissassemble, the greater Truth I've been searching for all my life is clearer than before. All the constructs we work so hard to keep together in a life is all just our own prison in so many ways... anyway, I could go on and on... hahahha life is made for freedom and I know that now in a way didn't before.. It's finally beginning to dawn... whew..."

I love this: http://ebonypearl.livejournal.com/286679.html
And this is what I tell people when they ask how I communicate with my gods and my spirits and my part of the universe.

EDIT:
Let me clarify here:
I really love this person's point of view. What she is saying is that she prefers to pray quietly, but sometimes when she sees a single person in public praying so loud that it seems to be causing a scene, she gets a little irritated -- although she does not judge, discriminate, or ask the person to stop. The point of the post is that everyone should be able to pray however they wish, but in her personal opinion, some of the louder, more blatant displays do not feel right to her, and she simply walks away from them. It's not like she starts scolding them.

It is my personal opinion that quiet, private prayer is the best way, but I don't think everybody should do it just because I do it.

I don't want to give off the impression that I judge or discriminate against people who pray out loud in public. I do not.
Let me tell a little story: In downtown DC, a small group of men gather every so often in front of one of the Metro station entrances. They have an elaborate sound system, wood boxes to stand on, and loudspeakers. They shout and blare hatred and intolerance and prejudice and discrimination against anyone who does not think like they think, anyone of any religion, race, lifestyle, walk of life, etc. They will rant and rave and talk about how God tells them He wants all these "sinners" destroyed unless we all come to their way of thinking. It is a display of pure prejudice and narrow-mindedness.
Do I get irritated when I walk past and see them preaching? You bet I do. Do I simply walk away without saying a word? You bet I do. I leave it alone. And I think to myself, "I don't like their message. But they say it anyway, it is their form of communicating with God, and I will not infringe on that right."

This is what I mean, this is what the person I linked to means. We are not talking about your average person who stands on a street corner and loudly praises God and prays for people. We are talking about those who make a scene and a show. Yes -- that causes annoyance in some people. But the only ones being outwardly judgemental are those who scream it out loud, not those who think, in their own minds, "Wow, I don't think I like what that person is doing."
I also feel that people should pray together and in groups because it strengthen's each individual's spirituality. I think it is wonderful. I like to pray alone, but that is just me.

I am sorry if this post causes any misunderstandings or bitterness, as that was not my intention. All I said was that I appreciate someone's personal viewpoint on a certain subject, not that I don't like people who do certain things that I don't do.

Yesterday, I got a call from Jason's mother, who just wanted to know my and Adam's last name (so she could send us a present) and to thank me again for taking her son in and loving him so much with our friendship. She was almost crying, she was so grateful. Jason has had a hard life -- drug addiction, homelessness, etc. But he's one of our dearest friends, and now he's got a room, and people who love him, and she is just so thankful. She told me that God was looking out for all of us, that he loved us -- I remember I said, "Yep, great guy." After we hung up, I thought about that. I wonder what she and her husband would say if I explained my own beliefs?
Since I became pagan, I have told several monotheists about it, and I would say that seventy percent of the time, I was met with doubt, worry, disbelief, and once or twice, fear. Sometimes I feel like I need to hide, or pretend, just to be accepted. And that is ridiculous. It really is kind of stupid of me to think that. But exposure and experience have shown me that not everyone is so accepting.
Luckily, Jason has said that his parents are sort of "hippie Christians," that they are extremely accepting of other faiths and would never try to push their own faith. If it ever comes up that I am a polytheist, an animist/pantheist, a witch... I think it will be fine.
I have enough respect for the God of monotheism to agree when someone tells me how much he loves me, etc. It doesn't mean I believe in him, or that anyone should assume I do. I think people of different faiths need to be able to sit and understand and talk without arguing too much. Is that possible?
The word "religion" comes from the word "rely" and was originally used to describe a community of people who share the same beliefs with sets of rules, who come together to help one another -- not to gather to hurt or bash other faiths that disagree with them. Unfortunately I wonder if it has become more of that than the other.
This is why I am not religious, I do not belong to a religion. I don't follow anyone's rules or dogmas but my own. I wonder if some people are actually frightened by that.

http://ginmar.livejournal.com/902424.html
Yeah, I think some have forgotten. It doesn't matter what the actual organized religion is, be it Christianity, Islam, Wicca, etc... I really wonder if people know what they do when they condemn another person for being different or who doesn't believe in their particular faith. Nobody is perfect. Yes, I am angry at organized religion for becoming something that has sold out and where hardly anyone practices what they preach anymore. But I still believe in the basics. No, I don't believe in God. I believe in something else. I wish people would accept that and leave me alone. Like the other day, which I did not talk about: An old woman in Starbucks interrupted me reading my book, drinking my coffee; to ask me if I had been saved. When I said no, we started talking. I told her honestly that I was pagan, I told her what I believed in. She said to my face, "You are a sinner and a blasphemer. You are a devil worshipper. You will go to hell if you do not accept Jesus." When I explained myself further, saying that yes, I was a witch, but no I did not believe in Satan, she flinched and her eyes widened and I thought for a second that she might hit me. I said, "Didn't Jesus teach you Christians to love your fellow people, not condemn them?" She said, "I am trying to save you, you ungrateful witch!" I asked her if she really cared about what a stranger believed, since it didn't affect her. She said she was meant to spread the word of God and try to save others. Keep in mind that this was in a corner of the store, and we were speaking in low voices. She wasn't causing a scene. And I realized, suddenly, that she was just doing what she believed. She was doing what her faith asked her to do. I could not snap at her. I could not talk back or get angry, because what would that prove? She truly believes this. Who am I to be angry for that? If she had tried to hurt me in anyway, push me, hinder me, then I would have called the store manager to get her away from me. But I only gently stepped aside, bid her good day, and left. I was not about to start an argument with a Christian who was doing what Christians in her particular secr believe they are supposed to do. That's the point of having varying belief systems. She wanted to antagonize me; I didn't feel like giving her what she wanted, not in a public place. She could yell and rant at me all she wanted. It wasn't going to make me convert. And I think that's what people need to realize. I think I've gotten better. All I want is for the hatred and prejudice to stop -- on all sides. Pagans are just as guilty, just in different ways.

Anyway.

I spent some time with an Amish community during a high school trip. They really are extraordinary people.