Spiritual Meme Question Nine
9-- deities: if a god (or gods, or goddesses, or some other kind of divine entities) has ever factored into your spirituality, what drew you to them? how did you perceive them at the times you felt most connected with them? as beings that exist, or more as mythical constructs? something else? did you ever feel that you genuinely had a two-way means of communication with those entities (say, for example, through prayer or meditation), or were they silent? have you ever felt that a god has intervened in your life directly, for better or for worse? if you did feel like you had a two-way communication with a god, or felt that they intervened in your life, but later your beliefs changed, how did you perception change of those experiences? did you feel mistaken about the nature of those experiences? have you ever felt that you were just plain wrong somehow about prior beliefs?
I was raised as a Christian and remained one, more or less, for 25+ years. I believed in One God who was also, somehow, Three Persons. This was, of course, a mystery, "God" no longer seems very relevant, "Trinity" even less so; but "Mystery" remains and is more important to me than ever.
I do not know how, when, or why the Universe began and i do not know what, how, when, or why will be (or not be) after it ends. (Will a "new" "universe" come into "being" "after" a "20 billion" "year" "void?"). I cannot know but i was born to speculate.
A deity or deities have revealed themselves to us or are the products of our own imaginations. Who can tell which or what combination of the two?
This leaves me an agnostic who occasionally decorates or redecorates that philosophical and spiritual hole with different symbols. But the mystery remains and engages me.
I have never "heard the voice of God," or of a deceased human or animal friend. But i have sensed the mystery from time to time and have sometimes chosen to name it "God," or "Mom," or "Niki." But God is neither She, He, nor It, so what is left? Nothing? But what is nothing (no thing)? That is mystery.
I may have labelled abandoned beliefs as "wrong." Now i tend to think of them as "different" or as old variations on a single theme.
I have had experiences that did not fit into my worldview at the time i had them. I have interpreted and reinterpreted them as psychological, physical, emotional, crazy, mistaken, confused and spiritual. Right now i think they were in some way spiritual. They were mysterious and maybe intended to stay that way.
it is ethical and selfless behavior that is important and that message can come to me in many different ways from many different sources, known and unknown
Writing prompts: only ones that would be hard for you to answer please! {FULL!} - the eclectic ecstasy of an ecphorizing eccentric
I was raised as a Christian and remained one, more or less, for 25+ years. I believed in One God who was also, somehow, Three Persons. This was, of course, a mystery, "God" no longer seems very relevant, "Trinity" even less so; but "Mystery" remains and is more important to me than ever.
I do not know how, when, or why the Universe began and i do not know what, how, when, or why will be (or not be) after it ends. (Will a "new" "universe" come into "being" "after" a "20 billion" "year" "void?"). I cannot know but i was born to speculate.
A deity or deities have revealed themselves to us or are the products of our own imaginations. Who can tell which or what combination of the two?
This leaves me an agnostic who occasionally decorates or redecorates that philosophical and spiritual hole with different symbols. But the mystery remains and engages me.
I have never "heard the voice of God," or of a deceased human or animal friend. But i have sensed the mystery from time to time and have sometimes chosen to name it "God," or "Mom," or "Niki." But God is neither She, He, nor It, so what is left? Nothing? But what is nothing (no thing)? That is mystery.
I may have labelled abandoned beliefs as "wrong." Now i tend to think of them as "different" or as old variations on a single theme.
I have had experiences that did not fit into my worldview at the time i had them. I have interpreted and reinterpreted them as psychological, physical, emotional, crazy, mistaken, confused and spiritual. Right now i think they were in some way spiritual. They were mysterious and maybe intended to stay that way.
it is ethical and selfless behavior that is important and that message can come to me in many different ways from many different sources, known and unknown
Writing prompts: only ones that would be hard for you to answer please! {FULL!} - the eclectic ecstasy of an ecphorizing eccentric