The Gods' Children...

[lupisthebold]

Someone asked me earlier this year about my religious beliefs...and I was stumped.  I guess I am somewhere between an Agnostic or Atheist--I believe in the unity of everything being all a part a Whole...but I choose not to believe in a God or Heaven or Hell.  Natural Order is about as close to a deity as I claim.  I don't know what the proper term

Comments

[gmkieran]

Might be animism, but I'm no expert. I have found the concept of Creator or First Cause to be meaningful. Not a being who creates children out of a need to be revered, but one who creates for the sake of creating, as many artists do. Who then watches that Creation to see how it will grow and flower into something wholly different from it's original form or concept, perhaps better, perhaps not. But then, I want to see the Sun go nova, so take that with however much salt seems necessary. *wry grin*

One thing I have learned about religion, pretty much all the religions I've ever been exposed to, is that they are, at their most basic levels, exactly the same. They are intended to provide at least the appearance of moral compass, purpose and hope for a way to avoid oblivion. They are also, almost exclusively, exploited just as you describe; a priestly class arises who chooses to use the basic urges of humanity, the need for comfort and reassurance, to their own benefit. Shinto is, perhaps, the only religion I have encountered in which this may not be so, but I don't know enough to say for certain.

So, just my $.02