My thoughts on religion
I've made friends with an insightful, creative and interesting fellow - his name is Lynx, and he's a performer with and songwriter for Beltaine's Fire, my new favorite group. This is their webpage: http://beltainesfire.com/, and a link to three of my favorite songs of theirs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd22KZbNnF0&feature=related (I Am); http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxXMCR2IbX0&feature=PlayList&p=72CC12BB38009F5F&playnext=1&index=93 (Liberty); and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0fGMZbGxko (When the Floods Come). He's a very inspiring individual, and it's nice to find someone who wants to change the world as do I - yet he has the bravery and the tenacity to do it.
Anyhow, the question below came from a post of his, and my answer is below:
"The question then becomes does divinity exist? and if so what is the nature of that divinity?"
I'm not sure if I see the Divinity as separate from us. There's a song in the Goddess follower's repetoire: We all come from the Goddess, and to her we shall return like a drop of rain flowing to the ocean. That rather sums up my belief system; I think that we are reincarnated, and come back to this life in order to learn the lessons necessary to become one with the Divine, yet a separate entity. It's one of the Mysteries incomprehensible to humankind, and my words I'm sure are a poor representation.
In considering the people of the Book - in studying those faiths, they all have some beauty to them. It's mankind that's corrupted that beauty and made it restricitve and hateful. Many of Jesus' teachings are similar to Buddhism - and I'm sure you know of the theory he studied with Buddha in the lost years. That's all been twisted to suit the needs of selfish people.
As far as the many souls, what I believe is that there is constant creation ... nothing is stagnant, nothing stays the same. I also see the development of souls as comparable to the growth of man; I also envision the choice of religion to be the same. For example:
Those who have no sense of the Divine in any form - whether it be through the earth, the trappings of religion, the traps inherent in excessive logic, the taste of chocolate - are infants, who next incarnation will move to a more cognitive stage.
Those who need a structured belief based on faith, a punitive father and the threat of eternal damnation in order to feel safety and boundries are the children (such as the "Suffer the children to come to me").
Those who feel that their faith is the only one and that they must disparage or criticize other faiths are the people who are beginning to see the holes in what they believe, and out of fear of the punitive God and the rules of blind faith, must destroy those who have different beliefs are the adolescents (oh my goodness, I thought I knew everything in my teen years).
The searching and growth of young adults is expressed in the search, the sense that something is greater than the faith of their fathers, and they need to find a connection which makes sense to them, which answers their burning questions.
As adults, we seem to locate those answers, but are open to change in that knowledge. However, there are those who regress (such as the Born Again Christians) because the fear of the unknown is too great, and mortality is more a reality than it was in their last stage.
Finally, as the wise folk, we've found comfort or emptiness or terror - but whatever the emotion, because we know there will be a change in which we will become something else or have nothing or be punished for our sins (I don't believe in sin), there's a sense of finality not experienced in any other phase. We know there will be a change; change can be frightening.
And once we've made our transitions - who knows? I think in the wise stage, we're ready to flow to the ocean. Perhaps there is a heaven. Perhaps there is a hell. Perhaps there's nothing. Any way, it's impossible to surmise because it's beyond human comprehension.
I fully agree that anthropomorphizing the Divine is ridiculous. "Let us (us? in a monotheistic faith? hmmm) create man in our own image." Pah. It's a way to make the realization that we are small and fragile easier to swallow. Of course, it was also a patriarchal society, so it's understandable that the Father figure was the shape of their God.
The Goddess worshipers are a result of the pendulum swinging to the other side. Just as the bob, once high on one side, will swing hard to the other before coming to rest eventually in the middle, neutral position, so will our society react in an unthinking manner. I never agreed with the dissolution of the importance of the male energy in the Divine, or the hatred of men that occurred when Z Budapest was reacting to Gardner's treatment of Doreen Valiente and to the injustice faced by women in the 70's.
Frankly, the Divine as male or female is silly. I feel an affinity to the feminine, but I know that it's just a comfort for me, and my growth needs to guide me towards the neutral.
Anyhow, the question below came from a post of his, and my answer is below:
"The question then becomes does divinity exist? and if so what is the nature of that divinity?"
I'm not sure if I see the Divinity as separate from us. There's a song in the Goddess follower's repetoire: We all come from the Goddess, and to her we shall return like a drop of rain flowing to the ocean. That rather sums up my belief system; I think that we are reincarnated, and come back to this life in order to learn the lessons necessary to become one with the Divine, yet a separate entity. It's one of the Mysteries incomprehensible to humankind, and my words I'm sure are a poor representation.
In considering the people of the Book - in studying those faiths, they all have some beauty to them. It's mankind that's corrupted that beauty and made it restricitve and hateful. Many of Jesus' teachings are similar to Buddhism - and I'm sure you know of the theory he studied with Buddha in the lost years. That's all been twisted to suit the needs of selfish people.
As far as the many souls, what I believe is that there is constant creation ... nothing is stagnant, nothing stays the same. I also see the development of souls as comparable to the growth of man; I also envision the choice of religion to be the same. For example:
Those who have no sense of the Divine in any form - whether it be through the earth, the trappings of religion, the traps inherent in excessive logic, the taste of chocolate - are infants, who next incarnation will move to a more cognitive stage.
Those who need a structured belief based on faith, a punitive father and the threat of eternal damnation in order to feel safety and boundries are the children (such as the "Suffer the children to come to me").
Those who feel that their faith is the only one and that they must disparage or criticize other faiths are the people who are beginning to see the holes in what they believe, and out of fear of the punitive God and the rules of blind faith, must destroy those who have different beliefs are the adolescents (oh my goodness, I thought I knew everything in my teen years).
The searching and growth of young adults is expressed in the search, the sense that something is greater than the faith of their fathers, and they need to find a connection which makes sense to them, which answers their burning questions.
As adults, we seem to locate those answers, but are open to change in that knowledge. However, there are those who regress (such as the Born Again Christians) because the fear of the unknown is too great, and mortality is more a reality than it was in their last stage.
Finally, as the wise folk, we've found comfort or emptiness or terror - but whatever the emotion, because we know there will be a change in which we will become something else or have nothing or be punished for our sins (I don't believe in sin), there's a sense of finality not experienced in any other phase. We know there will be a change; change can be frightening.
And once we've made our transitions - who knows? I think in the wise stage, we're ready to flow to the ocean. Perhaps there is a heaven. Perhaps there is a hell. Perhaps there's nothing. Any way, it's impossible to surmise because it's beyond human comprehension.
I fully agree that anthropomorphizing the Divine is ridiculous. "Let us (us? in a monotheistic faith? hmmm) create man in our own image." Pah. It's a way to make the realization that we are small and fragile easier to swallow. Of course, it was also a patriarchal society, so it's understandable that the Father figure was the shape of their God.
The Goddess worshipers are a result of the pendulum swinging to the other side. Just as the bob, once high on one side, will swing hard to the other before coming to rest eventually in the middle, neutral position, so will our society react in an unthinking manner. I never agreed with the dissolution of the importance of the male energy in the Divine, or the hatred of men that occurred when Z Budapest was reacting to Gardner's treatment of Doreen Valiente and to the injustice faced by women in the 70's.
Frankly, the Divine as male or female is silly. I feel an affinity to the feminine, but I know that it's just a comfort for me, and my growth needs to guide me towards the neutral.