(Note: I am not suggesting that any particular religion or spiritual path is inferior to any other. It is my conviction that everyone should at some point question what they believe.)
Why should you question your religion? Not every point here may apply to everyone, but here are five very good reasons -- and all you need is one.
1) Why not? If your current church/belief system discourages questions, what is being accomplished by such restrictions? How is anyone to gain a more thorough understanding of their own chosen spiritual path if they aren't free to ask questions? Ask them anyway. Keep asking until you get answers, even if the ultimate answer you receive is that you will not be given them -- and in that case, stop looking for answers in others and turn your inquiries within. What can you ever gain by stagnating in your faith, no matter what your particular path may be?
2) There is a difference between a parrot and a true follower of any given path. How many people I have known who were of X religion because their parents were or their community primarily was! If I had a dollar for each of them, I would never again have to worry about finances. I was one of them for the first 20 years or so of my life. I could repeat holy text verbatim, knew all of the words to every song and ritual...but when it came down to it, I could not have told you why I believed it all, other than "I've just always been part of this particular tradition/My parents are X so I am too." That is not an adequate position to hang one's spiritual well-being on!
3) You're not altogether comfortable with your faith/beliefs. Maybe you've felt it for a while, or maybe it's only been recently that your discomfort has been growing, nagging at the back of your mind and never quite being squelched despite your efforts to shake it off. Why try to force-fit yourself into any set of beliefs that doesn't honestly and naturally resonate with you? If we look at faith as adhering to a spiritual Truth, which is a tricky subject and a very slippery slope I don't wish to explore beyond touching on the idea here, then it seems to me that such a Truth should not require you to suspend your disbelief of important parts (or any part!) in order to feel at ease with believing the rest.
(One of the wonderful things, imho, about Druidry is that there is so little core 'doctrine' or dogma to follow; Druids are free to embrace the aspects that resonate with them, and it doesn't make us at odds with one another or lacking somehow in the richness and depth of this path as a spiritual journey.)
4) Chances are high that there's a lot about your religion you don't know. Doesn't it make sense, if you are set on following a particular path (and even moreso if you intend to advocate for it), that you would want to learn everything you can about it? Its past, its traditions, the different branches of it and how they came about...even relatively 'new' spiritual paths have rich, full histories with twists and turns and fascinating tales aplenty along the way. Who shaped your religion at different periods in history, and what may have been their motives in doing the particular things they did? How have various rituals evolved over time?
5) Questioning your beliefs can lead to greater security within them -- and with that, the ability to defend your faith if ever you should need/want to do so. If you question your beliefs to the core and find that they don't hold up, what a boon to be freed from something that wasn't truly nourishing your soul! There are a LOT of religions/spiritual traditions in this world, and if you seek you are sure to find something that does feed your spirit and feel like home. I did it. And if you question your beliefs and find that yes, you are right where you need to be and they come from within, not just from external sources pressed upon you, then you have the gift of knowing now why you believe as you do, and that's no small thing! Shine vibrantly from the spirit outward, confident in your faith and the knowledge that you are on a bright, resonant path.
Bright blessings, and as always, feedback/comments are welcome (all I ask is that you be respectful).
WW
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Beliefs, Part II: Choosing Druidry, and nonviolence
Posted by
RxR
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So...if all religions worship (to my way of thinking) the same Divine that resides within and watches over us all, why choose at all, right? And why Druidry over the others that I'm aware of?
I wasn't raised with Druidic beliefs; I was in fact brought up in a strict Christian household. I always had problems with the exclusive nature of at least the particular denomination in which I was raised. They were right and everyone else was wrong. Other Protestant denominations were less wrong than the rest of the world, but still. This was their thinking, and never mine. There were inconsistencies and hypocrisies that left me feeling extremely disenchanted with the religion I'd been handed. I struggled with that all through my teenage years, not daring to express my views to my parents or other leaders in my conservative community. I felt isolated, an outcast of my own making because I simply could not swallow all of the supposed truths that were constantly shoved down my throat.
In college, I began to really explore other religions, other spiritual paths. I wasn't "shopping" for a religion; I had come to the determination that I didn't have to have one but thought that the research would be useful in shoring up my convictions of what I did and did not believe. I questioned what I had been taught, and over the next few years was able to strip my beliefs down to what resonated with me and felt true; I relaid the foundation of my spiritual life on solely those truths that deep down I already knew -- not because anyone told me it must be so, but because I could feel it on my own, outside of any specific religious following.
I like the cyclical nature of Druidry, and the way the spiritual path is so open to individual practitioners as well as group practice. There is a freedom in it, even if most Druids do hold to a few core beliefs nearly across the board. There isn't the same push to convert others or else, and tolerance for other faiths abounds...I even learned along the way that Druidry and other religions are not mutually exclusive (from a Druid perspective, anyway). The rituals and basic tenets resonate with me, and it's the path that I feel at ease with, at home on...like my feet are finally carrying me where I want and need to go. Quite simply, it just feels right. The something that I felt was missing, doesn't feel that way anymore -- and it's not the same sensation of trying to jam a jigsaw piece into a space it wasn't designed for and refuses to fit in without seriously damaging the rest of the puzzle around it (or creatively editing the piece I was shoving in there) that I had before, with the faith I grew up in. This actually fits. I am a Druid.
I hold myself to the Hindu principle of ahimsa as closely as possible, which is pretty standard in Druidry. I do believe that our negative actions have negative effects far beyond our ability to discern them, and that what goes around comes around again. I suppose you could say that I believe in karma then, although not precisely as certain Eastern religions do. I don't step on ants or caterpillars if I can avoid it, and I even extend this principle of nonviolence to the arachnids I so utterly fear, though it doesn't always save them. I'm not perfect, but I try hard. Even spiders have the right to be here, unharmed. I strive to not act out against things or beings simply because I am afraid of them, but I am very much a work in progress with that particular example.
Violence has always been abhorrent to me; as a child I was appalled and wounded by some of the "classic" animated movies shoved at most of my generation. I hate violent scenes in movies even now, animated or not, and cannot watch parts of many otherwise good movies because it hurts my heart to even see torture or violence of any sort portrayed onscreen. (A quick barroom brawl is one thing; the downed man getting kicked in the head or ribs is quite another...things like that.) I love books and cannot read Stephen King or anyone else with a penchant for particularly violent/gory scenes. The images gleaned from the words haunt my soul.
I have been accused of being naive, stupid, oversensitive, and "not fit for this world" because of my attitude toward violence and how unable I am to handle certain types of "reality" in books and movies and the like. Frankly, I don't care, and I find it disturbing how desensitized most people seem to have become. Yes, maybe I am at an extreme in my views and what hurts me, but other people edge toward the other side of that. Some part of me feels (and I mean no disrespect here) that the less horrific awful acts are to us, the less incapable of them we become. No thank you.
If you wish to learn more about Druidry, I strongly recommend the OBOD's website.
I wasn't raised with Druidic beliefs; I was in fact brought up in a strict Christian household. I always had problems with the exclusive nature of at least the particular denomination in which I was raised. They were right and everyone else was wrong. Other Protestant denominations were less wrong than the rest of the world, but still. This was their thinking, and never mine. There were inconsistencies and hypocrisies that left me feeling extremely disenchanted with the religion I'd been handed. I struggled with that all through my teenage years, not daring to express my views to my parents or other leaders in my conservative community. I felt isolated, an outcast of my own making because I simply could not swallow all of the supposed truths that were constantly shoved down my throat.
In college, I began to really explore other religions, other spiritual paths. I wasn't "shopping" for a religion; I had come to the determination that I didn't have to have one but thought that the research would be useful in shoring up my convictions of what I did and did not believe. I questioned what I had been taught, and over the next few years was able to strip my beliefs down to what resonated with me and felt true; I relaid the foundation of my spiritual life on solely those truths that deep down I already knew -- not because anyone told me it must be so, but because I could feel it on my own, outside of any specific religious following.
I like the cyclical nature of Druidry, and the way the spiritual path is so open to individual practitioners as well as group practice. There is a freedom in it, even if most Druids do hold to a few core beliefs nearly across the board. There isn't the same push to convert others or else, and tolerance for other faiths abounds...I even learned along the way that Druidry and other religions are not mutually exclusive (from a Druid perspective, anyway). The rituals and basic tenets resonate with me, and it's the path that I feel at ease with, at home on...like my feet are finally carrying me where I want and need to go. Quite simply, it just feels right. The something that I felt was missing, doesn't feel that way anymore -- and it's not the same sensation of trying to jam a jigsaw piece into a space it wasn't designed for and refuses to fit in without seriously damaging the rest of the puzzle around it (or creatively editing the piece I was shoving in there) that I had before, with the faith I grew up in. This actually fits. I am a Druid.
I hold myself to the Hindu principle of ahimsa as closely as possible, which is pretty standard in Druidry. I do believe that our negative actions have negative effects far beyond our ability to discern them, and that what goes around comes around again. I suppose you could say that I believe in karma then, although not precisely as certain Eastern religions do. I don't step on ants or caterpillars if I can avoid it, and I even extend this principle of nonviolence to the arachnids I so utterly fear, though it doesn't always save them. I'm not perfect, but I try hard. Even spiders have the right to be here, unharmed. I strive to not act out against things or beings simply because I am afraid of them, but I am very much a work in progress with that particular example.
Violence has always been abhorrent to me; as a child I was appalled and wounded by some of the "classic" animated movies shoved at most of my generation. I hate violent scenes in movies even now, animated or not, and cannot watch parts of many otherwise good movies because it hurts my heart to even see torture or violence of any sort portrayed onscreen. (A quick barroom brawl is one thing; the downed man getting kicked in the head or ribs is quite another...things like that.) I love books and cannot read Stephen King or anyone else with a penchant for particularly violent/gory scenes. The images gleaned from the words haunt my soul.
I have been accused of being naive, stupid, oversensitive, and "not fit for this world" because of my attitude toward violence and how unable I am to handle certain types of "reality" in books and movies and the like. Frankly, I don't care, and I find it disturbing how desensitized most people seem to have become. Yes, maybe I am at an extreme in my views and what hurts me, but other people edge toward the other side of that. Some part of me feels (and I mean no disrespect here) that the less horrific awful acts are to us, the less incapable of them we become. No thank you.
If you wish to learn more about Druidry, I strongly recommend the OBOD's website.
Beliefs, Part I: Religion and the Divine
Posted by
RxR
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I mentioned in the last post that I am a Druid, and also that I consider myself panentheistic. Not pantheistic, but panentheistic. I believe that the Divine resides within all living things; that we are all connected to it and that reverence for nature and reverence for God, however you define God, are not mutually exclusive. My reverence for all life is one form of reverence for the Divine who guides my life.
I also believe that there are many paths up the mountain, so to speak. If the mountain is our journey to get close to God/get to heaven/whatever other ultimate spiritual goal one might have, why should there be but one path that actually leads to the summit? I have always found the thinking flawed which insists that this religion or that one is the one true religion, the one Truth that applies to everyone in the world, and that those who do not adhere to that particular set of beliefs, worship that god or those gods specifically, are damned or otherwise hopelessly lost in the dark.
What about those who never hear of this "one true path?" Are they condemned because they were just born in the wrong place or situation and missed out? What kind of God would be alright with that? And if these truths are self-evident, why does not every rational being ultimately decide to follow the exact same religion, all over the world?
It seems clear to me, though, that spirituality is natural (no offense intended to my atheist readers -- this is, after all, only my perspective, and I readily admit I am a fallible imperfect being), even if the details come to life in a thousand different ways. Without it, we search, even if we do not know what it is that we seek. We feel empty, uninspired...I believe that all of us yearn for meaning, for that invisible thread that anchors us throughout our lives, and that sustains us in times of trouble and darkness.
I think, then, that all gods across the world are really different faces painted on the same Divine presence. Therefore, I do not find the Christian Holy Trinity at odds with Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma; I see no reason the Pagan maiden/mother/crone trio could not be juxtaposed over any other triple facet of godhood in any other religion. If Hindus can accept their three as aspects/facets of one ultimate God, and Christians do the same, and Druids (who believe in some form of the triple facet -- Druids do not all hold the same concept of god(s)/goddess(es) and some embrace no god at all) do the same, etc...why can't those separate religions just be facets of universal worship of whatever the true ultimate form of the divine may be? Different world religions are not so different at all.
I know many people found it somehow offensive or incredible when the movie Dogma portrayed God as a woman...but if a Lord, why not a Lady? Why not Lords *and* Ladies? And what does it really matter what we call g/God as long as it's meant with respect? None of us could possibly know every name ever given to the Divine.
Someone once said, regarding religion, "There's more than one path up the mountain." A reply came, "Ah, but there are many mountains." I should have added, "And they all reach for the same sky."
I also believe that there are many paths up the mountain, so to speak. If the mountain is our journey to get close to God/get to heaven/whatever other ultimate spiritual goal one might have, why should there be but one path that actually leads to the summit? I have always found the thinking flawed which insists that this religion or that one is the one true religion, the one Truth that applies to everyone in the world, and that those who do not adhere to that particular set of beliefs, worship that god or those gods specifically, are damned or otherwise hopelessly lost in the dark.
What about those who never hear of this "one true path?" Are they condemned because they were just born in the wrong place or situation and missed out? What kind of God would be alright with that? And if these truths are self-evident, why does not every rational being ultimately decide to follow the exact same religion, all over the world?
It seems clear to me, though, that spirituality is natural (no offense intended to my atheist readers -- this is, after all, only my perspective, and I readily admit I am a fallible imperfect being), even if the details come to life in a thousand different ways. Without it, we search, even if we do not know what it is that we seek. We feel empty, uninspired...I believe that all of us yearn for meaning, for that invisible thread that anchors us throughout our lives, and that sustains us in times of trouble and darkness.
I think, then, that all gods across the world are really different faces painted on the same Divine presence. Therefore, I do not find the Christian Holy Trinity at odds with Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma; I see no reason the Pagan maiden/mother/crone trio could not be juxtaposed over any other triple facet of godhood in any other religion. If Hindus can accept their three as aspects/facets of one ultimate God, and Christians do the same, and Druids (who believe in some form of the triple facet -- Druids do not all hold the same concept of god(s)/goddess(es) and some embrace no god at all) do the same, etc...why can't those separate religions just be facets of universal worship of whatever the true ultimate form of the divine may be? Different world religions are not so different at all.
I know many people found it somehow offensive or incredible when the movie Dogma portrayed God as a woman...but if a Lord, why not a Lady? Why not Lords *and* Ladies? And what does it really matter what we call g/God as long as it's meant with respect? None of us could possibly know every name ever given to the Divine.
Someone once said, regarding religion, "There's more than one path up the mountain." A reply came, "Ah, but there are many mountains." I should have added, "And they all reach for the same sky."
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