Talking Religion

I've gotten myself involved, recently, in "theological" discussions with several people.

I'm honestly not sure why people DO that conversation with me. I'm not "religious" in the usual sense. I usually refer to myself as a "spiritual backpacker." It is a descriptor that seems, to me, to illustrate the way I tend to approach things that fall into the spiritual realm: I have wandered through my life encountering a wide variety of spiritual practices and theories. Sometimes, I've spent time with a particular group or with someone who seems to feel like a "teacher" for me. However that has gone, I've tended to "take what makes sense or works" and leave the rest. I travel pretty light, from a religious point of view.

If I get actually pushed, by someone who really wants to listen to me ramble on about what I "believe," I can give an explanation of my "cosmological" view of things. The usual problem is that there is very little "typical" vocabulary to my belief system that makes it accessible to someone who is mired in traditional Christianity, or even to someone who assumes the existence of a personified deity.

I see all of the creation as dynamic and interconnected. It is my belief that we are creating the universe as we go along -- all of us. What we conceive of as "evolution" is, in my view, simply the aggregate of the creative forces of all the lives in the universe. It is how, throughout time, humans have come to posit the existence of a "god" -- we can feel that drive within us, and most often, assume it is "other than" ourselves. I just don't think it is.

So, when we "pray," we simply envision and give voice to the evolution that we are creating; for ourselves and others and our world. There is no god "out there" to save us or to blame for our messes. We are the creative divine spirit in the universe.

I do think that our energy exceeds the boundaries of our physical bodies. That would be the "physics" that I studied over the years. Perhaps that energy essence expands and outstrips the confines of our lives. I'd subscribe to some kind of reincarnation theory probably.

I found an interesting quiz about what sort of "believer" you are. The results were surprising to me, but not all that far off. Here they are.

swan

What is Your World View? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Existentialist Existentialism emphasizes human capability. There is no greater power interfering with life and thus it is up to us to make things happen. Sometimes considered a negative and depressing world view, your optimism towards human accomplishment is immense. Mankind is condemned to be free and must accept the responsibility. Existentialist 75% Idealist 69% Cultural Creative 69% Materialist 56% Postmodernist 50% Romanticist 31% Modernist 19% Fundamentalist 13%