I’d consider myself somewhere between spiritual and maybe kind of pagan, idk
Most of my practice revolves around plants and crystals (no I’m not going to sell you some alternative medicine bullshit, science and spirituality are separate and any mixture doesn’t end well) ex catholic so I burrow small aspects from that but tend to avoid it mostly. Been looking into deities lately but haven’t integrated any into my primary stuff yet.
Also been doing stuff with a tarot deck lately, that’s been fun
I’m always a little reluctant to post about religious topics on Beehaw because there’s a pretty strong anti-christian sentiment on Lemmy in general which is, to be fair, entirely understandable.
I grew up in the “Church of Christ” and my wife and I stayed part of our CoC congregation for a long time mostly because of the support network and personal connections we had built up there, even though we had a lot of problems with evangelical theology and the increasing conservatism. A few years ago we wound up in the crosshairs of a group of deeply unpleasant people because of some comments we made in support of LGBTQ folks, and ended up spiritually homeless for a while. We eventually ended up at a local Episcopal church and while it’s been a big adjustment for us in some ways - we definitely weren’t used to high church liturgy - we’ve really come to love it there. It’s not without problems, but we feel like we’re able to wrestle with our beliefs and still have the support of the community, and we’ve made some close connections there as well.
Theologically I’m all over the place, so don’t ask me for a firm stance on anything - I’m just making this shit up as I go 😅
I am pretty staunchly antireligious in my personal life, but I try to meet folks where they are. If you are not a wild evangelical just being hateful all over, then you’re probably good by me. What you believe doesn’t really matter to me until it starts to try to interfere with my life.
I would describe myself as a pantheist: I see the existence of the universe as a whole and the multifaceted consciousness in it as divine. So science is as much a technical as a spiritual journey for me, and love / amazement / experience of the world seems the highest form of living.
I also feel that children often embody this in a very pure form, and it is only when society and social constructs kick in that we seem to forget our purpose and get all tangled up in imaginary goals and obligations.
I agree with the make shit up as you go sentiment.
Piece of advice if you want it. Organised religion tends to go south. Feel free to pursue your practice alone or with a few friends
Thanks for the thought - we did a little of this over the last few years but it wasn’t working for us. One of the more important parts of religious practice for both of us is the communal aspect, and as we live in a mid-size city in the Southern U.S. there aren’t very many opportunities outside of a church setting for strong, long-term community building. Not saying there aren’t any, but it’s difficult to build a strong network when third places have essentially disappeared. The Episcopal Church is working for us, at least right now, as a place to build those networks and practice our faith without having to compromise on moral stances that are critical to us.
