What religion do you follow most closely to?

Let's hope the shift can be made in time. If not, then I fear that unprecedented disaster awaits.

 

I want to make up my own religion, and have people follow

Where do i start?

 

First you need some tablets and a pair of magic glasses... or maybe a successful sci-fi novel.

 

I consider myself agnostic because I do not think I there is a god, but I do not call my self athiest because it could be a possibility... you never know... (although, to me, heaven and hell seems very unlikely).

I guess I most closely resemble Pagan. I am a very spiritual person, and I believe in things like auras (can see 'em actually), biorythms, life forces, etc. I guess this would be the "higher presence" I believe in- although, I don't think it is above us in any way, rather, it IS us and we are it.

 

wait another 850years, or go to another planet, and then either way, wait for god to choose you to be channeled by.

unless what you really want to start is a way of looking at things, that does not claim a direct revelation. in that case, i would suggest starting by diciplinning yourself to set the example of how you believe people would have to live in order for the kind of world you want to live in to exist.

i think the most important thing to learn and remember from and about so called animisim, or the keeping of indigenous traditions, is that there is absolutely noting wrong with this world, or any other, that does not begin and end, with human (or its some other world equivalent) society. (and that with its romanticizing and rewarding of aggressiveness and the tyranny of its dominance).

i know this is not exactly a traditional view. it may even appear to be at odds with some of them. but the point is, what is there is what is there, and even if dangerous, and many things are, in ways that don't require them to be malicious to be so, it is not your enemy unless you choose to make it so.

i guess i still haven't said what i "am". there's a card in my pocket that says i'm a Baha'i. well that's a part of it, that might not be a very accurate one. what i am, is an awareness that observes, and attempts to avoid deceiving myself. i make no claim to doing so infallibly. i merely attempt to be as honestly objective as is in my capacity to do so. because i believe that is what honesty is.

i believe we live in a very big and diverse universe that is full of all sorts of things absolutely no one knows anything about. and yes, there are species spirits that may take it upon themselves to attempt to guide us. this is however up to them, and up to them to reveal themselves to us, or not, as THEY, see fit.

they are not gods, and the point is not to worship them, but they can be very true and erudite teachers. sometimes they may even be companions, but that is entirely up to them as well.

 

I guess that depends on how legitimate of a religion dreamsDOcomeTRUE wants to start. If you are charismatic enough, you can just make up your own scriptures and your own ethics and get a bunch of followers. You'll need to come up with an object of worship---might I suggest a rubber hose... Or an old radiator... Hmmmmmmm, that's a good idea...

Along with what Themnax said, there is nothing wrong with death---it is a natural step in the course of life, our life in the current stage on this planet is only a stepping stone between the last one and the next one. There are certainly things that can kill you. If were stranded out in the ocean, it is very possible that a shark could eat you alive. The shark is not evil, it is not a bad thing that it is doing, it is merely fact that it survives by eating other things.

To your loved ones, your death would be a tragic event. They would have to explain to the authorities that they were only trying to scare you as a practical joke when they left you out in the middle of the ocean, and were going to pick you up within the hour anyway.

BUT SERIOUSLY---your death would be a tragedy to your loved ones because they do not have an understanding of life beyond the physical 3-dimensions of our empirical world. But to spirit, it is merely a stepping stone.

This does not make it ok to go around killing people. Because it does cause pain within our own realm, within our own collective unconscious. There is case studies done by Dr. Stanislav Grof, and others that does show that the acts of pain we cause on ourselves and others, does carry over into the psyche of our future selves if indeed we come back to this life. But if it carries over into a future life, it must also carry over into the spirit world as well. I am not saying that there is neccessarily a hell, but that there are issues that we most certainly have to deal with as human beings, in response to our own actions. Ultimately you are responsible for yourself, and your choices.

Because we are responsible for our own actions, and because we have such a huge impact on the life of this planet, we need to start taking better care of it. We need to respect the earth and all of creation---mitakuye oyasin (all our relations). If we deplete the earth of all of its resources and pollute it to the point where it does not sustain life, then we will kill ourselves off. We will not be able to survive our mess---plain and simple.

Indigenous people say that Mother Nature provides everything we need to survive. If civilization has reached a stage where it depends on oil for its mere survival, then Mother Nature would provide sufficient amounts of oil, or alternative sources, if Mother Nature is shown the proper respect. We are not only dependent on oil---our survival currently depends on it. Oil and coal are neccessary to produce fertilizer, for example. The population explosion that began in the early 1900's was made possible by fertilizer. The only way to feed the current and future populations is with fertilizer, because our earth's soil can only produce food up to the limits of the Nitrogen content of the soil. Around the year of 1900 was the last time that the earth's soil could come close to feeding the earth's population based on fertilizer-free levels of nitrogen in our soil.

Modern man does not respect Mother Nature, therefore we are seeing dwindling resources (yet it is possible that the earth has naturally occurring oil, as there have been a few deposits that appeared to be too deep to be formed from ancient fossil beds---there could very well be sufficient oil for man if only he would show respect).

If death is merely a stepping stone to the next place in our lives, then we could very easily destroy earth to the point that we would all die. Or a different way of saying it, we could reach a point where the earth must cleanse itself of mankind.

Perhaps a few people would survive, so that at some future time, mankind would once again spend time on the earth. But people today need to wake up, and we are receiving the wake up calls. Indigenous prophecy generally leaves the choice of path in the hand's of mankind.

Also, like Themnax said, you do not worship the animal spirits. They provide assistance, and teaching. A fetish is not an object of worship, as dominant society used to believe. A fetish is a tool, through which the animal spirit may provide assistance, or at least it helps the worshipper on an archetypical level, but you do not worship it. What is worshipped is the Great Spirit that pervades all things. One could pray to the animal spirit for assistance, and the animal spirit could even represent the Great Spirit. But to say that the Eagle is the god, or a buffalo is the god, is to misunderstand the concept of animism, and to incorrectly try to apply the institutional philosophy of organized religion to animism.

 

Episcopalian.

 

I don't. I was raised a Catholic but I don't really agree with being told what to believe, it seems a bit hollow to me. If you're going to let something that can have such a massive impact on your life, you should tailor it to suit yourself(without going crazy and saying your god loves it when you ingest small children) or even just get rid of it. Unless of course you've questioned it and it still works for you.
I don't know where I am in my beliefs, they're all a bit muddled at the moment - but psychedelics have definitely given me a massive amount of appreciation for the world which in turn has reinforced my morals.
I guess religion can be substituted for confusion and appreciation, without the negatives of potentially burning in hell(or equivalent of) for all eternity.

 

Does it need to be said?

 

A religion that finity is the true knowledge for God I still have not reaized in the pathway to Life, and that Infinity is for why the World exists that I never be left alone with in the Beliefs which I hold dear to.

This is not justified by the human nature discovered in the world, and nevertheless there is a Human nature which makes sense only if people WERE there and then, second to Nature. There is also the original freedom to break free from It.:beatnik:

 

Oh and Roman Catholicism for me.

 

I follow no religions man, I simply believe that all gods and goddesses are a small part of the bigger picture that is like unto all things but unlike to all things at the same time. This force is both the seed of yin and the spark of yang always elusive, yet endlessly available. It exists without moralizing, acts regardless of our wishes, and the more that it gives the more that it fills. It is a great abyss yet it is the inexhaustibly fertile source of the universe.

 

i am in a way interfaith , i am pagan and i study other religions , and i was raised catholic so yah

 

I am essentially Buddhist, though I am far from living like a monk.

 

i guess i'm of an animist/pagan type of persuasion with a sprinkling of bible scripture thrown in for good measure:biggrinjester:

 

I could tell by the picture you use as your avatar. (Just kidding!)

I think there is truth in al religion so nothing wrong with that. (though I think there are hypocracies and other issues, and I especially have trouble with the institution so that is why I do not follow an organized religion).

 

absolutely:2thumbsup:

 

church of bob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkOzznp4QW0"]Ballad of 'Bob' Dobbs - YouTube

 

I'd rather not be mystified in What Religion in the Platonic sense of the Holy In Itself to decide my direction in my life about. So much requires appropriate reactions in the style of Julian Assange of Wikileaks.

 

I don't follow any religion, but I do watch one close. The Catholic Church has the worst abuse history in the christian groups so I watch them closer.