Getting to know you: Discuss your faith

[Holdasown]

This forum houses a lot of members of different faiths and different philosophies. I know I've engaged in discussion with some of you but I've unfortunately never went into detail in getting to know you and how your faith affects you.

In this thread if you would be so kind in explaining the following:

1) What is your faith (e.g. Religion)/If not religious what secular principles do you live by?

2) What aspects of your faith/philosophies enrich your life?

3) (Edit) What particular aspect of your faith/philosophy do you think others outside your faith ought to live by, and would greatly benefit from?

1. I worship in the Norse/Germanic pantheon. I tend to work from the Urglaawe tradition which is an emerging PA Dutch pagan path focused on Germanic views and the goddess Holle/Holda. I am also an animist and engage in folk magic/witchcraft.

2. My faith requires care for the environment, low impact on my surroundings, keeping one's word, honoring the dead and military, and being part of my community (religious and secular). While I would do this anyway by doing for my gods I find a spiritual fulfillment I didn't have before.

3. I wish more people in the West were less wasteful. I think we in general are very planet friendly.

 

[Epic Beard Man]

Vishnu takes birth, or otherwise appears on Earth at a time when dharma (righteousness) is waning or becomes absent. He does this as the Preserver, to set wrongs aright. Unfortunately, the world and humans being what they are, it usually doesn't last. This is why he manifests age to age (his words almost exactly). As far as I can see, most of his appearances were for a specific reason or person, yes. But there is a trickle down and ripple effect to all of humanity.



I'm not sure if there are very many who worship Brahman directly. There are no temples, services or priests dedicated to Brahman. Brahman is the ineffable "ground of existence". So I really can't answer that. Otoh, almost all Hindus see their personal view of God as Brahman that is manifest. In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna and Arjuna repeatedly refer to Krishna as Brahman. So, in a way when I worship Krishna I am worshiping Brahman. And it is Krishna, in Vaishnava belief, who will grant moksha (liberation from rebirth). In fact, Krishna says that it's perfectly OK to worship any God/dess or deity you want - he'll make your faith in that deity steady - as long as you realize that all deities are actually him (Krishna/Brahman) in another form. So yeah, I can worship Thor as long as I understand Thor is also Krishna/Brahman. It's really kind of trippy.

All of that is from a Vaishnava perspective, and not even all Vaishnavas... just one in particular. Shaivas, Shaktas, Sauras, et. al. will have something different to say.

That is very interesting.

Question....Is there any reason why some of the deities are the color blue or purple? Is there any spiritual significance?

 

[Jainarayan]

Question....Is there any reason why some of the deities are the color blue or purple? Is there any spiritual significance?

Several theories... https://www.quora.com/Why-are-Hindu-gods-portrayed-blue-in-colour

• Representing the vastness of the sky.
• There was no linguistic differentiation for blue or dark. And being South Asian, they were thought of as dark-skinned, which was considered beautiful. The word 'krishna' (all the deities' names are adjectives, not proper nouns) means 'attractive' as well as 'dark'. "Krishna paksha" refers to the dark fortnight of the lunar cycle (between the full and new moons). He is also said to have been quite handsome, as was Rama ("the most handsome man the world had ever known" acc. to the Ramayana).
• Kali is portrayed as black because "kali" is the feminine of kala, time. Time devours all, the absence of anything is usually depicted as black.

 

[shunyadragon]

This forum houses a lot of members of different faiths and different philosophies. I know I've engaged in discussion with some of you but I've unfortunately never went into detail in getting to know you and how your faith affects you.

In this thread if you would be so kind in explaining the following:

1) What is your faith (e.g. Religion)/If not religious what secular principles do you live by?

Baha'i Faith - Primarily the belief in the unity and progressive evolving spiritual nature of humanity that parallels our physical evolution. The belief in apophatic God not definable from the human perspective. We know of the attributes of God through progressive Revelation.

The spiritual advancement of secular principles are evolving parallel to the Baha'i spiritual principles. The Humanist Manifesto reflects many of the spiritual values of the Baha'i Faith.

2) What aspects of your faith/philosophies enrich your life?

the spiritual principles and the harmony of science and religion. The more open metaphysical view of the interpretation of much of the scripture of the world allows for a better understanding of the evolving spiritual nature of humanity embracing the unity and avoiding conflicts,

3) (Edit) What particular aspect of your faith/philosophy do you think others outside your faith ought to live by, and would greatly benefit from?

The principles of unity and diversity of the nature of our spiritual differences, and the spiritual principles as reflected in the secular Humanist Manifesto. It is important not to cling to literal scriptural and cultural interpretations of the scripture of ancient religions that create conflicts between religions. In all humility the spiritual attributes nature of the worlds beyond ours are unknown. Concepts like heavens and hell, and reincarnation are questionable as dogma beliefs. In reality we do not know the nature of the spiritual journey beyond our world.