Spiritual and Religious, but not a "believer"

[Schwarzweg]

You seem to be rephrasing the same questions except more bombastically as though the answers should be obvious. Is your point then that such questions should not be bothered with?

Doch., sicher sollte man sich damit beschäftigen ...besser wär es auf jeden Fall !!!
Aber jeder Mensch ist anders.
Erst große Krisen müssen geschehen, damit Menschen sich diesen tiefgreifenden Fragen stellen.
Und jeder Mensch durchlebt seine ganz eigenen privaten Krisen, wodurch es zu
solchen Fragen kommen kann.

 

[Jimmy]

I’m spiritual on Sundays, religious on Mondays, I believe on Tuesday, I have faith on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I’m atheist and Saturday agnostic

 

[Whateverist]

Doch., sicher sollte man sich damit beschäftigen ...besser wär es auf jeden Fall !!!
Aber jeder Mensch ist anders.
Erst große Krisen müssen geschehen, damit Menschen sich diesen tiefgreifenden Fragen stellen.
Und jeder Mensch durchlebt seine ganz eigenen privaten Krisen, wodurch es zu
solchen Fragen kommen kann.

I see. Thanks for clarifying. I see no reason to wait for an emergency to think about such things. Nice to get some insight into how we've gotten to this point. I hold that progress can be made even if the results remain entirely personal because not justifiable on broad enough terms to include the oblivious.

 

[SeekerM]

Maybe you all can help me figure out what I'm looking for. I consider myself religious in that I participate regularly in the public and private worship of my faith tradition and gain spiritual benefit from so doing. I use the associated terminology and artifacts of the religion, but not necessarily in the way they are meant to be utilized or understood.

I am also spiritual in that I intuit God's presence (most especially in nature) and find myself philosophizing a lot. However, I do not "believe" that "my religion is literally true". I believe it's a beautiful metaphor, and when I spend the time reflecting on the deeper meanings of things my church teaches as "fact", I can see their "Truth" without necessarily believing the literalness of the surface meaning.

I do not want to change churches/religions bc that's not the point. I like the rituals of my own tradition. I just find it hard to have meaningful conversations on spiritual subjects with people from my own faith tradition because, well, they take things too literally and often I have to censor myself to not let the proverbial cat out of the bag that I'm one of those apostates or heretics! (Like when I'm "warned" not to do Yoga.)

I'm not sure how to mingle with generically SBNR folks, bc I think there are way too many subcategories of that identity. Many are not aligned with my views (various new-age beliefs and certain far-leaning political views), so we don't see eye to eye. I think I'm also looked at with suspicion because I am religious on the surface.

I need to discover the vocabulary to define what I'm talking about so I can better search for likeminded individuals. That's where you lovely people come in

To sum up - I believe in one, personal, transendent and benevolent God, and I believe in eternal life. I do not know any further details of either, and I don't really like what my religion offers up. I enjoy yoga, Tai-Chi, meditation/contemplation/mindfulness. I've done past life regressions though I'm very skeptical. I try to follow the moral imperatives taught and lived out by Jesus of Nazareth. I enjoy the liturgy of Byzentine Christianity (both Orthodox and Catholic, though I only commune with the Catholics as I "am" Catholic). I read the Bible and enjoy various Christian music, both traditional hymns, chants, and modern. Lately I've been trying to figure out where the line is between my spirituality and my politics, as that has recently shifted quite a bit.

Thoughts?

And if I sound like your kind of weirdo, send me a PM!

Karolina, your self-description sounds very familiar to me. A lot of us "weirdos" around my neck of the woods. We tend to be Catholics whose experiences have made it impossible for us to fit unquestioningly into parish life. There is an article in the current America Magazine by a young Jesuit about the Irish poet Seamus Heaney that is a case in point. He uses many phrases about Heaney "losing" his faith, whereas the friends I shared with do not believe Heaney lost his faith at all. He just expanded it. If you know how to PM someone and you'd like to talk further, I'd welcome it. SeekerM

 

[Colt]

Maybe you all can help me figure out what I'm looking for. I consider myself religious in that I participate regularly in the public and private worship of my faith tradition and gain spiritual benefit from so doing. I use the associated terminology and artifacts of the religion, but not necessarily in the way they are meant to be utilized or understood.

I am also spiritual in that I intuit God's presence (most especially in nature) and find myself philosophizing a lot. However, I do not "believe" that "my religion is literally true". I believe it's a beautiful metaphor, and when I spend the time reflecting on the deeper meanings of things my church teaches as "fact", I can see their "Truth" without necessarily believing the literalness of the surface meaning.

I do not want to change churches/religions bc that's not the point. I like the rituals of my own tradition. I just find it hard to have meaningful conversations on spiritual subjects with people from my own faith tradition because, well, they take things too literally and often I have to censor myself to not let the proverbial cat out of the bag that I'm one of those apostates or heretics! (Like when I'm "warned" not to do Yoga.)

I'm not sure how to mingle with generically SBNR folks, bc I think there are way too many subcategories of that identity. Many are not aligned with my views (various new-age beliefs and certain far-leaning political views), so we don't see eye to eye. I think I'm also looked at with suspicion because I am religious on the surface.

I need to discover the vocabulary to define what I'm talking about so I can better search for likeminded individuals. That's where you lovely people come in

To sum up - I believe in one, personal, transendent and benevolent God, and I believe in eternal life. I do not know any further details of either, and I don't really like what my religion offers up. I enjoy yoga, Tai-Chi, meditation/contemplation/mindfulness. I've done past life regressions though I'm very skeptical. I try to follow the moral imperatives taught and lived out by Jesus of Nazareth. I enjoy the liturgy of Byzentine Christianity (both Orthodox and Catholic, though I only commune with the Catholics as I "am" Catholic). I read the Bible and enjoy various Christian music, both traditional hymns, chants, and modern. Lately I've been trying to figure out where the line is between my spirituality and my politics, as that has recently shifted quite a bit.

Thoughts?

And if I sound like your kind of weirdo, send me a PM!

A persons spiritual way of life is their religion. Religion doesn’t have to be institutional.