When gods are nature...

[Tamino]

Because I'm aware that those who speak primarily English are not the be-all and end-all of humanity, but it is the only language world that I personally know. Do you not acknowledge your own limits of knowledge as such?

Very true. I only found my path in the Kemetic tradition after I learned the language.
The languages* we know are at least partially responsible for the terms and concepts we can form in our mind... and we can never know more than just a few.

*Though I'd totally include mathematics, formal logic or programming languages... they also form the way we think

 

[Quintessence]

I would go with: no, it's not proselytizing.
Isn't that exactly the advantage of religions/worldviews that don't focus on faith and believe:
That we can agree on an action without agreeing on the spiritual reason behind it

So, if someone else is doing something that I would consider to be in accordance with Ma'at, that's a good thing. I might praise them for it and may encourage them to keep acting this way. It doesn't matter if they have ever even heard of the concept of Ma'at, if they have some other base for their ethics, or another religion - as long as we are in agreement about the action, our personal spiritual paths don't matter.

So: if you keep encouraging people to study and to respect nature and knowledge, that's perfectly fine. You are encouraging the action, not the spiritual interpretation of said action. It's still up to the students to find and define their own reason why they value their studies, and those reasons can be atheistic, animist, Christian or whatever.

Or am I simplifying this too much...?

Nah, if it makes sense for you it's fine. The answer to the question is as simple or as complicated as one makes it, I think, and there's not really a "right" answer to these sorts of things. It's just interesting to think about.

I also think about this sort of stuff when expressions of "religion" get banned from the public sphere. Except they don't, they just ban some expressions of religion. There was a scholar I read once - and I wish I could remember who it was - who remarked that all secularism serves to do is delineate what that culture does and doesn't want to stuff in the "religion" box. Usually that gets defined by whatever the religious majorities are, so that means religious minorities enjoy privileged status (ironically) when it comes to expression of religion in the public sphere. Like, nobody goes "uh oh, that Druid is supporting and sponsoring planting trees in our city parks, we've gotta put a stop to that!" in spite of it being a religious practice for tree-hugging dirt-worshippers.

 

[metis]

... is it proselytizing to encourage others to study and appreciate nature/gods through the sciences, the arts, and life experience?

On occasion, I ask myself this question. I'm a Pagan Druid. For me and others on similar paths, that which is worthy of worship - the gods - is the world and the universe and everything in it. In my professional life, it is part of my job to serve as a science advocate, specifically for the earth and life sciences which are a major source of knowledge and inspiration in my religion (aka, science is the study of the gods). Is this, in effect, proselytizing? Why or why not?

Are you familiar with Baruch Spinoza by chance, as the above seems to fit quite well with what he had surmised?

If not, here: Baruch Spinoza - Wikipedia

 

[Tamino]

There was a scholar I read once - and I wish I could remember who it was - who remarked that all secularism serves to do is delineate what that culture does and doesn't want to stuff in the "religion" box. Usually that gets defined by whatever the religious majorities are, so that means religious minorities enjoy privileged status (ironically) when it comes to expression of religion in the public sphere. Like, nobody goes "uh oh, that Druid is supporting and sponsoring planting trees in our city parks, we've gotta put a stop to that!" in spite of it being a religious practice for tree-hugging dirt-worshippers.

That.... makes a surprising amount of sense, actually. very cool. Let me know if you remember the source, I'd love to check into that some moe