Are you religious?

[They call me Loyalty 1,941]

Imagine being able to prove that almost everything said by the bible is accurate to some degree. And still not wanting to believe it. Well, yes. That is my not religion.
I've been to the heavenly dome of a flat earth contained within the ring of the antartic "pole". Just as is decribed in that book. And I still can not believe my disappointment. And all the others who hit the "ceilling" were happy because of "yoshua". And I question myself with some mild repulsion towards human stupidity and hypocrisy. "Do they not realize that if this reality is a mechanical construct of nature created by a "god", then it is also safe to say that jesus is yet another character of this reality? If not the direct culprit for allowing the chaotic nature of this "divine" comedy?". Probably, if you asked him personally, he would give you one of those sh*tty parabolic answers that go nowhere. I feel like I know him, already.
Anyway. It is too much. Hiting this "barrier" in the sky was like that truman show movie? When the main character hits the edges of a wall where the horizon is painted over, and then realizes everything in his life was a lie. And empty compromise.
Then the dream dies, and so does a part of you. And there is nothing left but the animal inside.
Well, that kind of crisis I've been experiening during the last years of my life. And I still do not want it to be true. I really wanted to believe there was more than this. Like more than humanity. Like more than survival, and being unwilling part of this economic, political and social charade I never managed to believe myself any more than the ideological pretence and imaginary morals that subdue our basic human instincts. But that time of the life that is called childhood was lost to me.

The animalistic nature that I've seen about humanity since early in my life. It is like those stories about policemen having to see the worst side of humanity. And then they are tormented by it, and then they watch the idealized versions of humanity presented by shows like star trek to find some hope about the state of the world. Even if star trek is fiction, much like our perception of outer space. These poor people have nothing to hold on for hope other than an empty dream.
I can understand some of that. Being with your head so against the ground that you cannot even breathe anymore. I threw the entire inheritance of my family to the winds because I needed to prove myself I was anything but another animal. But in the end, I am a poor animal, now. Hahaha.

I cannot even prove myself that there is an outer space. So, this is it. I am trapped within the boundaries of the only book I never wanted to read in my entire life. A fiction that is poorly writen and executed by the powers of the world, when you look at the bizarre absurdity of what is portrayed by media. Insanity like the virus agenda, for example. Am I sharing the world with a bunch mental patients, or is that simply human animal nature? And all this charade being designed to make the character who is yet come look better by comparison.
What is the point of pretending, when you know it isn't real anymore? My little human. And which one is more scary to consider?
All in the name of a creator that was always behind the "good" and the "evil". The very same creator that set the snakes upon the waters and the land. What kind of shepherd lets the wolves loose among the "sheep"? Sheep... that is funny. Wolves among wolves in the end. Indoctrinated animals against natural animals. The strong and the weak.
Everything feels like an empty compromise. Everything is conditioned by something else. I've seen miracles, shadow beings, secret military aircraft like the tr-3b parade in front of my hourse, angels, merkabahs flying over the sky directly over the valcony, the movable stars and the sun. Countless messages of "hope". And still I cannot escape it. I am disappointed with myself most of all. For wanting to believe there was more than this. For wanting to be anything but myself. Because, when it comes to it. I can only be human.
That there was an inherent potential to be more than this... But it is the same animal wearing different clothes and pretexts in the end.
There is no inherent value to anything beyond that which we give to things.
There is nothing else underneath. But I wanted to keep pretending because it made me feel better, when reality was being... reality. Everything else is just that... pretence.
It will turn out that truth is the only thing I've been trying to run away from my entire life.

I really do hate myself, I hate everything about this world. I have a genuine hatred of humanity. And I always aim to bring the worst within themselves, even when I know it is there alrady. Because I know myself.

[ZiggWheelsManning 7,365]

No, I am not religious, and I don't intend to be.  

[Guest]

I think I’m an atheist?
 

What partly influenced me was that as a child I was forced to participate in Catholicism by my overly religious mother. Before her recent surgery, as far as my first memories go- my mother went to church every single day for several hours and try to shame us for not going. I was religious myself for a period of time as they scared me into believing about God. After her surgery, my mother watches masses and is praying here at home as she recuperates throughout the day. 

I was made to read the Bible all the way through several times. It is one of the most messed up books I have ever read and I have read a lot of fiction. One of the classic ”parables ” or stories that I see that they love mentioning is David and Goliath, but have people actually read the later years of David’s life in the Bible? FYI- This guy was chosen by God and part of his divine plan. Some questionable behavior- Collecting a peculiar part of the male skin from enemy soldiers in order to get approval from the king to become his son in law? Didn’t David have a solider placed in the front lines during a battle  because he coveted that guy’s wife as he saw her bathing from his rooftop? Didn’t he have several wives/concubines? Now don’t get me started on the messed up stuff with his son Absalom(look it up) and other stories. You can try to contextualize some of these instances, but they are just so contrary to the teachings they try to present and that’s just one small section of the Bible. 

No religion really sits well with me the more I learn about them, they all really feel like manipulative ideology  to control people to act in predetermined ways. I know this sounds like conspiracy time, but it’a almost like a weapon of war. Almost every war in history has been influenced by religion to a certain degree. Whoever created these religions knew exactly what they were doing and were pretty knowledgeable of human nature and our tendency of chasing a greater purpose. Every single human being encounters religion at some point because they want to pursue something greater and some see religion as the vehicle for that, but the reality is- this is it. There’s nothing else and that’s okay. It’s not the end of the world, but the world ends with you. There’s no negativity, or bitterness in my perspective to life like how some people try to say in order to downplay atheism, we’re just out here floating in this vaccumless space, chilling. You can still have a code of ethics or rules to live by and do many great things for personal reasons. 

 

Edited August 30, 2023 by StarlightNyars

[Twitchy-Tremor 281]

I’m not a very religious person and even hated going to church when I was younger because I thought it was boring. I believe there’s a god or gods but that’s about it. 
 

[Iforgotmybrain 3,505]

I'm not really religious but could maybe be considered spiritual? Kind of? It's complicated. I believe or like some aspects of Christianity. mainly the Jesus stuff. Was he really the Son of God? I dunno honestly, but he was a real dude. And the stuff he preached seemed pretty cool and agreeable to me. Buddhism is interesting too, I like meditation and the Buddhist ideas of reincarnation but I don't know if I'd really call myself Buddhist. 

I could go on. I've written paragraphs to my one friend about it before but I'll spare everyone here from that. One paragraph is enough :p.

[TBD 17,228]

No, I do not associate myself with religions or consider myself religious. Despite of being raise in a Catholic, if it weren’t for my family, I would have stopped going to church long time ago. I do have beliefs of some sorts and cool with Jesus. However, as I said this before, times goes by and I forget to tell different between Satan and God. I could have a love/hate relationship with them both if I wanted to. Being raise and going to catholic school did shaped me up, as I was a troubled kid. But not in a way I would expect it to be.
 

From my experience, It didn’t even try to make me a better person. It’s only good for forcing me into a mold to the point it couldn’t fit anymore. So with that, being tried of all the bullshits- I literally drop it. And just do my own thing and believe what I wanted to believe in. Most societies forced people to be who you are not. Religion is one of it. And I don’t like associating myself with a society such as this. 

[Luna the Great of all the Russias 2,702]

I believe I am becoming increasingly religious as time passes -- straying further and further away from my former Atheism/Agnosticism; at minimum recognizing religion's authority.

In brief, it strikes me that man will always be oriented to something that he considers to be of the highest value. This has traditionally been provided by the various traditions throughout the world. But when man begins to doubt the existence of the transcendent, is the tendency then to effectively consider man as god? But does this not have the tendency to replace tradition with mere ersatz religions? I doubt that man can be considered the absolute authority on morality when man is not what one can call an infinite entity.

Another thing that comes to mind is the cycle of civilizations: the collapse of civilization is preceded by the decline in religion -- a view held by, among others, Guénon, Spengler, Leontiev and Glubb. If religion was merely a set of arbitrary values, would not their removal result in some form of golden age for a civilization rather than being a symptom of incoming collapse?

It is definitely a matter with which I have more questions than answers, but, at present, it is difficult for me to imagine myself moving back towards Atheism/Agnosticism.

[Props Valroa 26,040]

I have never accepted the authority of organized religions on the planet. At best, I am indifferent to it. At worst, I am quite hostile to the notion of organized faith. I find that I am a lot more satisfied when I come to my own conclusions. I don't need a priest or an authority figure to tell me what to believe in. By nature, I am far too skeptical to believe in much of anything mainstream these days. At the same rate, Atheism does not satisfy me either. I do believe in the divine, in the sense that existence itself is what one can call "God", but I do not believe that there are any "Divine" authorities on Earth.

I was never raised religiously, both of my parents never attended Church or anything like that. Though before I was born, my family did enforce Catholicism before they walked away from it many years ago. I do not question the existence of "God", but what I question is the entire power structure and Church based around it. An infinite and "all-loving God" doesn't need a church. What immortal, omnipotent, and omnipresent being would confine itself to a mere building? Never made any kind of sense to me, so I do not think of the notion of a church with any kind of valor. 

I have become more and more hostile to the idea of organized religion over time, almost to the point where I can no longer bare to hear anything to do with it without a reaction of annoyance coming from my side of things.

At best, religious content strikes me as fairly immature, and at worst - entirely morally arrogant and consumed by people's egos. However, it is not only religious content that does this that evokes this reaction from me. What turns me away from it completely is those who act like religious "authorities" are the end all be all, who know everything, etc. 

"God" to me is not religious, it is a mere fact of life. Existence, and the fact that we as humans think and feel is proof of something more than us, though it isn't at my liberty to say what it is beyond the guess that we live in a universe that is a projection of infinite consciousness that has existed for infinity. 

 

[Ryuuko 146]

i classify myself as agnostic.

[Clawdeen 12,109]

On 2023-09-02 at 1:33 PM, Props Valroa said:

I have never accepted the authority of organized religions on the planet. At best, I am indifferent to it. At worst, I am quite hostile to the notion of organized faith. I find that I am a lot more satisfied when I come to my own conclusions. I don't need a priest or an authority figure to tell me what to believe in. By nature, I am far too skeptical to believe in much of anything mainstream these days. At the same rate, Atheism does not satisfy me either. I do believe in the divine, in the sense that existence itself is what one can call "God", but I do not believe that there are any "Divine" authorities on Earth.

I was never raised religiously, both of my parents never attended Church or anything like that. Though before I was born, my family did enforce Catholicism before they walked away from it many years ago. I do not question the existence of "God", but what I question is the entire power structure and Church based around it. An infinite and "all-loving God" doesn't need a church. What immortal, omnipotent, and omnipresent being would confine itself to a mere building? Never made any kind of sense to me, so I do not think of the notion of a church with any kind of valor. 

I have become more and more hostile to the idea of organized religion over time, almost to the point where I can no longer bare to hear anything to do with it without a reaction of annoyance coming from my side of things.

At best, religious content strikes me as fairly immature, and at worst - entirely morally arrogant and consumed by people's egos. However, it is not only religious content that does this that evokes this reaction from me. What turns me away from it completely is those who act like religious "authorities" are the end all be all, who know everything, etc. 

"God" to me is not religious, it is a mere fact of life. Existence, and the fact that we as humans think and feel is proof of something more than us, though it isn't at my liberty to say what it is beyond the guess that we live in a universe that is a projection of infinite consciousness that has existed for infinity. 

 

Very well said. You really captured how I feel about organized religions as well.

[Props Valroa 26,040]

2 minutes ago, Clawdeen said:

Very well said. You really captured how I feel about organized religions as well.

One of the most important things to me is to realize that you are your own individual and you don't need to listen to some organized power structures in how to run your life. Do what you wish. Learn from your own experiences, and always question everything.

[North Star 4,540]

In the delta sun, down in Arkansas,
It's the great god bird with its altar call,
And the sewing machine, the industrial god,
On the great bayou where they saw it fall.

It's the great god bird, down in Arkansas,
And the hunters beware, or the fishers fall,
And paradise might close from it's safe flight flawed,
It's the great god bird through it all.
 

--

in response to OP - um, nop. feel the spirit sometimes, but lack the discipline