Choosin' My Religion
You can believe anything you want, because you don't know anything for sure. None of us do. So you get to look around, explore your reality, and decide what you want to believe.
Whichever things you choose to believe will be as "right" and "true" and "valid" as anyone else's beliefs, because, again, nobody knows. And if my theories are on target, we're making this shit up as we go along anyway. What we believe, becomes. We're creating it all.
How I chose
When I was young, I was a seeker with a head full of questions. I wanted to find "the truth" about about spiritual things, and I wanted it now. I studied many different religions and paths, and used to spend hours with original, word-by-word translations of scripture, so I could decide for myself what the words meant.
But then I discovered that most of the stories had already existed long before they were included in the Biblical texts.
Example: An earlier version of the flood story happened in Ancient Sumer, and the Sumerian Noah's name was Ziasudra. The Babylonians called him Utanapishtim.
Example: The first deity to die, spend three days in the underworld, and then to be resurrected was Inanna, thousands of years before Jesus did the same.
Many Biblical tales were far older stories, tweaked to fit with the the ideas and beliefs of King James VI and the Church of England.
So I broadened the scope of my studies to include the oldest civilizations to have left behind a written record, which included the Sumerians.
The Oldest Religion was Nature
The Sun was a god. The moon was a god. The mountains, the rivers, the ocean, the desert, and the storm were all divine beings. There was no god "of" the moon. The moon and the god were one.
It became clear to me in my reading and research that the first religion was just that. A worship of the personified parts of nature.
Diseases, on the other hand, were demons. Mental illness was a demon. So was a toothache. There were, in ancient Sumer, specific rites and spells to cast out such demons, and thereby heal the person suffering them.
But very soon, religion morphed into a thing separate from nature. The gods were removed from the earth and sea, and placed on thrones in the sky. Access to them was removed from ordinary people too. Religion became the realm of the priest, priestess, shaman. And the gods presided over different parts of nature, rather than being the non-physical, spiritual part of them.
Frankly, I think we humans had it right the first time.
A Seeker Seeks
Over time, I developed my own set of beliefs, which grew and evolved with my reading about different belief systems, law of attraction, quantum physics, and dipping into lots of other areas like history, anthropology, and philosphy.
I learned a lot. For example, did you know that there were two words translated into "hell" in the Bible? One was "Gehenna" and the other, "Sheol." Gehenna referred to a dump outside Jerusalem where the bodies of criminals and the diseased were routinely burned. Sheol, simply translated, meant "grave." In both cases, a more accurate translation would be death, destruction, a firm, permanent ending, not eternal torment.
Here are some of my conclusions, and I will add that my understanding is constantly evolving. The is just where I've landed so far.:
There could not not possibly be eternal hellfire. If God is love, then hell cannot exist. Besides, physical punishment of a non-physical being is not logical.
God is not a person, but rather, the whole of Consciousness itself.
We are beams of that Consciousness experiencing itself as myriad individuals.
Reincarnation is obvious and undeniable. But I don't think we are a single individual who lives over and over. Rather we are a dipper full of water from a vast ocean. We leave our bodies with our final exhale, and we are poured back into the sea. Now the sea is more than it was before. When we reincarnate, another dipperful from that same sea is poured into our newborn body. This soul enters the body with the newborn's first breath and not one second before. So we are a new mix each time, with some of who we were and some of many other experiences from different parts of the Whole.
The goal of Consciousness (and all life) is expansion. Every experience we have feeds Consciousness, making it more and more and more. Our purpose is being here, living life, experiencing everything about it.
Experience is experience. The addict passed out in the alley is adding as much value to the Whole as the guru meditating on the mountain does. Every bit of living expands us all, makes us more There is no good or bad experience from that perspective; just experience.
We can tune in experiences, people, things, elements, and circumstances that please us by focusing on the pleasure and joy they represent to us, on finding those feelings in our now, and also by shunning habits of worry and pessimism. This is known as attuning or alignment.
This entire physical world is vibration. We are vibration. All things are vibration. And vibration can be adjusted. Magic is the ritualized attuning of one's vibration to match that of the magical goal. When the vibrations match, the goal must manifest. It is natural law.
So obviously, whatever belief system I chose would need to be a framework that would fit my existing beliefs.
I Stumbled Upon Wicca
While studying Tarot, I discovered books on Wicca near the same section in the bookstore, and decided to see what that was all about. And as soon as I started to read about its rites and rituals, I felt as if I had come home.
I understood the need to personify something as huge as what we call god, and I loved the idea of perceiving Source/Consciousness as a goddess, or as both. I loved western Wicca's deep connection to nature through its reverence for the elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. I loved the beauty of its rites. I loved the idea that everything in existence has a spiritual or non-physical counterpart or twi. I loved the notion of practicing magic.
This was a religious practice that would be fascinating and fun and exciting. It was modern, with ancient roots. It was both logical and mystical. Perfect for this Aquarian. It would enhance the creative parts of me, which is pretty much all of me.
How Others Do It
Many people live as if religion is like ethnicity; you get what you're born into. I have never understood that. I couldn't belong to a religion that I didn't agree with, but I know many people who do.
But I've never been content to conform; I need to find my own better way to do everything. My diet is unique, my spirituality is unique, my chosen religion is unique. It's the only thing that works for me. Mostly I invent my own shit, because nobody else's fits. I basically did that, when I left the Wiccan group where I'd received my training, and helped form a new one with some other elders in 2001, and I'm happy to say that tradition is still thriving, 22 years later.
Religion V Spirituality
Spirituality: One's personal connection to and awareness of the Divine by whatever name; God, Goddess, Source, Universe, Higher Power, Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna...
Religion: A system created by humans to help them understand and relate to the specific aspect/s of the Divine that are recognized by said religion. Many believe theirs to be the only true path.
My religion is Wicca.
My spirituality is so much more. It's who and what I am, and how entangled I am with all other parts of this beautiful whole of creation. It is always, like the flow of blood through my veins, it is always thrumming within me, always at the forefront of my awareness.
For the record, there is no such thing as one true path. There is only the path that's true for me, and the one that's true for you. And one has nothing to do with the other. There is beauty and truth and immense value in every individual understanding of that which is truly beyond knowing. Who knows? Given quantum mechanics, every religion could be true.
One thing I believe most of all; all religions are made up by people. All of them. Mine included. All the sacred texts are written by human beings.
Were they inspired? Sure, as all creative writing is inspired. It doesn't come from us, it comes through us. But which parts of the Whole we channel onto the page is entirely up to us. We have access to All That Is, or has ever been. What we are inspired to compose will match our own most fondly held beliefs, and that's true of every scribbler and scribe. And the reason for that is the reason for everything. Like attracts like. We can only channel what we are.
The Mystic's Quest...
...is to find her own one true path. And for me, that has been the quest of my lifetime. And one that's ongoing.
First, find your own spiritual connection
Decide what you believe in. Find your own spirituality, and through it, you'll find clarity. Listen to your heart, and lean in the directions that make it sing. You don't need religion to be your most spiritual self.
Here are some ways to get to that point
Spend time outside in nature, and when you are there, BE FULLY there.
Nurture a daily practice of stillness and silence, simply being while keeping attention distracted from that ceaseless stream of thoughts. (In other words, meditate 15 minutes each morning.)
Pay attention to signs, to symbols, to dreams. This is what mystics do. Notice when you think of a song, and then hear it; when you think of a person, and then they appear Notice these gifts, and they will grow, because attention is fertilizer.
Be mindful and present at all times. Mystics see signs and omens and sense energies more than others simply because we are paying attention. You cannot see the magic around you unless you look for it.
Attune with the seasons, align with the nature that surrounds you where you live. Every tree, every plant, has a non-physical twin. The spirits of nature have been seen as fairies, gnomes, leprechauns. These energies are real.
Spend the summer on this. We should all do this all the time. Spirituality is a way of being for a lifetime, not a season.
Second, find your religion *Optional
For many, that spirituality is enough to satisfy the longing in the soul for connection with the higher part of itself. In the Craft of the Wise we call these witches "solitary practitioners." Every modern witch will be exclusively solitary at least once, and usually many times throughout her life. And even those who practice with groups will have a rich solitary practice, as well. One must. Spirit is a personal thing.
Some yearn to practice with a group. There are numerous reasons for this, all of them equally valid. Some need the validation of an organized religion, some need the structure. Some are less independent-minded, and prefer a minister or priestess to guide them. Some love working with group-mind in magic. And of course, there's strength, comfort, and power in numbers.
So if that's you, begin your quest to find a belief system that can comfortably fit around what you've already decided you believe. And then shape your own practice around its framework.
Believe in something!
Because it feels better than believing in nothing.
Finding your spiritual home can be incredibly fulfilling. Finding a religion that it fits can enhance that fulfillment, especially because you often find lifelong friends along with it. Organized religion can provide a community with whom to share and celebrate, with whom to learn and grow.
But there is also massive strength, long-term stability, and immense power in one's solitary spiritual practice, and it is, in truth, the heart of spirituality. It's much more important than what religion you choose to practice or join. It's what you do at home, in private, that counts. It's the one-on-one relationship between you, and YOU.
We are spirit in body. To be complete, we must acknowledge and incorporate all parts of ourselves.
Hey, you gotta believe in something, right?
Why not believe in something that fits who you are?