Do you believe in 'God?' If so, define. Introduce yourself.

[Maat]

How's this for a beginning? And what church/belief-system, if any, do you subscribe to?

It has been suggested that we speak from a Unitarian-Universalist perspective, and I certainly agree. You can't go wrong with that.

Yes, I do believe in God, if you will. I am a member of the Church of Religious Science, which I consider to be similar to UU in that each individual congregant gets to define their own spirituality. We also have a special outreach to all couples, 'straight' or 'gay' or whatever.

We believe God is a force within each of us, and that each of us is equally divine. For example, Jesus is divine, and I'm divine, etc.

I call 'God' 'Spirit' or 'One-Energy.' My hubby, a wiseacre, calls us all 'the Unimind.' He is always saying, 'Stop polluting the Unimind with your negativity.' I always try to be positive, but I am a worrywart underneath it all. I just have to limit my worrying time. That's why a church that emphasizes being positive is a really good thing for me.

I was raised a Presbyterian in hippievile Laguna Beach/San Clemente. I quit the church at 15, because of its beliefs about women and feminism. It was the 70's, remember. I'm still stuck there. I did a lot of research, and came up with C.R.S. Found a C.R.S. church for my 8-year-old. Her favorite teacher led us to C.R.S. My pastor has pink and purple flowers and butterflies everywhere. I like that.

I'm a 46-year-old happily married mom of an 8-year-old (I started late, but then I always do). I'm a retired social worker who spent the last four years studying law, and I just graduated, and am studying for the Bar test.

That's one thing about C.R.S. (my church). They believe in all paths to God. So, everyone gets to define what that is.

As with UU, each C.R.S. member gets to define themselves. I, personally, emphasize to all that I'm NOT a Christian. But I support my liberal Christian brothers and sisters, because progressives have to stick together.


How about other Seekers on Unique Paths?

[ixion]

1. howdy fellow SOUPers

While I don't really think of god in terms of a cogent being, I do believe there are many worlds beyond the mundane senses.

When asked about my religion, I respond that I am a pantheist.

http://www.pantheist.net/

I'm also very fond of Buddhism, especially the Great Middle Way as a day to day means of spiritual survival, although there are others.

The fascination for me lies not in the differences, but in the similarities of belief systems that have emerged over time. I feel that these similarities are universal truths describing the nature of our relationship to one another.

That's me in a nutshell. :-)

Thanks to Ma'at for starting this group. :hi:

[Maat]

3. And, thank you.

I love this kind of talk. Used to post it before the DU groups. It seems now, though, that we have a group together that enjoys these topics. Thanks for the link. I have a folder I call "Religious Exploration Ma'at." The idea is to get answers for myself, of course, but also make sure that neither I, nor my daughter, are ignorant.

[wildflower]

2. I'm not sure...

I guess that's why I'm a seeker.

There are times I can imagine God being an external being, a creator of some sort. But normally I think of God as being that which is in all of us, the earth, and the universe. Some call it the universal life force, others the "Higher self"; and I'm sure there are other terms.

-wildflower

[Maat]

4. Thanks, Wildflower.

I tend to agree with you. The easiest way for me to conceive of 'God' is as a universal life force.

But there are miracles. My 8-year-old just cut her hair into a very beautiful, neat, bob. And I can see her eyes! And it was her idea! And I didn't have to fight with her! Will miracles never cease!

[Az]

5. No

I do not believe in a god. But I do not discard wisdom that we have acculated in this world attributed to gods. There is something going on. But in my opinion it is a matter of our minds and how they operate that has set this notion of gods in motion. Thus as all things tend to we come full circle and it is of course we that created gods instead of the other way around.

For the record I do not think belief in gods is a foolish thing or suggestive of diminished mental facilities. There are far too many examples of great individuals who contributed to this world that harbored a deep and meaningful belief in god for me to dismiss someone on that alone.

The path I am on is one of understanding the nature of the mind and the universe. There is wisdom collected in the worlds beliefs and through it we discover more about the mind. Thus I look to see what others have been able to sift from this universe and apply it to what I can. We are all born blind and screaming into this world and it is only with the help of our fellow people that anyone has a chance of making any progress.

[Maat]

6. That last paragraph sounds pretty spiritual to me.

And I don't think you have to belief in a God in the traditional sense. That's what the more progressive faiths are trying to get away from ... the moody, all-powerful guy in the sky who is just ready to send you to Hell.

You refer to the "wisdom collected in the world's beliefs," and discovering more about the human mind. I refer to that phenomena being God. We're really not that far apart.


I love the passage in 'Conversations with God,' by N.D. Walshe, in which he talks about God being one, just one thing, and there being nothing else. 'God' then talks about dividing up, so that 'it' could experience. 'God' then talks about setting up the system so that wisdom could be passed on and live forever, later on in the book, and about how God does not judge. Simply put, God just doesn't. We are now all God, and can and will create God's experience, united with our own. Makes sense to me.

One thing I absolutely believe in - there is no conflict between spirituality/religion and science - in the sense that science comes up with data and theories that help us understand what I call the Amazing System. Just thoughts.

[Chovexani]

7. I believe in many Gods.

I was raised Southern Baptist and have tread many paths, but now I define myself as a Hellenic Wiccan. I guess you could define my God-belief as polypanimism. I know, I know, 'splain Chovexani. Okay. :)

Matter is energy: humans, animals, plants, etc. We are this energy, it flows through us, and everything around us. There is a Source, which is where this energy comes from, and to which everything eventually returns. What we call Gods and Goddesses are energy forms who are "bigger" than we are, that carry far more of the Source than we could possibly imagine. All prayer/magick/whatever is is communing with the energy around us and manipulating it to achieve a desired result. This can happen consciously or subconsciously; for every action there is a reaction, whether we realize it or not.

However I DON'T believe as many Wiccans do that "All Goddesses are one Goddess, all Gods are one God." The deities are separate, distinct beings with their own personalities and quirks. I believe there are an infinite number. I happen to work with one particular pantheon, the Greek (I say "work with" as opposed to "worship" because "worship" implies prostrating before an altar and other such nonsense. That's not what I do.). But that doesn't mean I disavow the existence of others. They just aren't *my* Gods. There are many paths back to the Source, and it's not for me to judge.

[Az]

8. Completely off topic but

Is that Mana as your avatar?

[mandyky]

9. I believe in Higher Power/s and Alternate Realities

I was raised Methodist, went to several other denomination Sunday Schools and Vacation Bible Schools, and then "got saved" and baptized a Bible Baptist at 16. Then I became disillusioned about a year later, claimed atheism, and was actually an agnostic for years. For probably 15 years my only "Bible" was Kahlil Gibran's, The Prophet.

I have independently studied psychology and sociology, and then in the mid 80 I went the 12 step way of trying to stop drinking and read all kinds of books on reincarnation (eg Edgar Case), new age type stuff, etc to gain a Higher Power. I suspect I am mildly psychic, so I am very curious about the "spirit world". I dabble with Tarot Cards and Remote Viewing type stuff.

I do not attend church services, but I studied A Course in Miracles for about 5 years, and now just try to look at life through that belief system. I am still searching and seeking for paths that make sense to me. I am 49 and also have an 8 year old (son).

[Maat]

10. Hey, I'm 46 and have an 8-year-old daughter.

She keeps me 46 years young.

This is the right group for you. It is inspired by faiths which allow the individual to explore any spiritual idea desired - by faiths that believe that each individual is on a unique path to God or as to appreciating human interconnectness fully.

Look forward to hearing your ideas and beliefs.

[Pacifist Patriot]

11. I'm a UU and thus far my personal philosophy

is in line with the panentheism of process theology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Process_theology

Process theology (also known as Neoclassical theology) is a school of thought influenced by the metaphysical process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead (1861 - 1947).

The concepts of process theology include:

-- God is not omnipotent in the classical sense of a coercive being.
-- Reality is not made up of material substances that endure through time, but serially-ordered events, which are experiential in nature.
-- The universe is characterized by process and change carried out by the agents of free will. Self-determination characterizes everything in the universe, not just human beings.
-- God cannot force anything to happen, but rather only influence the exercise of this universal free will by offering possibilities.
-- God contains the universe but is not identical with it (panentheism)
-- Because God contains a changing universe, God is changeable (that is to say, God is affected by the actions that take place in the universe) over the course of time.

I highly recommend the book Process Theology: A Basic Introduction by C. Robert Mesle

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0827229453/qid=1104868927/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/104-2451347-6892754?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

I really like the fact that process philosophy can accommodate both theists and atheists alike.

An in-depth "introduction" with more information about me can be found at http://www.unitarianminister.org for those with more time on their hands. ;)

[LWolf]

12. Sort of.

If I don't have to give a very detailed definition.

I believe in the universal "source" or "spark" of energy responsible for all creation. I believe that a part of that source exists in everything. I believe that "God" is our piece of that; our higher self, so to speak. I believe that, as energy, and as a part of that "source," we influence and create our world.

Beyond that, I don't define "God." I just haven't felt the need to categorize, sort, analyze, label, or assign attributes or characteristics. When I need to know something, I ask, and then I listen. Whether the answer is coming from an outside piece of the "source," or my inner piece, hasn't been an issue. It just comes.

That's inner peace. ;-)

I'm the daughter of a Buddhist, the friend of people following many diverse faiths, and solitary in my own beliefs.

I probably won't post much here, since I don't have a defined, organized set of beliefs to discuss. But I'll be lurking around, because the discussions interest me. I like finding what "fits," what rings my inner "bell," and learning about other paths.

:hi:

[robbedvoter]

13. "Everything is full of Gods" - Thales of Milet

Friday: I have gods in my feet, gods in my arms, this banana is a god"
Crusoe (shocked): Are you going to eat your God? Won't he get angry?"
Friday: "No, if I eat it worshipfully...."
From the movie Man Friday - a Swiftian treatment of the Crusoe story that also defined my belief the best (yeah, I heard, pantheism - it sounds too...official)

[kslib]

14. I don't know.

But I hope to learn more through this group! I know I don't believe in the Christian God (a human-esque being who judges our every action and punishes the disbelievers). I had a theory once that we were a science experiment (kind of like an ant farm) of some kid from an "alien" race, and that the reason we don't see/talk to God anymore (like Moses or Noah did), is because the kid grew up and lost interest. Maybe we're collecting dust in a closet somewhere.

Lately, I've discovered my own mortality. Pretty scary stuff. Along with that, comes the coping mechanism of seeking faith. So, here I am. Seeking answers and comfort.

(P.S.--I'm a 26 year old, future nursing student with a Bachelor's in Human Development. No kids, but 2 cats who take up roughly the same amount of mental energy!)

[kwassa]

15. My take on the subject

I just discovered DU this week and am quite happy to be here, as I see much commonality between myself and others here.

My own path was being brought up Unitarian, having nothing to do with any church for many years, though sticking the nose occasionally into the local UU church and feeling that it was not what I was seeking.

I later developed a sense of spirituality due to a variety of different experiences and difficulties in life. The most educational experience was a 12-step group, and a later commitment to a C.R.S. church where I was very active. I also was greatly influenced by Joseph Campbell. I now attend an Episcopal church, though I really consider myself a pan-religionist, and probably don't fit most definitions of the word 'christian' though I don't really care.

My personal view of God is not that God is even a being, but simply that which is greater than what I can now understand. I don't even care to define God other than the source of all things. I prefer to think of God as a great spirit. I think the act of turning towards God in prayer is the essential religious experience, though I don't do it often enough myself. I feel spiritually at home in many different churches, because it is more about the intent than the percieved message.

[wildflower]

16. Peace Pilgrim on God...

In this excerpt, Peace Pilgrim talks about how she came to her notion of God. I like this - when I consider the notion of God, this is how I would conceive of it - and thought some of you might too:

<<When I was a senior in high school I began to make my search for God, but all my efforts were in an outward direction. I went about inquiring, "What is God? What is God?" I was most inquisitive and I asked many questions of many people, but I never received any answers! However, I was not about to give up. Intellectually I could not find God on the outside, so I tried another approach. I took a long walk with my dog and pondered deeply upon the question. Then I went to bed and slept over it. And in the morning I had my answer from the inside, through a still small voice.

Now my high school answer was a very simple answer -- that we human beings just lump together everything in the universe which is beyond the capacity of all of us, and to all those things together some of us give the name God. Well, that set me on a search. And the first thing I did was to look at a tree, and I said, there's one. All of us working together couldn't create that one tree, and even if it looked like a tree it wouldn't grow. There is a creative force beyond us. And then I looked at my beloved stars at night and there's another. There's a sustaining power that keeps planets in their orbit.

I watched all the changes taking place in the universe. At that time they were trying to keep a lighthouse from washing into the sea. They finally moved it inland and said they had saved it. But I noticed all these changes and I said, there's another. There is something motivating towards constant change in the universe.

When I reached confirmation from within I knew beyond all doubt that I had touched my highest light.>>

(from http://www.peacepilgrim.net/book/chapt1.htm )

[kslib]

18. Wow, that's it!

Thanks for sharing! That hits the bullseye for me!

:hug:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

17. My spiritual journey

started when I was three. My earliest memories are of going to church and singing in the choir. I was raised in the Methodist Church and took to heart the sermons I heard as a child. I always asked questions about one's relationship with God, and the concept of God-made my Sunday School teachers very nervous!

At age 13, I read "The Passover Plot", and had my concepts of God and Jesus shattered. I realized that I was believing out of fear of death. I began my search for what God really is then.

At age 17, I had my first mystical experience. Suffice it to say I had an encounter with a Being who showed me that everything is God, that everything has consciousness, and that there is much more to Divinity than a mere mind can comprehend.

By the age of 22, I was reading Seth books, which, I was told, was my 'primer'.

I found my spiritual path when I was 38 and took hands in my first Sufi Order and did the Dances of Universal Peace (body prayer-simple circle dances honoring all the world's spiritual traditions, often done in Unitarian and Unity churches, btw). I found my spiritual guide and have continued having my concepts of God shattered on the Rock of Truth.

[Shredr]

19. What a great group

I was raised Protestant by 2 open-minded but ultra-conservative parents (I know it sounds like an oxymoron, but it's true -- my mom's an ex beauty queen and my dad's a now-retired Army colonel, yet they humored me through all my eccentricities and still managed to make me feel loved). I grew up an avid reader and film watcher. One of my favorite authors is/was Nikos Kazantzakis (his SAINT FRANCIS is a treasure for anyone on a spiritual quest, Christian or not) and one of my favorite filmmakers is Martin Scorsese. So, when Scorsese announced he was releasing a film of Kazantzakis' LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST, well, you can guess which little 15-year old geek was first in line at the theatre (yes, that would be me). I thought the film was flawed but ultimately a beautiful testament to faith (at the time I was a devout Christian). The bible says Christ faced many temptations before accepting his fate and (since he was half man/ half god) why shouldn't we believe that one of those temptations was to come off the cross and live life as a humble man? In the end, just as the bible says, he does accept.
That Sunday, our minister jumped on the anti-LAST TEMPTATION bandwagon and went on a venomous rampage against the film -- and anyone who would dare watch it. With everyone in the congregation (excpet me) nodding and Amen-ing, he spit fire about what a blasphemous bag of filth the film was, how Scorsese would burn in hell for making it, how we must boycott such garbage, and on and on... I sat there, jaw to the floor, taking as much as I could until I just bolted out of my seat and screamed, "You're all sheep! No one in this congregation, including you (at the preacher) has seen this film, so no one has a right to judge it. This is exactly the kind of angry mob mentality that wrongly killed Jesus. You should all be ashamed." And I stormed out (all proud of myself, I might add). My mom, of course, turned purple and ran out after me, ashamed of what I had just done.
I never went to church again.
Years later, I was a Comparative Religions minor in college, where I learned about Mithras, Osiris and the other "pagan" gods that Christianity borrowed from and I completely lost my faith. I studied religions from a much more clinical point of view, fascinated by the effect it had on people and the lengths to which people would go to earn their place in heaven, but I was numb to any personal god. I devoured Nietzche, wore all black and took myself way too seriously (on top of that, I was a very pretentious film student, making really bad angry little movies about abandoning gods and whatever).
In the years since, I have calmed down, thrown away most of my black wardrobe and inverted pentagons and come to accept that there is a lot about this world we do not yet understand. I have not found a church to affiliate myself with yet (although some of those links above look promising, thanks for those). I do believe in a Greater Power, a Universal Force. I don't mind if that force is called God. I think a lot of good and a lot of evil has been done in the name of God. I loved CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD and took to heart the idea that the best prayer is, "Thank you." My life is better for it.
I look forward to discussions in this group. Just what has been said already has opened my eyes (by, among others, Az, whose posts I have read all over DU with much pleasure, whose opinion and point of view I have great respect for).

Shrader