Do I even have a religion?

If you get all those colours in paint, and mix them together, you get a rather drab looking brown, and that's the problem of mixing religions together, everything tends to lose itself, and what's left is nowhere near as interesting as the colours you started with.
However, the full spectrum of color cannot be experienced without mixing the primary shades. Most color printer cartridges for instance have but 3 colors of ink. Red, yellow and blue. Yet mixed in the proper proportions, a very vivid picture may be obtained and so it is with religion. Keeping the colors separate in our painting may produce a pleasing effect, but blending them together gives our painting meaning and depth.
 
However, the full spectrum of color cannot be experienced without mixing the primary shades. Most color printer cartridges for instance have but 3 colors of ink. Red, yellow and blue. Yet mixed in the proper proportions, a very vivid picture may be obtained and so it is with religion. Keeping the colors separate in our painting may produce a pleasing effect, but blending them together gives our painting meaning and depth.
I think it's funny how you are both using the same thing with a different confine of depth to get different conclusions. NJ's point was mixing can lead to beautiful points, Thomas' that mixing means you lose the color you were originally going for, and mixing too much gets to the point where what was there isn't even represented anymore.... Traditionalists will probably lean to wanting a pure yellow, or blue, etc. whereas the non-traditionalist will be ok with getting some green or orange as long as they get what they want out of the mix.
 
Traditionalists will probably lean to wanting a pure yellow, or blue, etc. whereas the non-traditionalist will be ok with getting some green or orange as long as they get what they want out of the mix.
That's a good way of putting it. I would push NJ's analogy and say Trads look beyond the surface.
 
Seems everyone missed what Thomas said in the paragraph under the one everyone is quoting.
 
RE: OP

I don't think you are an atheist ... well, not according to my definition of an atheist. I believe (I could be wrong tho) atheists don't believe in any transcendent existence. I read that Wiccans' beliefs, which you say a lot of your beliefs line up with, are based on duo-theism (God & Goddess). I don't think atheists would try to find a religion. They would say all religions are delusions. That's what my atheist friends say anyway ... When I tell them atheism is a religion too; because it's a belief system, they fiercely disagree with me. :D

I used to call myself an atheist too. But I realized naturalism doesn't have an explanation for what we humans consider beautiful or noble. That led me to rethink. Now I think some "transcendent mind" must be at work in our world.

Good luck with your search.
 
equinox...

wow. I remember being fifteen. I was into drugs, committing minor crime and the work of Aleister Crowley. Many moons later, I consider myself to be a buddhist who sings praises to a christian God in Latin, Baroque style. The person you are, now, is not the person you will grow to become. I agree with the posters who suggest not applying a label to yourself too soon. The stuff you think rocks now will look so lame when you're 40.

Good on you for being enquiring. Keep investigating faiths. Read everything. But, don't believe it all. There's so many bad roads you can wander down without even realizing it. When you're young, and into religion, you're a prime candidate for falling into a cult. It won't look like a cult when you meet it -- it'll look marvellous, and like something you've always wanted but it won't get you where you want to go -- unless your goal is to be in a cult!

Focus on your career path, do the best you can at school, if you can, go to University, and don't ever give up your plans for the sake of a God who, if s/He exists, would want you to be the best human you can be. Don't let religion be a fetter, or a bind. Chase girls (or boys if you swing that way), go the the cinema, have fun with friends. Don't let religion get in the way of your social development.

Perhaps none of this applies to you, personally, and maybe something will strike a chord -- I don't know. But, what I do know, is that... the more you look at religion, the more obvious the similarities between faiths becomes, and for some of us, that's how we discover what the real "truths" are.

good luck x
 
Wow, Sam, you around too!

This place is getting to be like 'The Returned', if we all know the TV reference ...
 
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