I identify as: (belief)

wil

wil

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I identify as a nontheistic panentheist unitic.

As in I don't believe in any creator god, I see what I view as labeled G!d in many beliefs in everything and we in it. I enjoy the metaphysics of Unity and believe that G!d is principle...sort of/more than the TOE.

You can view me as agnostic as should I find out different I reserve the right to change my mind with new information.

What do you identify as?
 
Although identifying myself feels uncomfortable but to throw out words I'd say animist (I didn't know there was such a thing until I start going to religious chats), I do believe all life has a life force (or breathe, or life) ... reminds me of pumping a balloon full of air and watch it deflate after 100 years of floating, if that. What identity to call that, I have no clue. If someone were to ask me my spiritual beliefs and labels, I wouldn't know what to tell them.

I'll be honest. Your identity sounds very complicated... but humans are complicated by our nature, so.
 
Well, the in-laws often refer to me as a Hindu devote of Christ, but I identify simply as a Christian, with no church affiliation or division attached to it. I follow the teachings of the Holy Bible as well as the Bhagavad Gita.
 
I identify as atheist, having no gods nor God.

That being said, I do not identify as a
member of the "New Atheist" movement.

Why am I participating in an interfaith forum then, of all places? Valid question! Some answers:

1. I think that respectful, genuine dialogue between people of different world-views is a worthy cause, leading to a better society all around. When the New Atheists polemicise how disagreement over religious viewpoints is a major source of violence, they have point. While polemics are easy, they don't solve any problems, however. It's a tough problem, and I think talking to each other, even if that is difficult, has much better chances of succeeding than demonizing each other.

2. I have a lifelong interest in religions, having grown up on three different continents. My extended family has members of several faiths, as is the case with my wife's family. My and her direct line ancestral faiths are different, we are an interfaith couple in a sense.

3. As my tag line says, I'm also mystic. There were events and shifts of emphasis in my life which lend themselves very well to being expressed in religious, spiritual, or mystical language. The conclusions I draw from them are different from those of the religious mystics, but I can often see they are about the same things as I am.

All right, more than enough about me. Hope that clarified a few things to those who read this and may be wondering whether it is a good idea to participate in an interfaith forum with an atheist admin. I won't bite, not more than the believers around here, at any rate.

RabbiO said:
Who here doesn’t already know how I identify?
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Opinions may vary, Rabbi! Also, there are new joiners since our last round of this.
 
For the sake of simplicity, I identify as a Buddhist. In reality, I am a Buddhist strongly influenced by modern Druidry. Sometimes I think it might be the other way around.
 
I would say that I'm a Neo-Sethian alchemist.

By "Neo-Sethian" I mean that, while I do engage in Sethian Reconstructionism, I also include more modern views. Specifically, I take inspiration from Hans Jonas and Carl Jung, but more generally I consider myself decently familiar with the history of Hermeticism from the Corpus Hermeticum all the way to Gardnerian Wicca. I also take from later Gnostic philosophy, like the philosophies espoused by the Albigensians and the Manichaens, because I think they're building upon the same fundamental beliefs.

By "alchemy" I specifically mean Hermetic spiritual alchemy, not physical chemistry. Gnosticism and alchemy have crossed paths a lot in history and I'm particularly interested in Zosimos of Panopolis who was both a Sethian and a Hermetic alchemist, seeing alchemy as a way of applying his Gnostic beliefs into practice. Jung in particular saw Hermetic alchemy as a continuation of Gnostic ideas and a surviving branch of ancient Gnosticism. I'm not sure that I fully agree with that, but I can see his point.

Gnostic alchemy differs only slightly from Hermetic alchemy. For instance, Hermeticism is monist and views the Demiurge positively whereas Gnosticism is dualist and views the Demiurge negatively. In Hermeticism, creating children and playing your role in society, as well as reincarnation, are all viewed as moral imperatives. In Gnosticism, anti-natalism, antinomianism, and liberation from reincarnation are all given quite a bit of air time. Aside from that, the Gnostics already had a very similar cosmogony to Hermeticism, partially due to influence between the two traditions but also because they both have roots in Platonism.

I also venerate San la Muerte, not to be confused with Santa Muerte, and hold seances. This really doesn't have too much to do with being a Neo-Sethian alchemist, but Spiritualism and Gnosticism have a lot in common; both believe in reincarnation, both believe that there are layers to the afterlife depending on how much spiritual progress you make in life, both believe that bad spirits are "lower" than good spirits, both believe that spirits can be contacted for help in spiritual progress, etc. Jung also wrote a lot about seances.
 
Cino said:
When the New Atheists polemicise how disagreement over religious viewpoints is a major source of violence, they have point. While polemics are easy, they don't solve any problems, however. It's a tough problem, and I think talking to each other, even if that is difficult, has much better chances of succeeding than demonizing each other.
Click to expand...

I actually don't really understand why atheists commonly talk about how religion is the cause of violence and atrocity, because it always seemed like a half-truth to me. It's really weird to say that religion is responsible for the crusades, but atheism isn't responsible for Soviet Russia.

Those crusaders also believed in a specific form of Catholicism, just as Stalin believed in a specific form of Communism. To me, neither religion nor atheism are the problem in either case. It's that specific form of Catholicism and that specific form of Communism that should take the blame.

As for disagreement over religious viewpoints being a major source of violence, that isn't a new observation. Actually, the Catholics themselves used that as an excuse to convert Native Americans, because they also came to the conclusion that, if we were all forced or converted to a single perspective, we would no longer disagree on that issue or have conflicts over it anymore. To which I have to point out that converting everyone to Catholicism certainly didn't end war in the New World.

This is not me trying to attack your perspective. I just never understand why atheists like Matt Dillahunty or Aron Ra keep bringing this point up because, to me, it doesn't make any sense.
 
I hear voices/minds 24/7

My voices are not badly done, they try to teach me as much as they can about nothing here. They teach me about the “one and only, or together forever in time” they teach me about god and yourselves”, they also try to teach me nothing at all.

The things they show me are the images I try to figure this problem out with. The problem why we do not become something after death, or why we do not have enough time to figure ourselves out, after this life.

My belief, it’s hard not to try and understand them even if their thoughts run in circles most of the time. I have my own memories before this life time and I know I was never here before this life I am living now.

Through my own personal experiences and their thoughts I find a lot of truth but I also find that something is seriously wrong also. I will only say I was an atheist before this time but now I am on the fence.


powessy
 
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wil said:
I identify as a nontheistic panentheist unitic.

As in I don't believe in any creator god, I see what I view as labeled G!d in many beliefs in everything and we in it. I enjoy the metaphysics of Unity and believe that G!d is principle...sort of/more than the TOE.

You can view me as agnostic as should I find out different I reserve the right to change my mind with new information.

What do you identify as?
Click to expand...
I left church for islam in 2004. I knew trinity was man made. foreign to Jesus. voted on at nice 325ad
 
I am an Adherent of the Left Hand Path. I would be labeled a Sinisterist by the Sect of the Horned God.
 
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