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Plingkoking
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08 May 2011, 1:15 pm

I was pretty nihilistic for a while but I have been reading about Paganism and I feel like it as a religion come to mix the facts about the earth mixed with my imaginative side.

New special interest :)



Philologos
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08 May 2011, 1:19 pm

Special Interests are good.

Announcing them is fine.

I see no request for value laden or other discussion.

I stop at congratulating you on opening a new area.



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08 May 2011, 1:37 pm

Can you define the Paganism you are looking at? Because at least it is any non-Abrahamic religion .


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08 May 2011, 1:40 pm

Spiffy. Paganism is a broad topic. I am curious about what you mean by paganism as a religion though... I get hung up on words sometimes and to me paganism is simply a term used to describe any non-monotheistic religion. But I live in a Christian heavy country, so of course I think that way. Heh. So what 'flavor' of paganism are you currently getting into? I do not know how to phrase that question better at the moment...


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Plingkoking
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08 May 2011, 1:40 pm

I am mostly just reading a few books about paganism in general. I haven't found a sect. nor am I really looking for one. I am just reading about it and adding it onto my own beliefs. I am still very new to Paganism in general but I love its mysticism and it really kind of gotten rid of a lot of anxiety.
From what I read, it stresses personal responsibility and doesn't deny science. It also says that you are naturally good and you can control behavior. I haven't read ALOT about it though, but I have never been excited about a religion before that actually matched what I thought.

The gist of paganism is that everything small and big are connected and dependent on each other.



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08 May 2011, 2:01 pm

Plingkoking wrote:
The gist of paganism is that everything small and big are connected and dependent on each other.


Then that sounds like you're talking about pantheistic neo-paganism.
Pantheism - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheism

Not all of us are pantheistic, not all of us have beliefs that you describe, and not all of us are into mysticism. It's a hell of a big term 'Paganism' even when talking about neo-pagan faiths it encompasses a very wide range of beliefs.


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Plingkoking
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08 May 2011, 2:15 pm

I am just reading a book about paganism as a whole. But I am going to look into the more details of it later once I understand that whole. I am going to get a book on Wiccan just because it seems too be the most common at first but pantheism seems more like what I believe in.



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08 May 2011, 2:16 pm

Tengerism!



Plingkoking
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08 May 2011, 2:49 pm

Paganism is just a word for thousands of different beliefs.
Very confusing.



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08 May 2011, 3:06 pm

Plingkoking wrote:
I am just reading a book about paganism as a whole. But I am going to look into the more details of it later once I understand that whole. I am going to get a book on Wiccan just because it seems too be the most common at first but pantheism seems more like what I believe in.


Wicca isn't the most common, it's relatively small but the most widely-known, which also makes it one of the hardest to study as it's hard to find reliable information, also being oath-bound means that you'd only be able to learn so much from books. Most books that claim to be about Wicca are actually about Neo-wicca, or worse as many cash-in on the popularity by writing about Wicca without knowledge.

May I suggest if interested in Paganism, the way you talk sounds like you might like something more spiritual and earth-centred like The Spiral Dance by Starhawk - http://www.amazon.com/Spiral-Dance-Rebirth-Religion-Anniversary/dp/0062516329/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304884861&sr=8-1, or more Wicca-specific you might like Witch Crafting by Phyllis Curott - http://www.amazon.com/Witch-Crafting-Spiritual-Guide-Making/dp/0767908457/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304885120&sr=8-1-spell


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Last edited by Bloodheart on 08 May 2011, 3:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

HerrGrimm
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08 May 2011, 3:11 pm

Situations like this drive me nuts.

Why do you need to read a book to do all this? Here is what you should do:

1.) Get a piece of paper and a pencil
2.) Look at a newspaper or something like for an issue
3.) With that pencil, use YOUR OWN THOUGHTS to state a position on it (think about it)
4.) Look at moral issues in the news - same thing with the pencil and pen
5.) When you are done, you have your own belief system. CONGRATULATIONS! You have a moral code without ANY need for a religion!

The fact that you have to read a book to form all these things is nonsense. Despite the fact that only a small amount of knowledge actually naturally occur in the mind and there is a great need to rely on others for a lot of our ideas, this is one of those things that can come inside naturally. No need for some book to tell you, like the Bible or the Koran or other text. It is automatically going to be Paganism since this is not Abrahamic.


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Plingkoking
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08 May 2011, 3:13 pm

HerrGrimm wrote:
Situations like this drive me nuts.

Why do you need to read a book to do all this? Here is what you should do:

1.) Get a piece of paper and a pencil
2.) Look at a newspaper or something like for an issue
3.) With that pencil, use YOUR OWN THOUGHTS to state a position on it (think about it)
4.) Look at moral issues in the news - same thing with the pencil and pen
5.) When you are done, you have your own belief system. CONGRATULATIONS! You have a moral code without ANY need for a religion!

The fact that you have to read a book to form all these things is nonsense. Despite the fact that only a small amount of knowledge actually naturally occur in the mind and there is a great need to rely on others for a lot of our ideas, this is one of those things that can come inside naturally. No need for some book to tell you, like the Bible or the Koran or other text. It is automatically going to be Paganism since this is not Abrahamic.


Motherf***er. Of course I have my original thoughts, I have plenty of them but I don't feel right with them. They are very hopeless and give me lots of anxiety. I want to give myself some KIND of a purpose in general. I am not using it to guide me completely. I just want to get more into my imaginative side believing in certain things. I am using my mind much differently. It is just something that makes sense to me.



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08 May 2011, 3:26 pm

HerrGrimm wrote:
Situations like this drive me nuts.

Why do you need to read a book to do all this? Here is what you should do:

1.) Get a piece of paper and a pencil
2.) Look at a newspaper or something like for an issue
3.) With that pencil, use YOUR OWN THOUGHTS to state a position on it (think about it)
4.) Look at moral issues in the news - same thing with the pencil and pen
5.) When you are done, you have your own belief system. CONGRATULATIONS! You have a moral code without ANY need for a religion!

The fact that you have to read a book to form all these things is nonsense. Despite the fact that only a small amount of knowledge actually naturally occur in the mind and there is a great need to rely on others for a lot of our ideas, this is one of those things that can come inside naturally. No need for some book to tell you, like the Bible or the Koran or other text. It is automatically going to be Paganism since this is not Abrahamic.


Maybe the OP wants to follow a specific religion?
Maybe the OP is interested in different religions?
Maybe the OP is searching for terminology to define their beliefs?
Maybe the OP wants to explore other ways of thinking...although your instructions would give the OP their own beliefs, saying this is it and there's no need to study other ways of thinking means the OP would be restricted in their ability to change and develop their own faith or world view, leaving them closed-minded.

Books about religions don't tell people what or how to believe (with the exception of holy texts), they explain and discuss the religion - reading about a religion doesn't mean you have to become said religion. With Paganism in particular there are other aspects and reasons to read them, for example books dealing with paganism may also include mysticism, occult, and of course a hell of a lot of history! I don't think it's an issue of getting religion from books, but it's of an individuals desire to learn or explore in order to understand themselves.


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Plingkoking
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08 May 2011, 3:41 pm

Bloodheart wrote:
HerrGrimm wrote:
Situations like this drive me nuts.

Why do you need to read a book to do all this? Here is what you should do:

1.) Get a piece of paper and a pencil
2.) Look at a newspaper or something like for an issue
3.) With that pencil, use YOUR OWN THOUGHTS to state a position on it (think about it)
4.) Look at moral issues in the news - same thing with the pencil and pen
5.) When you are done, you have your own belief system. CONGRATULATIONS! You have a moral code without ANY need for a religion!

The fact that you have to read a book to form all these things is nonsense. Despite the fact that only a small amount of knowledge actually naturally occur in the mind and there is a great need to rely on others for a lot of our ideas, this is one of those things that can come inside naturally. No need for some book to tell you, like the Bible or the Koran or other text. It is automatically going to be Paganism since this is not Abrahamic.


Maybe the OP wants to follow a specific religion?
Maybe the OP is interested in different religions?
Maybe the OP is searching for terminology to define their beliefs?
Maybe the OP wants to explore other ways of thinking...although your instructions would give the OP their own beliefs, saying this is it and there's no need to study other ways of thinking means the OP would be restricted in their ability to change and develop their own faith or world view, leaving them closed-minded.

Books about religions don't tell people what or how to believe (with the exception of holy texts), they explain and discuss the religion - reading about a religion doesn't mean you have to become said religion. With Paganism in particular there are other aspects and reasons to read them, for example books dealing with paganism may also include mysticism, occult, and of course a hell of a lot of history! I don't think it's an issue of getting religion from books, but it's of an individuals desire to learn or explore in order to understand themselves.



Basically this.
I want to open up my mind because I have never looked into religion at all but when I read about these beliefs it calmed me down it seemed. I am just looking at things differently. I am not going to let it take control of me or nothing.



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08 May 2011, 3:46 pm

Plingkoking wrote:
Bloodheart wrote:
HerrGrimm wrote:
Situations like this drive me nuts.

Why do you need to read a book to do all this? Here is what you should do:

1.) Get a piece of paper and a pencil
2.) Look at a newspaper or something like for an issue
3.) With that pencil, use YOUR OWN THOUGHTS to state a position on it (think about it)
4.) Look at moral issues in the news - same thing with the pencil and pen
5.) When you are done, you have your own belief system. CONGRATULATIONS! You have a moral code without ANY need for a religion!

The fact that you have to read a book to form all these things is nonsense. Despite the fact that only a small amount of knowledge actually naturally occur in the mind and there is a great need to rely on others for a lot of our ideas, this is one of those things that can come inside naturally. No need for some book to tell you, like the Bible or the Koran or other text. It is automatically going to be Paganism since this is not Abrahamic.


Maybe the OP wants to follow a specific religion?
Maybe the OP is interested in different religions?
Maybe the OP is searching for terminology to define their beliefs?
Maybe the OP wants to explore other ways of thinking...although your instructions would give the OP their own beliefs, saying this is it and there's no need to study other ways of thinking means the OP would be restricted in their ability to change and develop their own faith or world view, leaving them closed-minded.

Books about religions don't tell people what or how to believe (with the exception of holy texts), they explain and discuss the religion - reading about a religion doesn't mean you have to become said religion. With Paganism in particular there are other aspects and reasons to read them, for example books dealing with paganism may also include mysticism, occult, and of course a hell of a lot of history! I don't think it's an issue of getting religion from books, but it's of an individuals desire to learn or explore in order to understand themselves.



Basically this.
I want to open up my mind because I have never looked into religion at all but when I read about these beliefs it calmed me down it seemed. I am just looking at things differently. I am not going to let it take control of me or nothing.


Hey, if it works for you, right on. I am like that with the Tao Te Ching. I am no Taoist, but something about that text just works to ground and center me. All that non-ado talk, perhaps. I get like that with other 'religious' texts as well. I find it rather humbling and a nice way to keep myself in check when reading about spirituality and such... now and then I need to be taken down a peg and reminded that no, I am not so big or important and religion has a way of giving that to me. Not sure if that is how it is for you, but is how it goes with me.

Anyway, it is nice that you can a calming reaction from something and learn something new at the same time. Good on you. :)


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08 May 2011, 3:56 pm

I really think "Paganism" is a useless concept. It's just a catch-all name for various distinct non-Abrahamic religions around the world. "Neo-Paganism" really just seems to be a miss-mash of what "Pre-Christian European religions" were about according to Christian embelishment or centuries after the fact speculation (a lot of 19th century spiritualism seems to have influenced "Neo-Paganism"). "Wicca", of course, is significantly influenced by historical revisionism (the whole belief in an "Ancient English Witchcraft tradition" being pure nonsense).

HerrGrimm wrote:
Situations like this drive me nuts.

Why do you need to read a book to do all this? Here is what you should do:

1.) Get a piece of paper and a pencil
2.) Look at a newspaper or something like for an issue
3.) With that pencil, use YOUR OWN THOUGHTS to state a position on it (think about it)
4.) Look at moral issues in the news - same thing with the pencil and pen
5.) When you are done, you have your own belief system. CONGRATULATIONS! You have a moral code without ANY need for a religion!

The fact that you have to read a book to form all these things is nonsense. Despite the fact that only a small amount of knowledge actually naturally occur in the mind and there is a great need to rely on others for a lot of our ideas, this is one of those things that can come inside naturally. No need for some book to tell you, like the Bible or the Koran or other text. It is automatically going to be Paganism since this is not Abrahamic.


Most Christians and Muslims don't get their beliefs from a book - they get them from their parents or an Imam/Priest. The majority of believers have not read their holy books.

Regardless, I don't see your proposition as sane at all. Almost nobody forms a worldview after just reading about a bunch of discrete events and "intuiting" the right response - and, if one does, than it'll probably be uselessly incoherent. And I don't really see a problem with the OP reading a book on Paganism, as it doesn't seem to be an overly doctrinaire book and was rather accurate (i.e. describing "Paganism" as a broad, catch-all term for various different proto-Abrahamic religions.


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