Thread: No religion, Looking to change that.

Why do you want a religion so bad?

Try Untheism. It needs more followers...

Come join my religion!

Just send me $10 a week for the rest of your life and I can guarantee you a spot in the afterlife.

what do you believe? how do you feel about the world? how does science make you feel? does learning about science make life for you more meaningful, or meaningless?

When things make you feel bad they are untrue.

Learning is a never ending process, whether you learn on an exoteric or esoteric level, there is no point where you will ever completely understand something.

You don't need a religion, but its good to study as many of them as possible because as you do you'll begin to learn all religions began the same way. people just trying to understand their world but never truly knowing about it. In reality, the search never ends.

If you want to label your esoteric beliefs, just be wary not to seek belonging with people that have similar beliefs. You learn much more from people with opposing beliefs.

I recommend that instead of finding religions, you find experiments to carry out. Then find what is true, good, and helpful for you.

You may enjoy trying Thelemite Rituals. I find some of them beautiful. The Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram, Lesser Ritual of the Hexagram, Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram combination is quite invigorating for me personally. Though I only do it from time to time these days.

There's some interesting ideas here. Chaos magic is worth a study for all skeptics because it allows for skepticism by treating belief as something subjective that is used for a purpose then put away when its finished with. It allows you to spring board into experimenting with different forms of worship and spirituality without having to worry about accepting the beliefs that go with them right away.

There's always Buddhism, and lots of different meditation techniques.

Or, the best advice I've ever been given on how to live a spiritual life go into the woods and enjoy being in nature. Let whatever will happen happen. Being at peace with the world, for even a second, is the best form of spirituality I have ever come across.

I have questiont for you reality, and only YOU 9I don't want to hear from other posters) can answer them

1. What are you looking for in religion?

2 Why do you want religion?

3. Do you meditate?

4. Are you spiritual?


The last two questions are the springboard for religion.

In parting I ask you to follow your bliss, for that is another part you have to ask yourself "will religion give me a sense of fulfillment"? If it doesn't, you don't need it!

Originally Posted by A dreamer168

I have questiont for you reality, and only YOU 9I don't want to hear from other posters) can answer them

1. What are you looking for in religion?

2 Why do you want religion?

3. Do you meditate?

4. Are you spiritual?


The last two questions are the springboard for religion.

In parting I ask you to follow your bliss, for that is another part you have to ask yourself "will religion give me a sense of fulfillment"? If it doesn't, you don't need it!

1: I guess somthing to make me better and expand me.
2: See answer 1?
3: I have tried, but not hard. I am willing to, and I know of it's positive effects.
4: I think to answer that, "spiritual" must be defined. I could be, and I would be, but I can not anwser that, yet.

And I do think that it will give me a sense of fufillment, or atleast make me a better person, and make me more able to understand other religions, and ultimately other people.

I'm glad!!!! U should meditate more often as it can provide u with powerful insughts

Originally Posted by Reality_is_a_Dream

1: I guess something to make me better and expand me.

sounds like you are looking for self transcendence. there is not one religion/spirituality/philosophy, but many.

I think for now, you should study and learn about as many different philosophies as you can. Even if you don't agree with them, finding things you don't agree with will help you understand yourself. So just enjoy reading about them all regardless. Keep up with science as well. The greet thing about TODAY is, you don't have to join religion. You can learn about them all, and apply things into your life from various sources.

things of interest

Tibetan Dream Yoga
http://www.scribd.com/word/full/2535...fpe6yedljw267h

The dream yoga isn't just about having a lucid dream, thats just a fun side affect. The dream yoga is a lifestyle, where by you view all of reality as a dream. Not so much to lose sense of reality, but to recognize what is really real. Just as in a lucid dream where we recognize the only thing that is really real, that will last, is ourselves. Our own consciousness. So to, in the waking dream do you 'wake up' and realize the only thing that is really real, is your own consciousness, and the consciousness of others.

It's a very strange philosophy, their views of reality that is. Their aim is to free themselves from suffering, reach enlightenment and help others do the same. As other Buddhist philosophies. But the dream yogis feel, you can spend your whole life meditating and waste your time. Never reaching some spiritual break through. Instead they carry on their work in dreams. Here in dreams is where they really achieve enlightenment. And have some crazy dream adventures.

They feel life and dreams are not separate. If you are more lucid in one, you are more lucid in the other. So while they aim to view life as a dream, as unreal, they also aim to be more lucid in life. Being more aware of everything, living a little more in the moment.

Ultimately it is Buddhist. Escape suffering. See the illusions of the world. Conquer your fear of death. Fun side. They have lots of lucid dreams and rival the experiences of this forum.


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

Tantra in itself is not a specific religion. It is a body of beliefs. Generally in Tantra there is a Godhead, who's divine energy maintains the entire universe. The human body is a vessel of this divine energy. The tantrics aim to pull more of this energy into their being for various personal reasons. We already have on tantric practice in the west that is widely popular, yoga. The practice of this divine energy is both mental, through visualizations, physical, like yoga, and even emotional, through prayer and song.

Tantra should make you feel good. While we use yoga mostly as exercise, tantra remains very spiritual. It also attests that the world is very dream like, with Maya. And that at the heart of it all, reality remains pure consciousness, being and bliss. For the process of evolution, reality is split into opposites. Or, dualism. The dualism existing so that we individuals can recognize it for what it is. Thus it is a self transcendence practice.

But tantra is probably, most known for its sex rites. Which have been called the most orgasmic spiritual and physical experience around. Tantric practices seem very involved, accepting of natural processes rather than rejection of it, which is appealing to westerners.

Chakras!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakras

Sure we all know about chakras thanks to movies and cartoons. But at the heart of the belief of chakra is the union of mind and body. Or even the union of spirit and body. That if the spirit is suffering, the body will suffer. Even going so far as to say, if the spirit has a problem, it can manifest as a disease in the body. Working with the chakras, you work with whats been called the energy body. This energy system affects you on all levels. Even whether or not, you can remember a spiritual experience. Even whether or not, you are conscious enough to have a lucid dream. Not only does the energy body affect your spiritual experiences, but your immune system, digestion and so on.

energy work alone will not help self transcend you. but in the belief of the energy body, you have blockages. which can make you lazy, create poor habits, depression and so on. Ultimately, with a poor energy body, you'll sit on your arse and do nothing. Astral projectors work with the energy body for example, to have the mental energy to remain aware in their travels.

Related to tantra. Though tantric beliefs have many pre-established deities. The belief of the energy body is a little more removed if you don't believe in those gods.

Mix the belief of chakras with meditation
http://www.learningmeditation.com/chakras.htm

New Age

New Age, is a very large group of diverse beliefs unified with two common goals. Attaining a higher consciousness, and manifesting the new age. Some new agers believe in God, others don't. But God in New Age is very different. Every human being is divine and is already apart of God. And attaining a higher consciousness is really becomming one with the mind of God. Or for others who don't believe in God, oneness with the universe, or oneness with the self.

New Age quickly goes into the craziest of the craziest. Into channeling. The channeling of ascended beings, Buddha and Jesus alike. But you don't have to be apart of that scene. There are many new agers who go about their business avoiding channeling all together.

New Age quickly becomes very buddhist. A path you walk alone. Thus it is not about church or some outer organization. What makes it so different then, from a mere buddhist practitioner? The biggest difference is the end goal. While buddhism is to escape suffering, this is not necessarily the end goal of the new ager. New Age gets its name from the underlining message of a new age on earth. That we are entering a new cycle, that actually starts on dec 2012. And humanity has the potential in this new cycle to live in a golden age free from dualism. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer? That is dualism.

New Age has called the higher consciousness they aim to become one with, Christ Consciousness, among other names.

New Agers are generally criticized for being overly optimistic and loony hippies, always envisioning a happy future. But part of the reason why New Age is so optimistic, is because it carries the belief that thoughts manifest. The Law of Attraction, The Secret, What the Bleep do We Know - all new age.

New Age definately has its crazier sides. From channeling to aliens. Remember though, it is not a specific religion, or group. But a group of individual people and ideas that generally believe in attaining a higher consciousness, but does not end with just escaping suffering. In off itself, it is more diverse than the many translations of the bible =b

When in Doubt

When in doubt, meditate! From new agers, to christians, to atheists, to buddhists. We can all meditate. Regardless of what ever path of self transcendence you follow, meditation is still important.


ps. I forgot to mention, all spiritual paths will help the individual become more compassionate. which also has the affect of helping us with our personal relationships. the same is not true of religion - which tends to cause hatred of certain groups

If you're looking to religion, you are missing something in your current life. Do you know what it is you're missing, and why?

Religion is a waste of time in my opinion and this comes from a guy who has thunk about it. Most people are religious for hope or fear of hellfire, or because they have had it programmed into them from an early age.

You might be looking for religion for "company" and the need to have a group of people you can share your beliefs with. Organised religion though is a scam but you can still be religious without this. If you are looking for the truth you must think so deep that your brain hurts and then once you think you know your duty on planet Earth be an individual about it.

Maybe just buy a couple mice, they'll cheer you up.

Try studying them all and see what they have in common.

Or you could always join some kind of sex cult. Those sound like a lot more fun than going to church!

Originally Posted by Reality_is_a_Dream

Here I am. I have no religion, that is, I pratice none. But I am looking for one. So please, Tell me a religion, and explain it alittle to me. Let's start the bidding.

I like Buddhism.

As I understand, the Buddhist's view of life is that there is something fundamentally wrong with life, everything in life is unsatisfactory, dissapointing in some way, however small. The big unsatisfying thing about life is that nothing lasts forever which sucks. A great night out always turns into a shitty hangover. Monday morning always comes around too quick. Sex is great while it lasts and then when its over you want more. The reason for this is not that there is anything essentially wrong with life, but our perception of life is flawed, we do not perceive things as they really are, their true nature. Everything, including life and death, is a creation of our minds.

The reason we are unable to perceive the true nature of things is because, to put it crudely we are biased, we prefer one thing over another, we are unable to be impartial observers. Everything we do which is biased creates more biased actions, i.e. habits. This works on a very deep level which goes unnoticed most, if not all, of the time. We literally create our own realities, our own suffering, from our bias and prejudices etc. In this way our reality is a reflection of ourself. On the deepest level life really is an illusion, a dream, created by our misunderstanding of what life actually is.

It is possible to wake up from this dream that we create entirely by and for ourselves. The (unsatisfactory) dream only continues on and on because of the actions we take which are, for want of a better word, biased. E.g. if everytime a cyclist pulls out in front of our car we swear at them, we are more likely to do it the next time. Everytime we don't swear at them we are less likely to do it the next time. Eventually the urge to swear at them will disappear. This is known as karma. The end of karma is to wake up from the dream, to become lucid in a way.

The different branches of Buddhism teach various methods to destroy all our habits and prejudices, our karma, to take off that blindfold preventing us from seeing the true nature of things, to wake us up from our dreams, i.e. to reach nirvana. The methods consist of several types (40,000?) of meditation, firstly to develop concentration, and then to use that concentration to become aware of, and truly know, the mental and physical processes to understand their true nature, to analyse them in a very methodical way. When we are able to see things as they really are we cannot help but let go of them. To understand the true nature of one thing is to know the true nature of all things. Nirvana is already our reality, we are naturally enlightened, buddhas, just like jesus etc., we are just unable to perceive it.

That's my summarised interpretation of Buddhism.

I like the principal, from what I understand, and I may look further into it... Where would I look further into it?

Yeah be a Buddhist if you are serious. Or a Pastafarian.

Originally Posted by Reality_is_a_Dream

I like the principal, from what I understand, and I may look further into it... Where would I look further into it?

The Access to Insight website is good. It only covers the Theravada branch of Buddhism which can be a bit dry unlike perhaps Tibetan Buddhism which can be more exotic, for that maybe try Sogyal Rinpoche's book(s). There's lots of other types and sub-types as with any religion, Zen is a famous one but I haven't read much about that. Try Wikipedia too.

Errr.... If you're looking to find a religion just for the sake of having a religion (I was in this same spot about 4 years ago), back away NOW. You don't need that BS.

Meditate to your heart's desire, converse with interesting people, hang up pictures of Brahma on your wall... But don't label yourself as any one religion. It will only make your life less satisfying, and it will close horizons as opposed to opening them.

Originally Posted by Reality_is_a_Dream

1: I guess somthing to make me better and expand me.
2: See answer 1?
3: I have tried, but not hard. I am willing to, and I know of it's positive effects.
4: I think to answer that, "spiritual" must be defined. I could be, and I would be, but I can not anwser that, yet.

And I do think that it will give me a sense of fufillment, or atleast make me a better person, and make me more able to understand other religions, and ultimately other people.

To be honest: I don't think you need a belief. You want one to better yourself and 'expand' yourself?

Well, you can better yourself without beliefs. And I don't know what you mean with 'expand'.

You can also feel fulfilment without a belief. Why would you chant and meditate and pray to feel fulfilment, when you can actually do something that actually is fulfilling, like helping other people, achieving something, discovering or learning something new, making new friends, making random strangers laugh and feel good about themselves, etc.?
You can become a better person without belief. So: question: why do you think you'll become a better person with religion? How would religion possibly make you better? I really don't see that.
If you really are so willing to better yourself, then look at yourself, decide what you'd like to change for the better, and change your lifestyle to incorporate that idea. No need for esoterical nonsense and religious bullcrap...

And about 'understanding other religions': go do a theology class, or do research on it yourself. The history, the fields it encompasses, and actual evidence in support that religion (good luck in finding those!).


It actually worries me someone would voluntarily want to get involved with a group of people that focuses on something supernatural which is totally not proven, has no evidence in favour, which restricts you and your thinking, and which doesn't really give you anything you couldn't get without religion.

^^ Exactly. Organized religion restricts your thinking. You'll find no "expanding" there.

You can be an incredible, intelligent human being if you take a step back to take it ALL in, rather than burying yourself in one school of thought.

I'm no fan of organised religion either. I'm not trying to push anything but that's mainly why I like Buddhism, although I wouldn't label myself a Buddhist, because as I see it it's designed to cut away all that BS that restricts us and our thinking. I see it's goal, nirvana, not as something supernatural that enables you to fly through the sky hurling thunderbolts but as something completely mundane that enables you to become a normal human being. I don't really view it as a religion as it doesn't really require any faith in anything.

I agree labelling yourself something and closing yourself off to everything else is not wise but I am an advocate of practising one method instead of shopping around and never settling nor perfecting anything. This doesn't only apply to religion but everything e.g. lucid dreaming techniques, your particular specialism in your career, an athletics discipline. They all really have the same goal so why not just stick to one of them? Of course occassional cross-training does wonders for your specialist discipline.

If you just want to meditate, thats pretty much all Theravada Buddhists do, so their lessons are useful for that at least.

Originally Posted by juroara

New Age quickly becomes very buddhist. A path you walk alone. Thus it is not about church or some outer organization. What makes it so different then, from a mere buddhist practitioner? The biggest difference is the end goal. While buddhism is to escape suffering, this is not necessarily the end goal of the new ager. New Age gets its name from the underlining message of a new age on earth. That we are entering a new cycle, that actually starts on dec 2012. And humanity has the potential in this new cycle to live in a golden age free from dualism. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer? That is dualism.

I'm sorry, but this has been bothering me since I read it.

Original books on the New Age place the the new Age with The Age of Aquarius. Hence books like "The Aquarian Conspiracy". The Age of Aquarius is usually placed by astrology in the 27th century.

This new Age is, according to many New Agers, making its presence felt now with a coming world shift and the beginning of a new society, in much the same manner as you described.

There's this really interesting question of how to bring about the New Age. To that end you get meditators trying to speed it up, date-setters who are waiting for specific times (for instance the millennium, 2012, etc) and intentional communities like Findhorn who are attempting to spearhead the change by living the New Age now.

The idea of 2012 being the end is fairly new as far as I can see. I didn't find it at all in any of the older academic texts I've read on the topic. But it comes up very regularly in discussion with modern New Agers.

Its interesting, really. The end of the Mayan long count is the beginning of the thirteenth period of their calender. The twelth period began in September 1618 and did not herald any major spiritual changes.

I like the New Age. Its an umbrella group, and I spend a lot of time hanging out under that unbrella. But I come from weird Christian stock and have believed that date setting major world changes is dangerous ever since my parents were completely convinced that the rapture would happen in 1998.

Anyway, sorry. That was off-topic. Please don't take offense. I respect your beliefs but I feel better for correcting one tiny, slightly off, factual statement.