by Sofia Lose 52 Replies latest jw experiences
LOL Gio,
All I can figure is the question about feeling a strong affinity for nature...but I didnt mean that strong!
I put it down to me being in such a state of flux right now.
Being Org trained my entire life I have so much to learn about what I believe and what I think.
What did your test reveal?
100% Secular Humanism.
0% JW ... lol! The only one I scored 0% on. No wonder I was so miserable in that cult. It just did not fit.
No I really don't want to try another religion. I'm sick of other people telling me what to think and feel. I have had the most amazingly spiritual, peak experiences walking through gorgeous scenery, lakes and snow-capped mountains. Mountains do it for me.
As for what I believe about reality, I have read dozens of books, done masses of research and I don't need someone in silly robes telling me what is real.
However I have been to spiritualist churches as part of my research into life after death and have found it very interesting.
Secular Humanism
I didn't realize until I took this test that there was a name for what I most cared about. Cause for decades I didn't think about religion or any of the god's people worship. I just knew , felt, understood that without evidence and communication how could you find your way to a specific god?
For those who are not clear about Humanism:
"The philosophy or life stance of secular humanism (alternatively known by some adherents as Humanism, specifically with a capital H to distinguish it from other forms of humanism) embraces human reason, ethics, and philosophical naturalism while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, pseudoscience, and superstition as the basis of morality and decision making.[1][2][3][4]
Secular Humanism posits that human beings are capable of being ethical and moral without religion or a god. It does not, however, assume that humans are either inherently evil or innately good, nor does it present humans as being superior to nature. Rather, the humanist life stance emphasizes the unique responsibility facing humanity and the ethical consequences of human decisions.
Fundamental to the concept of secular humanism is the strongly held viewpoint that ideology—be it religious or political—must be thoroughly examined by each individual and not simply accepted or rejected on faith. Along with this, an essential part of secular humanism is a continually adapting search for truth, primarily through science and philosophy." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_humanism
In my personal opinion this might have been the very first human experience or driving force for functioning tribes, hunters and gatherers, etc. as it appears that religious beliefs came along long after those folks.
Visual observation and experimentation was science in that era, religion came about to provide explanations for everything else that was not understood. It could provide a level of comfort for people or as most often took place a living hell.
Thats a good explanation Gio, thank you.
The satetments, philosophy, what have you, I find resonating the most with me at the moment are those of Bertrand Russell.
Thanks to all for the meaningful and insightful replies.
After some reflection, if ever free from this cult, I will remain religion-free. Spirituality seems highly overrated.
SL
I can't say I've looked into other non-christian faiths - though a test I took a long time ago on the internet said my perfect religion was Buddism.
But I have looked at other Christian faiths after leaving the JWs. Basically it came down to them all being BS. Some I didn't like because they spent too much time singing. Others, I didn't like their beliefs - I felt they were unscriptural.
I felt other religions were even nuttier than Christianity. Beliefs like reincarnation. Too many rules in Judaism. It was like the JWs. Islam? Not for me.
If there was one God, I felt you have to find the right path or just worship him personally. You can't resolve just any old belief into worship. Yet if there was one God, the most intelligent being, I felt he wouldn't care. Religion is for men, not for a God if he exists.
I didn't like any of them. My upbringing was from the Bible and I began to doubt it and gave up on it.
I suppose if religion calms you or gives you peace, go for it. But I don't believe it has anything to do with god and I didn't like it thinking it did.
Normally you have to be Jewish itself, of Hebrew stock. All those "rules" are really cultural conventions that come natural in Jewish society. Judaism is also not based on the Bible. Instead the Scriptures are a product of the religion, not its basis.
My case is probably not a fair comparison, therefore. I did not convert to Judaism. My family abandoned it when I was a child and left me among the JWs, and when I was old enough I reverted back to my people and my culture. Many Jews are atheist, some agnostic. So Jewry is not of itself an adoption or entry into a new religion. It's actually entry into a new ( for me, my old) tribe, a new culture, a new people. Jews don't have to be religious, even to take advantage of the Law of Return and move to Israel.
So I have to admit after reading the experiences of others that it isn't the same thing. Heck, there are Jewish Buddhists even! Being a Jew is not about beliefs like in Christianity. It's about living life and doing something with it as part of a heritage you adopt and leave behind as a legacy. It's not about believing that G-d exists. It's about acting as if there is no G-d and doing for humankind what loving things G-d would do if he were real. It's not about debating that if G-d were real that there would be no suffering. It's realizing that suffering is our repsonsibilty to bring a solution to ourselves. It's not about converting others so they believe like you before you can accept them. It's about converting yourself so you can learn to accept others just as they are.
Post script:
I don't want to give the wrong impression either. We Jews can be stubborn jerks, intolerant, rude, argumentive, and just as mistaken as anyone else. Jewry is definitely not Julie Andrews twirling around on a mountaintop signing all day! We have the ability to be just as evil and mean and disappointing as anyone.
There isn't much difference between Jews and others. It may be that we take life differently, however, much like we read from right to left instead of left to right. If anything I hope that my experience shows that any of you can do just as well in whatever paths you choose to make the world we share a better place for yourself and us all. Find your own tribe, make it up if up you have to. Just realize that spirituality isn't something that fills you as much as something that you fill up with yourself.
If you are going to choose Christianity, choose Orthodox
All the tradition of Catholicism without the top down papacy
If you are going to choose Islam, choose Ismaili as it lacks the legalism and inferiority complex of sharia islam.
If you are going to choose a Dharmic religion choose Sikh, because turbans, swordfighting and soup kitchens are awesome.
