by tyedyedsocks » Sun Dec 28, 2008 10:37 pm
Eeek. Hard one. :/
First, to understand what religious views I have, one must understand my "political" views. I see neo-tribalism (emphasizing the "neo" part) as the highest ideal to attain, but see no plausible, quick 'n' easy way of attaining it in our current socio-economic-political atmoshpere. Things are always changing in this world, however, and I almost see it as a sort of inevitability, so I'm hopeful.
It is in part because of my neo-tribalist stance that I personally reject organized religion, namely salvationist organized religion, on principle. However I think spirituality is as much an innately human thing as art, music, and forming groups, whether you tap into your spirituality via prayer, meditation, tarot cards, reading the stars, naming and defining and worshipping gods, or some other medium entirely. Whatever you're into, whether I believe it also or not.
I consider myself highly spiritual, but in such a way that goes beyond simple words. Words are limiting, and, to me, that includes the words in the Bible, other religious texts, and anything I might possibly write on the subject, though such things are also highly useful (Jesus said some very wise things). Words are not what are important; it's the ideas and meaning behind those words we should focus on. What I have is a series of ideas and words trying in vain to fully capture a feeling... in which lies my spirituality. This is the feeling I get when I see one of my favorite people after a long absence, and we can't help but smile. This is the feeling I get when I see eagles soar, or I listen to Bach or Vienna Teng or Queen, or become a walking mural of chaotic splattered paint, graphite, and ink.
As for science? I love science; it is a fascinating and splendid and useful thing that often fits my way of thinking. However, I have to recognize that many things we regard in the present as undeniable scientific fact are actually only working theories and may be regarded as utterly ridiculous notions in future generations. For proof of this, we need only to look into the past, when only two kingdoms of organisms were recognized (just plant and animal, versus the six, I think, we have today), with everything grouped into one of those two categories, be it mammal, protist, strep, althete's foot, or tree. And that was only a century ago. Go further back, and the more differences from today's perspective can be seen, and we look at what they believed to be true and laugh and say, "what ignorant people our ancestors were!" Who is to say the future won't follow this trend? Science (in a static state, that is) is as infallible as any other human attempt to perceive and understand reality, as much as I love its ever-evolving, self-correcting, mostly logical and rational nature. To worship science en lieu of other religions is to make it a religion as well, a religion based off of conditionals, theories, and ritual experimentation. In part I do worship science and love it so, but I also treat everything in the field of science with the knowledge that everything I believe in could one day prove to be false. Those buggers can't even agree on the scientific name for the cheetah, for crying out loud!
By some definitions, I may be called an atheist. By others, an animist, or a scientist. Whatever you feel comfortable with is fine by me. =P
In attempt to organize and define spirituality: I believe in science, spirituality (animism), and philosophy as means of perceiving the world. I believe in Absolute Existence (that is, everything exists), Time (that is, the measure of the movement of any given unit over a certain distance), and the Cosmic Symphony (based off of the "string theory," of sorts). Most of all, I believe in ∞. ∞ is my cross. ∞ sums it all up as neatly as possible.
Life? It goes. "Sah VAH."
Last edited by
tyedyedsocks on Tue Dec 30, 2008 2:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reality is relative.