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What I Believe

Years ago (back in the days of Experience Project) several of my friends posted their personal "statements of belief." I have never forgotten how powerful it was to read those. I never wrote one for myself, I wasn't ready.

Ten years later, I feel like I have finally found a new statement of personal faith. It is short. It reflects my very long journey. I suspect most of my friends will depart with me on at least one of the three points. And that's okay. This is for me in my journey. Each of these statements carries deep personal meaning. So in the spirit of what my friends were posting a decade ago, I offer it to you now.

1. There are many identities encompassed in the Divine, and the Divine resonates most deeply with me when I approach Her as Goddess.
2. I do not have any good reasons for believing the Divine actually exists.
3. Yet when I act as if She does, She consistently blows my expectations.

That's all, three simple points. Without any one of them, my faith breaks down. Approaching God as male stirs up feelings of resentment over patriarchy. A genderless God makes sense, but I just don't connect like I do with Goddess.

I used to believe I had good reasons for believing that a god exists, but after having those assumptions tested, I can no longer hold that view without feeling intellectually dishonest. In some real sense, I can accurately call myself an agnostic or even an atheist.

But that doesn't sum up my faith. There is still too much mystery. Perhaps it's just how our brains are wired. Something happens when we pray. Maybe it just makes us more primed to notice coincidences when they happen. Maybe it simply motivates us to actually be the change we wish to see in the world. Or maybe there is actually something more that happens when we pray. Perhaps the Author of our life stories sometimes responds by altering our narratives to be more in line with our requests? I don't know how prayer works. All I know is that my life is richer when I do it.

So there it is. Let's not debate in the comments. I don't have time for that, and these points are very personal to me.

But I'm curious for you, what is YOUR personal statement of faith?

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TexChik · F

I have no gender issues. I am a Christian. I find comfort in my faith. Religion has become commercialized nd tainted by man, but my faith is as pure as I can keep it and is something I have relied on most of my life.

ShadowSister · 46-50, F

@TexChik I love it. I envy that. A lot actually. 💜

in10RjFox · M

You are right. Divine or God is formless. The problem with the world is everything has been defined and established before we were born giving us no space to think freely. I sometimes think we were never required or just required as slaves to believe and not know.

The image that God is an old man with grey hair and long beard and all white itself is an illusion that is forced on us right from our childhood. And we have no way to correct all these and each generation is programmed with the same belief system.

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in10RjFox · M

@ShadowSister 😀😀 I thought you are someone who can think and reason. But evidence has been right there all along. Because without spirit or life, body is just a vegetable, which you obviously know. It is the spirit that gives life to the body. So obviously the spirit is masculine. It was wrongly associated with Males, which is the conspiracy part and females were made as feminine. Reason why Males were made as husband (claiming the spirit), and females were made as wife (assigned the body). Thus, the feminine element of Males, and the Spirit or Life element of females were never considered. And the reason why females were made subservient to males, subduing their masculinity. In fact there is enough evidence in history and all scriptures, how females were considered a cattle and slaves.

And I have no clue what is misogynistic or misandrist about this, when I am saying the entire gender promulgation itself is wrong and as humans we have been fooled and misguided. Nowhere did nature say that it has created opposite sexes.

So now you have to tell me what evidence do you have to say that masculinity is exclusive to males and femininity is exclusive to females.

ShadowSister · 46-50, F

@in10RjFox I would be curious how you define masculine and feminine. Here is how I define them. Similar to language, they are social constructs that we use to communicate our reproductive role. Some is biologically predispositioned, like large muscles being masculine. Some is arbitrarily assigned by individual cultures, such as pink being feminine. And some recognizes tendencies that are often true but not always, such as interest in sports being masculine. Because gender is socially constructed, it is entirely possible for men to be feminine and women to be masculine. Most people are some mix of each.

It is the spirit that gives life to the body. So obviously the spirit is masculine.

The implied proposition in your syllogism is that that which gives life is masculine.

I suspect you have a different definition of what masculine and feminine mean. And that's okay, the same words can mean different things in different contexts. So long as we take the time to define the terms, we can learn to understand one another. And I assume that's what is going on here. Because based on my definitions of masculine and feminine, I find myself completely confused by why you would associate that which gives life with the masculine.

in10RjFox · M

@ShadowSister

So long as we take the time to define the terms, we can learn to understand one another.

This is a good disposition and tone of yours, for it is easy to explain and clear your doubts, as the definition you have has a lot of ambiguity, which you yourself will accept when we analyze. I am no exception to this definition, as this is what we have been preached and made to accept and not to question. Also there is a reason why all this is taught to us in school, before we attain the intellectual maturity to analyze and reason. There is something called a root bug or root error which is the root cause. I am naturally an analyst and I just don't accept anything without analyzing. I don't like beliefs and I analyze and get to know.

Your use of the word "Syllogism" means that you have studied logic as a subject, which is good as most haven't been exposed to this subject.

I find myself completely confused by why you would associate that which gives life with the masculine

I have to step out now, and I shall come back and explain more in detail. But in the meantime, think of Masculine as Software & Feminine as Hardware, and how intangible masculine is & tangible hardware is. I will be back soon.

in10RjFox · M

Prayers are actually Priors. For instance a surgeon before beginning the surgery has to say the Priors to his team which basically goes like "we have gathered here to perform xxx surgery on the yyy patient.. and must confirm the patient and the surgery before the patient is given anaesthesia, so the surgery is not performed on the wrong patient or wrong part removed etc. So Priors help in preparing our mind, reminding our tasks for the day or what we have set foot for etc

ShadowSister · 46-50, F

@in10RjFox Interesting. The nice thing about your view is that it works with anyone regardless of belief system. Anyone can say priors without having to sign on to a specific creed.

sarabee1995 · 26-30, F

Oh I remember when we all did this. And I think I remember discussing mine with you in detail at the time. Now you've made me curious. I need to go find mine and see if my beliefs have stood the test of time.

As for approaching our Creator as goddess rather than god, I tend more toward the genderless perspective.

ShadowSister · 46-50, F

@sarabee1995 That would be super cool to re-read that!

I agree that genderless certainly makes more sense. And you've got precedent in Catholic theology, even if it's not the norm.

sarabee1995 · 26-30, F

@ShadowSister This is one of the many issues that I discussed AT LENGTH with my priest back during undergrad. I drove him crazy.

I'll look for my old statement of beliefs tonight. I think it was during my senior year of high school, so 2013-ish.

sarabee1995 · 26-30, F

@ShadowSister Found it! Here you go:

https://similarworlds.com/6451933-I-Believe/1353218-A-few-of-my-EP-friends-recently-posted-a-statement

Vengabus · 36-40

When I visualise what is likely real and true: I see a beautiful, ever changing sea of colour and sound. Everyone contributes to the eternal bliss of love and life beyond ones own self. We present our colours to each other as precious tributes. We show our hearts, adorned in all the wonder and magic that we have found in simply 'being'.

ShadowSister · 46-50, F

@Vengabus That's beautiful!

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LordShadowfire · 46-50, M

2. I do not have any good reasons for believing the Divine actually exists.
3. Yet when I act as if She does, She consistently blows my expectations.

Yes! Exactly. Even though I'm fully convinced I am somehow manifesting the results myself, I never manifest them correctly when I think like that. It's so weird!

ShadowSister · 46-50, F

@LordShadowfire Sweet, so it's not just me! I have really been struggling with getting to point 3 for a very long time.

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