Re: Describe your path
I'm still discerning my spiritual path. I have done a fair bit of reading and thinking over the past decade or so, but it has been sporadic and, frankly, not a high priority. I'm currently trying to be more serious about actively discerning my path. I don't know all of what I believe for certain yet, but this is what I do know:
* I believe that there is a greater-than, rather than any deity as such. The greater-than is, simply put, what is greater than myself; this includes my chosen and biological family, my community, the world, and ultimately the universe as a whole.
* I believe that we are all inextricable parts of the greater-than, and that the greater-than exists within everything. I believe we are all incredibly powerful (or at least potentially so) and incredibly interconnected.
* I believe that, after I die, I will decompose and little bits of me will become little bits of other things, some living and some not. I don't believe in reincarnation, but I do find it tremendously powerful and beautiful to believe that my matter and energy is on loan. I can't fully know what they once were or will be later, but I do know that I am a part of the greater-than.
* I believe that my spirituality, as with my politics and everything else about my life, should be informed by a sincere, honest, and unceasing attempt to achieve justice and knowledge.
* I believe that it would be deeply wrong of me to work with a tradition, deity, or pantheon to which I have no claim. I believe such appropriation would be not just distasteful but directly contrary to my ethics. (i.e. I will not work with Egyptian deities or adopt the practices of a Native American tribe because I have no cultural or ancestral ties. Most of my ancestors were probably Celts, but I will not work with the Celtic pantheon or practices either, because my ancestry has never been an important or relevant aspect of my life.)
* I believe that my spirituality, as with my politics and everything else about my life, is and should be informed by my existence/consciousness as a queer person. This doesn't mean that I'm better or worse, or that anyone else is better or worse; it means that my spiritual approaches and practices are often actively queered in some fashion. (e.g. I do not believe in the duality of a goddess and a god, because I believe that neither sex nor gender are binary concepts.) (Also, I use the word queer for myself and toward the LGBTQIA* community at large in a positive sense of reclamation and inclusion, which is congruent with the word's social, political, and academic use since the 1980s.)
* I believe that prayer and magick are effective, both as a form of contemplation/meditation and as a form of encouragement and work within oneself and the greater-than. I do not believe that they work from entreating favor from a personal deity or set of deities. I believe that everything I do, ultimately, is a kind of prayer or magick; I also believe that conscious prayer and magick are effective.
I am not sure if I believe nature is sacred. That's got some serious philosophical depth that I need to explore. Nature is very important to me, but I have a lot of cognitive dissonance about it, too. If nature is as sacred as I think it is, then I need to seriously alter what I do -- not to be scrupulous or condescending but so that my actions are in line with my beliefs.
I'm still discerning my spiritual path. I have done a fair bit of reading and thinking over the past decade or so, but it has been sporadic and, frankly, not a high priority. I'm currently trying to be more serious about actively discerning my path. I don't know all of what I believe for certain yet, but this is what I do know:
* I believe that there is a greater-than, rather than any deity as such. The greater-than is, simply put, what is greater than myself; this includes my chosen and biological family, my community, the world, and ultimately the universe as a whole.
* I believe that we are all inextricable parts of the greater-than, and that the greater-than exists within everything. I believe we are all incredibly powerful (or at least potentially so) and incredibly interconnected.
* I believe that, after I die, I will decompose and little bits of me will become little bits of other things, some living and some not. I don't believe in reincarnation, but I do find it tremendously powerful and beautiful to believe that my matter and energy is on loan. I can't fully know what they once were or will be later, but I do know that I am a part of the greater-than.
* I believe that my spirituality, as with my politics and everything else about my life, should be informed by a sincere, honest, and unceasing attempt to achieve justice and knowledge.
* I believe that it would be deeply wrong of me to work with a tradition, deity, or pantheon to which I have no claim. I believe such appropriation would be not just distasteful but directly contrary to my ethics. (i.e. I will not work with Egyptian deities or adopt the practices of a Native American tribe because I have no cultural or ancestral ties. Most of my ancestors were probably Celts, but I will not work with the Celtic pantheon or practices either, because my ancestry has never been an important or relevant aspect of my life.)
* I believe that my spirituality, as with my politics and everything else about my life, is and should be informed by my existence/consciousness as a queer person. This doesn't mean that I'm better or worse, or that anyone else is better or worse; it means that my spiritual approaches and practices are often actively queered in some fashion. (e.g. I do not believe in the duality of a goddess and a god, because I believe that neither sex nor gender are binary concepts.) (Also, I use the word queer for myself and toward the LGBTQIA* community at large in a positive sense of reclamation and inclusion, which is congruent with the word's social, political, and academic use since the 1980s.)
* I believe that prayer and magick are effective, both as a form of contemplation/meditation and as a form of encouragement and work within oneself and the greater-than. I do not believe that they work from entreating favor from a personal deity or set of deities. I believe that everything I do, ultimately, is a kind of prayer or magick; I also believe that conscious prayer and magick are effective.
I am not sure if I believe nature is sacred. That's got some serious philosophical depth that I need to explore. Nature is very important to me, but I have a lot of cognitive dissonance about it, too. If nature is as sacred as I think it is, then I need to seriously alter what I do -- not to be scrupulous or condescending but so that my actions are in line with my beliefs.
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