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After being asked by several members to describe my beliefs and why I believe as I do, I have started a thread on the subject. Here is why I am a theist:

First and foremost, the world around me speaks. Its language is one that knows no human language. Everything from the tree to the rock to the animals sings of wisdom born from ages that have existed long before we have. And I have been listening to that song since childhood, long before I ever knew I had Native American blood. My mind works best with symbolism and parable. Information is not strictly attained through logic and reasoning. For me, it is also acquired through strong intuition and the domain of the heart (i.e. emotion).

Understanding the science behind a thing or the composition of its parts doesn’t detract from what the thing itself is. Logic alone doesn’t explain the path an individual takes from cradle to grave on this planet. Rationality, intellect, reason, and probability…these things will only take one so far. These things being order our world, but it will always fail to encompass it fully because it is merely one half of the story. Constant. The other half is the irrational, the chaotic, the unexplainable, the improbable, and the disordered. Change.

Existence rests on a delicate balance between concepts. When a difference of an electron can make one substance become something else, we realize the power of that balance that connects everything in our world. It is the totality of all knowledge. It binds all existence. Yet it surpasses it as well, defying our attempts to explain it via language.

That balance, the delicate yet simultaneously strong thread that exists in all things, is what I call God/Tao/All That Is. I am not an atheist because I choose to worship this balance.I choose the purpose of living my life by rules that respect that which I call God, the interconnectedness of all things and by spreading light and love where ever I can.

I make this choice freely. Not out of fear of eternal suffering or a reward of heaven. Not because it is the path of parents that steered me towards it from my first breath. Not because I need a crutch to shelter me from the harsh realities of life. Not because of the self-delusion that my path is somehow greater or more unique than any other.

What I seek on my path is a balance between mind and heart. To me, my path means walking the Middle Road beyond the duality of all things. There is no church that can dictate what this balance consists of, as I am an individual. There is no one book that states the rules that I must live by.

Having said that, I reiterate that I believe that gods and goddesses are personal representations (i.e. symbols) of All That Is/the balance/Tao. There is no right religion or wrong religion or lack thereof. There are only paths, an infinite number of them, of which we can choose to walk on.

I believe that religion and mythology work best when their concepts remain fluid. With literalization, the symbolic meaning is lost. A surface meaning is open to instant ridicule or unthinking praise. Like the metaphorical Tower of Babel, I believe that we have reached great heights, ascending levels of knowledge between humanity and the cosmos. But our most formidable barrier is not acquiring knowledge, but conveying it to others. In this, our language is at once our greatest asset and our greatest bane. It is not lack of knowledge that restricts humanity, but our failure to articulate knowledge on a wide scale without compartmentalization, specialization or manipulation.

Thus our tower remains incomplete and open to destruction as knowledge becomes something only for a chosen few. There can be no true progress in this fashion. Only regression. So another aspect of my path is to show that myth and symbol, religion and philosophy, still have places in the future of humanity. And that they are needed, which is why so much of my life is dedicated to the study of them.

My two cents,
Tangie

cajela

Tangi, that's lovely. Would it be correct to call you a pantheist?

I appreciiate a religion that doesn't require lying about the world

Quetzalcoatl

Tangiellis if I wanted to see if your beliefs had any relevance to reality what steps should I take?

bkawcazn

See... I don't mean to be disrespectful, but if God is difference between Argon and Helium, then we're all theists.

Ya know?

Bringing us back to the subject of language, words need to have meaning to be of any use.

Yahzi

I completely agree.

The only objection I have is to the claim that there is any method that will take you the rest of the way.

Maybe we only get to go so far, and no further. Well, just knowing that is worth something; it stops us from over-reaching ourselves.

But I am not sure what stops you from over-reaching yourself; from making intuitive leaps that cannot be supported, checked, or corrected until it is too late. How can I dispute your truths, if I feel they are harmful? On what grounds can we reach agreement, other than dull reasonableness?

I recognize how your program sounds exciting, but do you recognize how it can be risky?

Killer Mike

Thank you for your insightful post. I like that you believe there is more then one path. Attitudes such as those which include there is only one way leads to intolerance. I also like your understanding of symbolism, as much of what is in religion is symbolic representation of human beings desire to find peace, happiness, and meaning.

Having said that Im still confused. Do you believe in theism symbolically or literally? Some people take theism to mean "nature". In other words there definition of "god" is in nature, not some external intelligence. I guess Im not sure what you believe and why you believe it? My understanding is that you believe primarily from emotional reasons. Is my understanding correct?

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No. I disagree with the pantheist stance on some metaphysical aspects of reality and "rejection" of the irrational. I also hold a higher regard for ancient religions and religious texts in general than pantheists I have read about.
Ultimately, I dislike labels. I state that I am Pagan because it is easier, as most people do not want a full run-down of your core beliefs, but a one-word summation. Pagan is basically an unbrella term for a multitude of religions that means nothing on its own.

I try my best.

My two cents,
Tangie

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Depends on what aspect of my beliefs you are asking about. If you are speaking on the relevance of symbolism and myth in our world, then your steps should lead you to a library where you can do research on the topic for yourself. Yoga, meditation and rituals that bring one closer to nature are also good places to start.

If you refer to the choice to worship All That Is/the Tao/God or to walk the Middle Path, then I can't give you an answer to that. Because reality doesn't just consist of the things that exist around us. It also consists of the internal experiences and perceptions that color those things when we look through our individual eyes.

My path is the sum of all the experiences that I have had in my life. This is my reality. And in delving deeply into myself, I have discovered that Balance in all things is the requirement that will lead to the most satisfaction in my life.

The experiences that you have had, the ways you have molded yourself into an individual, the way your mind operates in receiving information...all these things have bearing on how you see the world. This is your reality. So I can't speak of what concept holds the most true for you, or if Balance should be your ultimate goal. Only you can decide that.

My two cents,
Tangie

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No disrespect taken. But everyone would not be a theist regardless of the definition of God because there is a CHOICE involved in doing so.
I never said that God is the difference between Argon and Helium. I stated that the difference of an election is an example of the fine balance upon which existence rests.
This balance is capable of simultaneously showing us subatomic chaos and surface order, dependable constants and troublesome irregularities. It creates and destroys. Lives and dies. It shows us that the inanimate rock is not really inanimate at all but particles in motion; that life exists within its microscopic pores to tiny for us to see with our eyes alone. Or that the difference between myself and the chair I am sitting in has to do with the perceptions of my brain that allow me to distinguish my body from this chair and actually initiate movement within this body.
Everything I stated in the above paragraph is nothing more than examples of the balance. The Balance/Tao/All That Is/God is beyond human language. Not every concept underneath our sun can be explained in words. If that was the case, we wouldn't have mathematics as a language all its own to describe things like motion or distance. And surely you have reached a point sometime in your life when words have failed you, when they simply cannot express the feeling that you have at a particular moment.

Words are not external, objective constructs. They are subjective manifestations that we come up with to describe things. Any linguist can tell you that language is fluid, not concrete. Words have meanings that change and alter everyday, all the time. Slang is the biggest and brightest example of this because it moves so fast.
So words have meanings that WE apply to them. Not the other way around.

My two cents,
Tangie

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Perhaps this is true. Perhaps not. I can speak for no one else save myself.

What is "over-reaching myself?" How exactly is there a limit to growth in a lifetime? What makes you think that there must be some given limitation to human potential? How is it ever too late to correct oneself?

What holds back any of us from making that error that could cost us everything? It is ourselves. We are our own rulers in that regard and god over our own lives. You alone dictate how far you will go and what limitations you have. To state that one is "over-reaching" depends on the eye of the beholder.


You dispute them as you always have: through your own arguments and opinions. Maybe they will change a mind, maybe not. But all you can do is try.
To the other question, we can agree to disagree. That's certainly fine in my book. The choices I have made in my life and the path that I walk are mine and mine alone. Just as yours are. I find nothing dull about coexisting with our individual viewpoints still intact or acknowledging that someone else can see the world differently.
Humanity is not great because everyone conforms. It is great by the diversity of thought it possesses.


Life by its very definition is risk. There is no guarantee that the sun will rise tomorrow or that we will roll out of bed and get to work without dying. We just assume these things. It is only when we meet catastrophe head on that we realize how shallow our security and order really are, how they fail to encompass the improbability of the world around us.

Intuitive leaps are made by humans every single day on this planet regardless of religion. There was a time we didn't know quantum theory, but people still made the intuitive leap to describe it before it could be verified. We pursue love and happiness on the basis of information that may seem crazy to everyone else but ourselves.

If no one dares to risk, there will never be progress in any form. Humanity did not progress as far as it has by "playing it safe" and not making any mistakes.

My two cents,
Tangie