Spirituality and creepiness..

[MehGuy]

Do you happen to find any spiritual paths "creepy"? Do other people find our spiritual path to be "creepy"?

While I'm an atheist now, I've had plenty of people think my spiritual path was creepy. While there is a certain allure to having other people think your path is creepy/weird I find such sentiments hurtful for the most part. Especially since in the long run I think there is little I can ever do to sway public opinion. Even though I'm an atheist now, I still write much about my old spiritual path/paths, and even improve it and use it for my various stories and characters.

As for me on other people's spiritual walks, yes I've found certain rituals to be weird and unsettling. I try to be nice about it and stomach it, because I know others do the same for me so I should try my best to return the favor.

That's the thing though. Many altered states require you to engage in actives others will find bizarre. Especially the more "civilized" people become. Honestly I think modern day spiritual paths are pretty dry, and offer little substance to a vast majority of people. While many claim to adhere to some religion for the most it's just lukewarm. They were given little options, and if they happen to not fit in the right box they'll never feel spiritually fed.

 

[Rhamiel]

I guess "creepy" is more or less what is alien

so if you grew up with it, it is just normal
but if it is new, then it is "weird and creepy"

 

[Chesterton]

Honestly I find the mundane everyday worldly things to be kind of creepy sometimes, rather than spiritual things.

 

[MehGuy]

I guess "creepy" is more or less what is alien

so if you grew up with it, it is just normal
but if it is new, then it is "weird and creepy"

Yeah, especially in religions that try to monopolize/demonize everything. But even within those religions, they tend to break apart and try to become more civilized than their previous versions. I know many protestant type people look down on a lot of the more traditional gloominess of Catholic art.

Although looking at current generations, it seems like we are starting to loosen up again with our expressions. Things like piercing and tattooing is becoming more mainstream again. Which honestly, I think has to do with the fall of racism. The idea of looking and acting more proper than those "savages" is less and less in the public consciousness. And hopefully that extends for spirituality.

 

[Zoness]

Do you happen to find any spiritual paths "creepy"?

A few, yeah. Not in a spooky way but rather in an unsettling way. Mostly with regard to cults or religious sects that I see using cultish behavior.

Do other people find our spiritual path to be "creepy"?

Oh yeah, I've had some bizarre harassment and property damage in the past for perceived "creepiness" of whatever stereotype of my faith has been presented. It's not something I thought would happen around here since I don't live in the Bible Belt but I shouldn't be surprised. As a result, I'm not really open about my faith anymore, I'm only open about it online. In classic nature, people are using what is alien to them to lash out at perceived threats of the unknown. No point in harboring a ton of resentment about it, I just heave a sigh and move on.

 

[Rhamiel]

Do other people find our spiritual path to be "creepy"?

I know a few people who find Eucharistic Adoration creepy

 

[awitch]

Maybe not so much spiritual paths, but there are plenty of followers who are creepy; anyone who's religiosity is cranked up to 11.

 

[dlamberth]

Some of the New Age stuff hits me as creepy.

 

[Arthra]

I think modern day spiritual paths are pretty dry, and offer little substance to a vast majority of people. While many claim to adhere to some religion for the most it's just lukewarm. They were given little options, and if they happen to not fit in the right box they'll never feel spiritually fed.

Baha'is cultivate spirituality in their daily lives during the year by offering prayers daily and reciting what we call the "Greatest Name".. We have a choice of a simple prayer and a medium and long prayer that involves kneeling and touching the forehead to the ground.

Baha'is also Fast during the day for nineteen days before Naw-Ruz.

We also socialize with other believers regularly and can be involved in educational and social service activities.
Generally Baha'i activities are open to people:

"Wherefore, O my loving friends! Consort with all the peoples, kindreds and religions of the world with the utmost truthfulness, uprightness, faithfulness, kindliness, good-will and friendliness.."

~ Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith, p. 445

 

[ViaCrucis]

I guess "creepy" is more or less what is alien

so if you grew up with it, it is just normal
but if it is new, then it is "weird and creepy"

I think this is pretty spot on.

And if just speaking personally about what I might find creepy, it's generally any kind of religious organization or group that enforces groupthink, and near total conformity. If a religious group discourages any kind of independent thinking, questioning, or expects a certain level of homogeneity (e.g. everyone dressing the same in a rather cult-like manner), these are the things that I find creepy.

If I talk to someone and it becomes obvious that they are not actually engaging me in a dialogue or a conversation, but are really just parroting what they've been told to say, that's going to be genuinely off-putting.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

What do you mean with "creepy" though?
I find autosoteriologic ideas abhorrent and they chill me to the bone, but this is more from distaste.
Neopagan "horned god" representations because of association with devil imagery are often seen as creepy. I concur that this is often discordant as it would often not be out of place in a horror movie.

Its quite relative.

 

[Kenny'sID]

I'd guess to some may find even fairly mild, Bible based Christianity, and the fact they really believe in the devil. demons or even a powerful God, to be creepy.

I can't give good reason why, so I draw no real conclusion with just feelings to go on, but I see Catholicism as generally creepy, always have, even as a kid.

People rolling on the floor and all kinds of what I see as nonsense during a church service could be creepy/weird to me (I do draw conclusions with that) But other than that, only the usual hardcore witchcraft or whoever it is that sacrifices animals or even people in extreme cases and things in that area.
Things that most find creepy.

 

[awitch]

What do you mean with "creepy" though?
I find autosoteriologic ideas abhorrent and they chill me to the bone, but this is more from distaste.
Neopagan "horned god" representations because of association with devil imagery are often seen as creepy. I concur that this is often discordant as it would often not be out of place in a horror movie.

Its quite relative.

Have you seen Pan's Labyrinth?

I know the Faun is supposed to look really creepy and demonic, but I always thought the design was quite beautiful and not far from what I picture in my mind's eye about certain deities.

 

[MehGuy]

I'd guess to some may find even fairly mild, Bible based Christianity, and the fact they really believe in the devil. demons or even a powerful God, to be creepy.

I can't give good reason why, so I draw no real conclusion with just feelings to go on, but I see Catholicism as generally creepy, always have, even as a kid.

Yeah, my father (who grew up in a Catholic household) found Catholicism to be creepy. Which is ironic, because he ended up being drawn to a more Protestant faith, and I naturally became more drawn to the Catholic faith. In my case, I found the creepiness more beautiful than anything. Lol.

People rolling on the floor and all kinds of what I see as nonsense during a church service could be creepy/weird to me (I do draw conclusions with that)

Yeah I was never a personal fan of that.

 

[Kenny'sID]

I found the creepiness more beautiful than anything. Lol.

I don't but I think I at least get that.

 

[awitch]

But other than that, only the usual hardcore witchcraft or whoever it is that sacrifices animals or even people in extreme cases and things in that area.
Things that most find creepy.

Just for the record, modern witchcraft frowns on such things. Of course, human sacrifice should be illegal and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I understand animal sacrifice is included in Santeria, though it's done humanely by a trained person and it's not the gory bloodfest that you see in horror movies.

Personally I condone animal sacrifice only to the extent that I'm not a vegetarian.

 

[Kenny'sID]

Just for the record, modern witchcraft frowns on such things.

Thanks, I thought it might, and why I caught myself and stated it as I did.

Eating meat does technically include sacrificing animals so, in that sense I may not necessarily condone it but since I do it I might as well say I do. Anyway I'm thinking more for some type of ritualistic ceremony, but I guess y'all know that.

 

[MehGuy]

I know a few people who find Eucharistic Adoration creepy

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Yeah, lol.

I remember watching this one reality show about young women thinking about becoming nuns (don't ask, lol..). They visited one monastery and this one woman started freaking out and having some kind of panic attack. All because of a public glass display of some items. Including self-torture devices and a severed dried up index finger.

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

Yeah, lol.

I remember watching this one reality show about young women thinking about becoming nuns (don't ask, lol..). They visited one monastery and this one woman started freaking out and having some kind of panic attack. All because of a public glass display of some items. Including self-torture devices and a severed dried up index finger.

Yes, the keeping of Relics can be quite morbid. It is weird to keep fingers, severed heads and random body parts of people for religious reasons. Even weirder was the Foreskin of Christ, much revered in the Middle Ages.
Then there are those plague churches decked out from floor to ceiling in macabre bones.
There are tales from mediaeval times where saintly people were basically ripped to shreds for relics at their death (or deathbed).
Buddhists also keep teeth and bone fragments of the Buddha or revered saints. Muslims keep hair from Mohammed's beard.

Interestingly, there are secular relics as well. Einstein's eyes and slides of his brain, Jeremy Bentham's mummified corpse, Napoleon's supposed penis, Louis XVII's heart or Pancho Villa's finger.

I am sure many will find this creepy. I am a doctor, so this isn't really something to me. When I was studying back in the day, each student was given a bag of bones containing a real human skeleton to help study anatomy. Stories abound of unintentional and intentional use of these bones to freak people out.

Somehow Religious use of corpses seems more respectful to me than creepy though.

 

[MehGuy]

Have you seen Pan's Labyrinth?

I know the Faun is supposed to look really creepy and demonic, but I always thought the design was quite beautiful and not far from what I picture in my mind's eye about certain deities.

Awww, it looks cute.