It's been really quiet poll

[Andrewn]

That was my first step out of orthodox Christianity many years ago. Got into gnostic thought and the Nag Hammadi scriptures. was an interesting time.

Naga Hammadi library is very interesting, esp gospel of Thomas. Which books / concepts are interesting for you?

 

[Andrewn]

Christians jump to Gnostic Christianity (big G) beliefs while I'm coming from knowledge gained by inner experience kind of gnosticism. In other words, Mysticism. Am I correct that it's Gnostic Christianity that the question is directed towards?

You're quite right, actually. I had Gnostic Christianity in mind. But I also understand gnostic tendencies in Manadaeism, Native American Religion, Hinduism and others. I did some reading about these.

What's your experience in Mysticism.

 

[TheOldWays]

Naga Hammadi library is very interesting, esp gospel of Thomas. Which books / concepts are interesting for you?

been a while. Gnostic thought was my road out of Christianity and expanded my spiritual path. i think the main aspect of gnostic Christianity that grabbed me was it's view on the demiurge (god who thought he was god but wasn't really) and the idea of the Black Iron Prison.

10 years later i re-enter orthodox Christianity. What a ride.

 

[Andrewn]

i think the main aspect of gnostic Christianity that grabbed me was it's view on the demiurge (god who thought he was god but wasn't really)

I heard this concept from Buddhists. Interesting!

and the idea of the Black Iron Prison.

I'm not familiar with this?

10 years later i re-enter orthodox Christianity. What a ride.

How did you come back?

 

[dlamberth]

What's your experience in Mysticism.

Mostly Universal Sufism for over 30 years. But also combined with Christian mysticism as well as some Hinduism, Native American Spirituality with a bit of Shamanism.

 

[Andrewn]

Mostly Universal Sufism for over 30 years.

How did you learn / practice Sufism?

But also combined with Christian mysticism as well as some Hinduism, Native American Spirituality with a bit of Shamanism.

I understand Sufism has some Christian mysticism in it. But the rest?

 

[dlamberth]

How did you learn / practice Sufism?

I once called myself a Christian. Than an atheist. Than a searcher. When exploring Buddhism I realized I'm the type of person who needs the Divine in my spiritual path. Still a searcher I read some Rumi stuff, and that grabbed my attention. I found that this path requires absolutely no beliefs, dogma or anything but God as ones reality. And that the Heart of that trajectory "Love" is everything. l learned practices like riding Love like an arrow to the Heart of God. It was practices like that I came back to Christ. But way different now and much more expansive within every bit of the Universe than I ever understood before my de-conversion. It's a path where God is a Reality my life, right now today where the Divine is needed the most. God as I experience the Divine today is way, way more than a "belief".

I understand Sufism has some Christian mysticism in it.

It can.
The Universal Sufism I practice has most all religions practiced within it.

But the rest?

Personally, I'm unable to limit the reach of the Light of God. A person can see the Divine and experience it everywhere and in every Human Being, regardless of their religious beliefs.

 

[awitch]

Perhaps I'd be encouraged to visit this Forum more frequently if I knew who else is here.

Hi!
I'm one of the resident Pagans; an animation enthusiast, furry, and bird fanatic.

For the Pagans, do you worship Odin or Brighid? Do you practice Wicca?

I'm not Wiccan but used to be in an open coven with some years ago, but Brigid is very high on the list of deities I honor.

 

[Zoness]

Does anyone here uphold gnostic ideas or fellowship in gnostic churches? For the Pagans, do you worship Odin or Brighid? Do you practice Wicca?

I am not a Wiccan but I have some Wiccan aesthetics from my early years in Western esotericism. Hathor is the main goddess I honor and I also honor Cernunnos and Faunus and have branched a bit into Gallo-Roman territory but I am also a bit of a Pantheist as well. It's a whole thing; but I can answer questions if you have them.

 

[Andrewn]

When exploring Buddhism I realized I'm the type of person who needs the Divine in my spiritual path.

You're probably familiar with Pascal's famous quote, "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made know through Jesus Christ.”

Still a searcher I read some Rumi stuff, and that grabbed my attention. I found that this path requires absolutely no beliefs, dogma or anything but God as ones reality. And that the Heart of that trajectory "Love" is everything. l learned practices like riding Love like an arrow to the Heart of God. It was practices like that I came back to Christ.

I know about Rumi and a few of his quotes, but not enough to be familiar with his mysticism. Do you recommend any websites?

It's a path where God is a Reality my life, right now today where the Divine is needed the most. God as I experience the Divine today is way, way more than a "belief".

This is beautiful. Does your practice consist mainly of reading and meditation? Are there groups you join? Do you participate in Sufi dancing?

The Universal Sufism I practice has most all religions practiced within it.

Is it mostly based on Islam and the Quran?

Personally, I'm unable to limit the reach of the Light of God. A person can see the Divine and experience it everywhere and in every Human Being, regardless of their religious beliefs.

Do you believe in God's revelation of Himself in Scripture? What kind of books and reading material do you find useful?

 

[Andrewn]

I'm one of the resident Pagans; an animation enthusiast, furry, and bird fanatic.

This is wonderful. We should all be creation fanatics. It's our job to care for God's creatures.

I'm not Wiccan but used to be in an open coven with some years ago, but Brigid is very high on the list of deities I honor.

How do you honor Brighid? How do you practice your path? Are there certain readings / manuals?

 

[Andrewn]

I am not a Wiccan but I have some Wiccan aesthetics from my early years in Western esotericism.

How do you practice these aesthetics?

Hathor is the main goddess I honor and I also honor Cernunnos and Faunus and have branched a bit into Gallo-Roman territory but I am also a bit of a Pantheist as well.

This is an interesting combination. I've seen pictures of Hathor worship in Egypt. Do you have figurines of different deities?

It's a whole thing; but I can answer questions if you have them.

Sometimes it is difficult to come up with appropriate questions. I'd like to know more about your path, the literature, and the way you practice.

 

[awitch]

This is wonderful. We should all be creation fanatics. It's our job to care for God's creatures.

Indeed. As the only species on the planet with the capacity to do so, it is our responsibility.

How do you honor Brighid? How do you practice your path? Are there certain readings / manuals?

Due to the heavy use of symbolism and high level personalization and subjectivity, we're not big on manuals and scriptures. That accounts for variation in beliefs and practices among individuals, but as we practice and learn and experience life, the individuals might adapt beliefs and practices over time, too. For example, when I started out, I felt the need to go with elaborate rituals but now they are very short and simple.

There are a zillion 101 books out there but I always say these are ok for some inspiration at best and should never be taken as absolute.

I have a small set of deities that are considered important and are usually honored through ritual, celebrated on a holiday, or even a with simple toast. I wear a pendant of a bird carrying a pentacle, so little symbols like that are effective, too.

 

[Andrewn]

I have a small set of deities that are considered important and are usually honored through ritual, celebrated on a holiday, or even a with simple toast.

In Buddhism, deities are reincarnated spirits. In other religions they may be created angels or manifestations of the deity. What do you believe your deities to be? Do you believe in reincarnation? Do you believe in a Creator God?

I wear a pendant of a bird carrying a pentacle, so little symbols like that are effective, too.

Is the pentacle a pentagram? What is the significance of the bird and the pentacle?

 

[awitch]

In Buddhism, deities are reincarnated spirits. In other religions they may be created angels or manifestations of the deity. What do you believe your deities to be? Do you believe in reincarnation? Do you believe in a Creator God?

I tend not to believe in any afterlife; I consider it wishful thinking. We have enough stuff going on in this life to have to worry about it.

I'm a hard polytheist meaning I believe in multiple distinct deities. I don't pretend to know their nature. I just project what feels right and have faith that they meet me half way.

I don't believe in a Creator God. I accept Big Bang Theory, abiogenesis, and evolution.

Is the pentacle a pentagram? What is the significance of the bird and the pentacle?

Pentacle has one point up and the pentagram has one point down. Some say one is good and one is bad, or one is Wiccan and the other is Satanic. They're just symbols. It's a circle, so does rotating it a few degrees make any meaningful change? I doubt it.

Mileage may vary depending on who you ask, but its common for the points to represent the classical elements (earth, fire, air, water) and spirit; representing the whole universe. I've heard others say they represent the five cardinal directions and the self, and others say the five points represent 5 important deities.

 

[timothyu]

Is this why the site has gone quiet? lol

 

[dlamberth]

You're probably familiar with Pascal's famous quote, "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made know through Jesus Christ.”

I tend to look at it from a different angle. Hopefully I can word this such that it's understood. I'd say that every Soul is an activity of God that can only be known by the awakening of the Heart. I'd go on to say that it's through Love that the Heart is awakened.

As this is a Christian form, and using the image of Christ the kind of questions I hold out in front of me might be "What is the Heart of Christ like?" This is something that a person has to put themselves into Christ to know. That's where the mystical experience comes in.

I know about Rumi and a few of his quotes, but not enough to be familiar with his mysticism. Do you recommend any websites?

Sorry, no. Can't help you there. I've read a lot about Rumi, but have not come across a website that I'd recommend. There is so much to Rumi I don't think a website could fill the container.

This is beautiful. Does your practice consist mainly of reading and meditation? Are there groups you join?

We have a pretty vibrant community with workshops, groups, home meetings, services and service to those in need.

There are practices given and yes, I meditate, read and do a lot of inner reflection and I garden. Retreats are part of the program. I'm blessed with a Trappist Monastery and a Buddhist Retreat center near by that I visit often. I try to get in at least a couple week long retreat a year. More often though it's several 3 day retreats during the year.

Do you participate in Sufi dancing?

In my younger days I turned as a semazen
There is also what's called Dances of Universal Peace that I attend weekly. This dance is really a kind of moving meditation based on sacred scriptures of the world spiritual traditions. When I began years ago they called these dances "Sufi Dancing". I don't know if that's what you were referring to or if it's the turning.

Is it mostly based on Islam and the Quran?

The Universal Sufism I follow is based on the Heart of Love. I've heard this path called the "Science of Love" and the "Religion of Love". Being Universalist, we use all sacred text.

Do you believe in God's revelation of Himself in Scripture?

What I "see" and "experience" is the revelation of the Divine within every Human Being and even in the fullness of life itSelf. The only Sacred Scripture that I recognize as being directly written by the hand of God is this Creation and Life itself. I'd say the every blade of grass, every leaf, every tree and worm, every critter and being is the Word of God. Everything else has passed through the hands of man.

While Scripture points towards the Divine, for me the actual realization and fullness is revealed as a reality within the Human experience. Each of us has that Christ stuff as the essence of our Soul. An example that really came home for me was in my watching the bonding Love a mother has for her newborn child. In the case I'm thinking of was in watching my daughter with my grand-daughter's birth. But with now opened eyes, I began to see that Christ like Love way differently and everywhere I looked.

To be honest I prefer to use the term "Light of God" more than the term "Christ". That's because I don't know how to bound or limit the Light of God to a single physical entity as one might find in a Christian setting. The Light of God is a Cosmic wide experience for me with no limits in it's depth, breath and vibrancy. But here in this Christian forum it's Christ that I use but seems much more limited in scope to me because it's all tied to a single person.

What kind of books and reading material do you find useful?

In my library are books of all of the main religions plus many minor religions. What I enjoy reading most are books written by the Mystics and Wisdom keepers of the world. Those are the folks I believe have God as a reality in their lives. They are the ones I learn most from.

There's a lot here, way more than I planned on when I began.

 

[Zoness]

How do you practice these aesthetics

I like the pentacle is a memorable symbol of my faith. I have been known to pray to a horned god (not to be confused with Cernunnos) and I celebrate the sabbats because they feel fairly natural to me.

My religion is very earth-centric so seasonal changes matter quite a lot to me. I also observe the movements of the sun and moon; I do rituals on perihelion, aphelion and full moons where reasonably possible. These usually entail short prayers and offerings rather than something elaborate.

This is an interesting combination. I've seen pictures of Hathor worship in Egypt. Do you have figurines of different deities?

Currently I mostly deal in printed icons but I have some physical altar tiles; one wooden pentacle and a Celtic knot next to my incense burner. I have a couple of charms from a Shinto shrine that a friend brought back so my altar space is very eclectic.

The syncreticism of the ancient world spread shockingly far in a way that is un-intuitive to modern people understanding religion. Classic examples include Ptolemaic Egypt fusing Greek and Egyptian gods a la Serapis or syncretized Isis but one of my favorite examples is the Hellenic Buddhism of Bactria (modern Afghanistan) at the height of the Alexandrian empire. Additionally we know that Roman deities were very popular in the British isles and regularly worshiped alongside Celtic deities. Gallo-Roman religion was simply another example of this infusion. We also know that a temple to Isis stood in London in the 1st century CE.

Sometimes it is difficult to come up with appropriate questions. I'd like to know more about your path, the literature, and the way you practice.

No worries. My religion is earth and life-focused; I worship a few specific gods but I have a mixed and fluctuating view of the nature of divinity (ranging from hard to soft polytheism down to pantheism and even further to neutral monism if we're going all philosophical). I do not believe the afterlife mostly because I do not believe in an eternal soul.

I believe we should embrace this life and all of its fullness. My religion is orthopraxic rather than orthodoxic, there is no doctrinal wrongthink but your actions matter. These actions are composed of prayer, meditation, ritual and offering as well as the possession of symbols. Names and symbols have their own special meanings. I am very progressive and also much of an environmentalist; I want to see both human and animal kingdoms thrive and I believe we are apart of our natural world as it is a part of us.

I have no sacred scripture but I have sources that inspire me; some ancient ones include the Enchiridion by Epictetus and De Rerem Natura by Lucretius. I take a lot of inspiration from the Romantic poets of the late 19th century as did many Neopagan forebears. I also am a big fan of humanist works.

It might help to examine my outlook by looking at some figures that inspire me: The Epicureans and the Stoics, Hypatia of Alexandria, Baruch Spinoza, Giordano Bruno, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Oberon Zell-Ravenheart.

 

[TheOldWays]

I heard this concept from Buddhists. Interesting!

Ya. Buddhism has a version as well, where a 'supreme' creator god thought he was....God...turns out he wasn't and died. Demiuge is the same idea. The true God was called the God above god.

I'm not familiar with this?

Black Iron Prison was the idea that humans are stuck in a prison of samsara, endlessly reborn under the warden (demiurge). It's such a good prison it doesn't need guards. The idea was that Jesus came to do a 'jailbreak'. Basically to put cracks in the fake reality, so people could begin to escape (escape endless rebirth and go to heaven).

How did you come back?

By becoming Catholic. Realized there really wasn't much new under the sun. Was still pretty agnostic when I started the process of joining the church. Not sure where it will lead but it feels right for now. Also, I like being counter culture. When I left the faith years ago, I felt I was going against the grain so to speak. People were shocked I gave up on my beliefs and exploring new paths. Now, in today's culture, I get the same reaction when I tell people I am becoming Catholic and go to mass every Sunday. Never been one to follow the crowd I suppose.

 

[timothyu]

Never been one to follow the crowd I suppose.

Never been one to follow the crowd