Modern paganism interest me, partly because I only recently found out that it exists!
Woohoo!
For this thread, I just have 2 questions for the pagans on these forums: What do you believe, and why do you believe it?
1. I'll lead by saying for the audience that paganism is not a religion, rather it is an umbrella of religions the way we might classify some religions as Abrahamic or Dharmic. It's a huge tent where you will get many answers so I am glad you've asked!
In short, I believe that divinity is immanent and plural in the universe. That is, the universe itself may be a divine being and there may be gods in this universe as well. (This topic alone merits a whole separate discussion). I believe that life is valuable and to be appreciated and we should focus on this life, the afterlife either is not conscious or not important. Furthermore I believe that we should have appreciation and reverence for nature. I have a humanistic ethical grounding and I seek to life a good life, which is up the will of the beholder. Metaphysically I am somewhere between a Pantheist, an animist and a substance monist, not challenging to reconcile at all, right? In the pagan world what you
do is seen as more important than what you believe and my philosophy shifts as I read more, learn new ideas and challenge old ones. The label you could give me is an
eclectic Pagan.
My religious praxis is centered around a few religious reflexes: offerings, prayers and meditation. In addition, I also count my environmental work and activism as a form of "praxis in the world". I have small shrine where I burn incense and offer liquids or foods. This shrine has some iconography that helps me focus on various divine forces, some images of gods and goddesses but also modern art of creatures or spirits that are useful thought forms in centering prayer or meditation.
Humanism is a centerpiece in my worldview so I accept the scientific consensus and don't look to a holy book as a prescription for a way of living, but I am inspired by some religious texts. I do not think religion itself has merit specifically on its age or lack thereof and I believe the constant synthesis of religious ideas into new forms presents a lot of opportunity for growth. I am constantly growing too: some days I am closer to the older gentleman witch down the street growing herbs and plants and caring for birds, other days I feel closer to Carl Sagan and other days still I feel closer to forgotten figures in the occult.
2. I've always had a complicated relationship with religion, I was raised Catholic but from a young age I was totally disengaged with it (minus a brief, fiery Protestant phase in high school). Before leaving Christianity and in my transitional period, I spent a lot of time in Occult circles which gave me an appreciation for meticulous and methodical analysis of spiritual things. Modern paganism as it stands today lends me a framework where I may act on spiritual impulses and not disregard them entirely. I am an avid secularist and am largely worried about the course that too much religious domination brings in America, I also tend to be cynical of a lot of religions, also including members of my own community.
In short its an enchanted way to conceptualize the world and a comforting philosophical framework where I can categorize numinous experience that doesn't neatly fit into the physical senses. In short, it feels a need that if I didn't fulfill in this way; I would probably be nonreligious or a religious naturalist.
