What am I?

H

hammer

happatheist
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Er....A bit confused as to what my beliefs are classed as. (Not trying to offend anyone here - These are just MY thoughts)

I believe that the universe is a force that can give me hints as to what I should do, should I be in the right frame of mind to listen.
I believe that everything happens for a reason.
I believe that everything happens as it should, when it should because it can't happen any other way.
I find the concepts of worship, repenting and living life by a written text bizzarre.
I feel threatened by organised religion, and believe it to be an evil thing.
I Believe that beliefs should be garnered from life experinces, and questioned frequently so as to not miss out on a superior theory.


Um.....so er...what am I? I don't think that I'm an atheist cause I believe that there is some kind of spiritual force- Agnostic, Patheist?

H.
 
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New Age?

While the term New Age covers a large number of beliefs and practices, certain modes of thought are fairly commonly held:

The primacy of subjective experience. In keeping with its roots as a counter-cultural phenomenon and its syncretic nature, New Age adherents tend to emphasize a relativist approach to truth, often referring to the Vedic statement of "one truth, but many paths," the mainstay of Hinduism, which idea is also found in the later Zen Buddhist spiritual dictum of "many paths, one mountain". This belief is not only an assertion of personal choice in spiritual matters, but also an assertion that truth itself is defined by the individual and his or her experience of it.


This relativism is not merely a spiritual relativism, but also extends to physical theories. Reality is considered largely from an experiential and subjective mode. Many New Age phenomena are not expected to be repeatable in the scientific sense, since they are presumed to be apparent only to the receptive mind; for example, telepathy may not be achievable by a skeptical mind, since a skeptical mind is not pre-conditioned to expect the phenomenon to exist.


Rejection of scientific physics. There is typically a mysticism-based (rather than experiment-and-theory-based) view of describing and controlling the external world; for example, one might believe that tarot card reading works because of the "interconnectedness principle", rather than regarding the success (or failure) of tarot card reading as evidence of the interconnectedness principle. The various New Age vitalist theories of health and disease provide further examples.


In contrast to the scientific method, the failure of some practice to achieve expected results is not considered as a failure of the underlying theory, but as a lack of knowledge about (hidden) extenuating circumstances. This stance has led some skeptics to pronounce the New Age movement to be primarily anti-intellectual in nature.



The emphasis on subjective knowledge and experience is a connection between New Age beliefs and postmodernism.


The shift to a feeling of control over one's expression of spirituality reflects a trend towards personal responsibility, as well as personal empowerment.
Click to expand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_age
 
Hammer,


I respect the courage it takes to lay your personal beliefs out on the table, and I for one have nothing to say in that respect. They are yours for as long as they work for you. Hopefully, as you grow, you may find it helpful to cultivate others while letting some go. That is what I believe to be healthy spiritual growth.
As to how they are classified or defined, I wonder what you hope to gain or learn by that definition. I would feel imprisioned myself if I found out someone had boxed up your hopes, dreams and ideas in order to fit some socially acceptable, pre-packaged "ism"
I really think you are too much a free spirit for that.
If you continue to read and explore you may find that many great thinkers shared these ideas long before you or I were who we are now.
What you may find is that this world is rich in ideas and spiritual fruits. Right here on this forum are found people who can help guide you to the part of the buffet that suits you best.
Out of the vast comes nearness, and you are that nearness.
Peace.
 
Your beliefs are...your own. :)

There is no need to seek a box to have them pigeon-holed under - and it is certainly worth pointing out that people within different organised religions may actually share a lot of your ideas. :)
 
Hammer,

I absolutely agree with Paladin and I,Brian.

I also believe that you should not feel threatened by organised religin or think of it as evil, of course there are a minority of people that are evil, and organisation restricts freedom, but the concepts that are in place are there for spiritual growth, for some people these religions are good.

It allows them to have some kind of understanding and guidelines for spirituality even though there are limitations. Most of these people are afraid to venture away from these guidelines or they are unable to comprehend deciding spirituality for themselves, because of this their minds are closed, which i believe is a sign of infancy. Due to these reasons they must have organised religion, otherwise they would be lost.

It sounds to me like you have just taken a step out of religion, and started to make decisions for yourself. I feel this is a huge step forward, because this means you may now learn more than ever and start to mould your spirituality.

I believe you should never restrict yourself to one spiritual group, but remain open to all and allow yourself to evolve over time so you will become an individual.
 
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