![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
For my LJ Friends...
Nov. 1st, 2002 12:04 pmfriday five
I don't always do these, but this one's pretty thought provoking.
1. Were you raised in a particular religious faith?
I was raised Roman Catholic. I have very pleasant memories of attending church as a child. The first church I went to was, to my young eyes, like a cathedral: high vaulted ceilings that rose into darkness, candles burning, stained glass, the scent of incense in the air. I knew nothing of Protestantism because I didn't really know anyone who wasn't Roman Catholic. I also have pretty good memories of church school, like the fact that we had frequent pizza parties and a pastor who taught class who encouraged discussion and debate. There were no knuckles rapped with rulers or feelings of utter damnation if I missed a week of Mass. I made a point to go every week because it made me feel good, not because I was told I had to.
2. Do you still practice that faith? Why or why not?
I don't. I realized sometime in my early years of college, as I studied art history and the repetitious themes that are appropriated from earlier ages' religions by later ones, that we as humans give new names to the same old forces we believe to be in the sky. I also refused to believe that people who simply did the religious two-step would get preference by God/dess/Divine in the afterlife over those who lived good, honest lives every day but did not abide by organized religion's constructs -- and I realized that I always had believed that. It wasn't honest of me to continue practicing as a Roman Catholic.
Many of the things I did like about it -- the sense of ritual, the honouring of the divine -- were what drew me to Wicca and neo-paganism, but I wouldn't call myself a slavish practitioner of that either. I do what feels right in my heart and soul. Once I saw a bumper sticker that read: "MILITANT AGNOSTIC: I don't know and you don't, either". That's kind of me. :)
3. What do you think happens after death?
I like to think that maybe we are just spiritual beings having a corporeal experience, and there is a pleasant place we all return to when we're done. Maybe some of us hang around, lost and afraid to move on. Maybe we also return again and again to learn our lessons. Maybe there's a little bit of truth in every one of the world's religions, like facets of a gem. That would make more sense to me than one religion being the One True Way.
Maybe the atheists have it right, and we just cease to exist. I don't know, and you don't either. Not really, not for certain. ;)
4. What is your favorite religious ritual (participating in or just observing)?
As a child, I once got the very great honour of crowning Mary with a wreath of flowers on May Day. I was very proud and humbled.
As an adult? I really enjoy the concept of Samhain (aka Hallowe'en). It's the Celtic New Year, and is traditionally when the "veil between the worlds" (living and dead) is thinnest, and reputedly the best time to 'speak' to our loved ones who have passed away. It's mostly a time for reflection and communication, and in a way, great consolation. I didn't get to do anything like that last night because I was just so busy getting ready for my meeting today. And with a report to do that's due by midnight, tonight's not looking so good either. Maybe tomorrow.
Come to think of it, all of the major neo-pagan holiday festivals that I've ever participated in have been absolutely wonderful, so it's pretty hard to choose.
5. Do you believe people are basically good?
I like to think so. My experiences with strangers doing kind deeds far outnumber the ones where strangers take advantage. I think everyone likes to feel that warm, happy, fuzzy feeling that they get when they've done altruistic good, unless they're so hardened by a tough life that they're basically in a "kill or be killed" mode, or seriously, irrevocably mentally ill and don't operate with the same set of rules that the rest of us do.
I don't always do these, but this one's pretty thought provoking.
1. Were you raised in a particular religious faith?
I was raised Roman Catholic. I have very pleasant memories of attending church as a child. The first church I went to was, to my young eyes, like a cathedral: high vaulted ceilings that rose into darkness, candles burning, stained glass, the scent of incense in the air. I knew nothing of Protestantism because I didn't really know anyone who wasn't Roman Catholic. I also have pretty good memories of church school, like the fact that we had frequent pizza parties and a pastor who taught class who encouraged discussion and debate. There were no knuckles rapped with rulers or feelings of utter damnation if I missed a week of Mass. I made a point to go every week because it made me feel good, not because I was told I had to.
2. Do you still practice that faith? Why or why not?
I don't. I realized sometime in my early years of college, as I studied art history and the repetitious themes that are appropriated from earlier ages' religions by later ones, that we as humans give new names to the same old forces we believe to be in the sky. I also refused to believe that people who simply did the religious two-step would get preference by God/dess/Divine in the afterlife over those who lived good, honest lives every day but did not abide by organized religion's constructs -- and I realized that I always had believed that. It wasn't honest of me to continue practicing as a Roman Catholic.
Many of the things I did like about it -- the sense of ritual, the honouring of the divine -- were what drew me to Wicca and neo-paganism, but I wouldn't call myself a slavish practitioner of that either. I do what feels right in my heart and soul. Once I saw a bumper sticker that read: "MILITANT AGNOSTIC: I don't know and you don't, either". That's kind of me. :)
3. What do you think happens after death?
I like to think that maybe we are just spiritual beings having a corporeal experience, and there is a pleasant place we all return to when we're done. Maybe some of us hang around, lost and afraid to move on. Maybe we also return again and again to learn our lessons. Maybe there's a little bit of truth in every one of the world's religions, like facets of a gem. That would make more sense to me than one religion being the One True Way.
Maybe the atheists have it right, and we just cease to exist. I don't know, and you don't either. Not really, not for certain. ;)
4. What is your favorite religious ritual (participating in or just observing)?
As a child, I once got the very great honour of crowning Mary with a wreath of flowers on May Day. I was very proud and humbled.
As an adult? I really enjoy the concept of Samhain (aka Hallowe'en). It's the Celtic New Year, and is traditionally when the "veil between the worlds" (living and dead) is thinnest, and reputedly the best time to 'speak' to our loved ones who have passed away. It's mostly a time for reflection and communication, and in a way, great consolation. I didn't get to do anything like that last night because I was just so busy getting ready for my meeting today. And with a report to do that's due by midnight, tonight's not looking so good either. Maybe tomorrow.
Come to think of it, all of the major neo-pagan holiday festivals that I've ever participated in have been absolutely wonderful, so it's pretty hard to choose.
5. Do you believe people are basically good?
I like to think so. My experiences with strangers doing kind deeds far outnumber the ones where strangers take advantage. I think everyone likes to feel that warm, happy, fuzzy feeling that they get when they've done altruistic good, unless they're so hardened by a tough life that they're basically in a "kill or be killed" mode, or seriously, irrevocably mentally ill and don't operate with the same set of rules that the rest of us do.
