Spiritual Humanism

[Griffin NoName]

Wiki on Panentheism uses G-d in the definition.

Spiritual does not imply G-d. Except for those for whom it does. 

[Aggie]

Wiki on Panentheism uses G-d in the definition.

Spiritual does not imply G-d. Except for those for whom it does. 

yeah...  I think there's an 'official' definition, and the G-word features in both it and looser definitions.  I have a very loose interpretation of the G-word, though - probably more consistant with your 'spirit' in this context.

[anthrobabe]

Religion is somewhat of a loaded word-- it ( at least to me) implies that it is going to be or attempt to be an authority on something and is going to be in my business in the interest of fixing something.

Spirituality can be for any and all without a dogma type doctrine.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Many rumbles! Dogma is what makes religion problematic to me.

[Opsa]

But is it possible to have a religion without dogma?

Some people think that Unitarian Universalism and Spiritual Humanism are not religions because they do not insist that G-d is absolutely this or that.

The religions that appeal to me most are the ones that are not absolute. I like the open-endedness, the open-mindedness of them. They make me think about G-d and all the other spiritual possibilities. They make me wonder. To wonder is not to know, but to think.

Wondering is perhaps a childlike state of mind, but it is also an active state of mind. Wondering is mental excerise. I kind of prefer wondering to knowing.

Doesn this mean I am not actually religious?

[Griffin NoName]

That's an interesting point. The use of the word religious does imply religious dogma to me when referring to religion.


However consider: she swept her doorstep religiously every Tuesday.

Now that just implies she had a rigid timetable for stuff, rather than........ well rather than...... well... is there a biblical way of sweeping doorsteps?

[Opsa]

I think it involves a broom made out of papyrus or something.

Hmmm... then religious means rigid? (...and I don't mean in the biblical sense ...)

Holy cow (again, not in the religious sense)- do you mean all this time I've been thinking about and communing with The Great Unknowable, I have been non-religious? How weird.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

You guys/gals know that in that context religiously means disciplined, right? Any good monk should know that.

Even a toadfish monk

[Griffin NoName]

oh! so who gets to discipline the lady sweeping her doorstep...  ?

[The Meromorph]

Her Mother in Law of course!

[anthrobabe]

Does SH have a dogma? If I had to say yes- the I would say the SH dogma is - there is no dogma in the sense that we have dogma handed down to us from a higher being and should we not follow that dogma then we will be in very bad trouble. SH says that humans are able to serve/solve the questions and problems of the world with reason and not superstition. Of course how can I ( with a straight face) tell someone that their religious beliefs are superstitious in nature( smacks of insulting a fellow person on a deep level and I wouldn't like it if someone called me "names" because of my beliefs)OH it all goes back here to the thought that science and religion must be mutually exclusive- and I don't think that at all. Do I make any sense at all?
I just really and truly love the whole "marrying people" thing- it's an emotional high, I find joy and honor in it.

[ivor]

I'll bet most religions start out as SH.  I've heard stories of Jesus turning water into wine and the loaves and the fishes, which are ancient magic tricks.  Add some dogma and bam, religion. 

The other day I here the SO screaming about the cat catching a bird.  I run out on the porch to find the cat crouched over a little feathery body.  I grab the poor little birdy body. 

I can feel it's little heart pounding.  It must have been faining death or something like doves do.  The SO ask, "What should I do with it?" 

I whispered into my cupped hands my favorite religious phrase.  I spoke quietly so no one would really make it out, "My father plays dominoes better than your father," and opened my hands. 

The little birdy flew out of my hands like he was shot out of a gun.  SO looks at me like I am Jesus, add 2000 years and I might be worshiped.  Religion, bam!

MB

[Griffin NoName]

Whaaaaaaahhaaaa I can't join yours MB my father never plays dominos. That's surely a discriminatory religion. I bet it wont catch on.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

But it has a deep and mystical meaning! It will be debated for centuries!

[The Meromorph]

But it has a deep and mystical meaning! It will be debated for centuries!

Meh! Ten minutes, tops.
But it will feel like centuries...