red_october

What would a religion be without it's rituals and rites?

Of course, we can (and probably all have) laughed at them in the past, no matter which religion they're affiliated with, but something I have noticed over the years, especially with my formal training in both standard psychology as well as hypnotherapy and NLP (the validity of which I still toss around in my mind, but interesting nonetheless), is what appears to be a natural human inclination towards ritualistic behavior.

People and groups engage in rituals which bring them closer together, bring, on the whole, positive psychological benefits to those involved, and solidify a sense of purpose in one's life. Given this, I think it is safe to say that provided this dynamic is not used to harm or abuse others, they are a net positive, and depending on what one believes insofar as spirituality is concerned, may or may not actually mean something beyond the scope of just the individuals involved.

While nothing has been codified yet, it is something that I am working on, and something that I think should be had.

You're probably wondering, given the paucity of information here, what this group is or what it is about. Well, it's quite simple; I, and no doubt many, many others, have vacillated for many years between agnosticism, atheism, and various forms of spiritualism or organized religion, but are unable to accept or gloss over the obvious contradictions and problems inherent in various doctrines, the Bible, etc.

After a while, I decided that the only thing I could do was "create" my own religion out of my beliefs, and given these beliefs are probably shared by a great many, make a space where they can be discussed and fleshed out.

What do I/we believe?

1.) Evolution is obvious, but the origins of the universe itself are far more murky; we believe there was/is an intelligent creator of the universe.

2.) If that is true, then whomever or whatever this being or deity is, liberated us, so to speak, from the darkness of non-existence into being.

3.) Given the lack of instructions that we have received as human beings from this deity, which we believe exists, the only thing we can rationally do is to liberate humanity and fellow human beings in that same fashion, by fighting for civil rights, the ability of all to have their basic needs met, etc.

4.) If we are wrong, then so be it. We still will have acted morally and helped create a better world. If we are correct as to there being an intelligent creator of the universe, but that creator is one which stands by absurd or ridiculous rules or doctrines and does not care either way for the welfare of human beings, then that deity would be contemptible and not worth praise. In any event, we can't really go wrong.