Fluffy Question

[Deoridhe]

Drucillia

1. I believe that there is one god (with multiple parts) my friends often refer to what I believe in as a schizophrenic (sp?) God.

That's a misnomer. Schizophrenia is a dislocation from reality. Dissociative Itendity Disorder is multiple identities.  

[TheDisreputableDog]

Elitist Pretzel Eater

My question is, why do you believe whatever it is you believe and do whatever rituals you do?

I'm really a UU masquerading as a pagan. I should just admit it. xp

I hung out in the "generic neopagan" scene in high school and participated in/attended a couple of "Yule," "Samhain," "Imbolg," and "Bealtine" rituals. I looked into Kemetic recon for awhile last year and then got distracted.

But at bottom, no matter what other avenues I'm exploring, I'm a UU born and raised (awkward abreviation, I know, but I get sick of typing out Unitarian Universalist and just Unitarian is easier but not necessarily accurate given the history). So my upbringing focused more on values and self-reflection and respect for ideas than on "beliefs," which is usually used in relation to divinity.

So it's hard to say exactly what I "believe." I pray, I suppose, in a way, but I don't know to whom or what--which is probably a problem.

I tried to make myself a ritual of reading tarot for myself on or near the solstices, equinoces, and the in-between days, but I haven't kept up with it very well. My family does Advent every year. We also say "rabbits, rabbits, rabbits" on the first of the month before we say anything else for good luck. I do rituals of varying sorts because I enjoy them, or they help me connect to my family and/or friends, or they help me reflect on my life, or the state of the world.  

[TeaDidikai]

Drucillia

1. I believe that there is one god (with multiple parts) my friends often refer to what I believe in as a schizophrenic (sp?) God. I will say Goddess or God, because I don't believe that my God has either gender/ or he/she is both. Just seems disrespectful to say "it."

Welcome to the "joy" of Soft Polytheism.

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2. I believe that spells are the same things as prayers. You only get out of them what you put into them.

No. Spells are magic- an attempt to use non-corporeal means to change the corporeal world.

Prayers are addresses to non-corporeal beings. Sometimes they are offerings, sometimes they are meditation, and sometimes they are a request for intercession. That does not make them spells.

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3. I believe that one can have conversations with their God/Goddess, they just don't answer the same way. Often I will be sitting there ranting at God about how I wish I understood something, or that I wish I could remember where I put something, and then what I am trying to think of comes into my head. I don't believe that a response from God comes in a voice from the sky.

Please be careful to note where your experiences are not universal. Moses contests your "universal" assertion.

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4. I don't believe in human incarnations of God. That's just because.

That's argument from ignorance.

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5. I don't think that spells work in moments. I have a friend who is a major fluffybunny, as she said that she "healed" wounds from a 'suicide attempt' before we saw them, just by placing her hands on her wrists. Duh.

She could (and likely is) a liar.

That doesn't mean no magic anywhere doesn't work within moments.

Case in point- a lot of Reiki has been shown to work "in moments" and have the results that natural healing processes would take days or weeks to have.

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6. I believe in an afterlife. Don't really know what kind it is yet, but what kind of life would it be if you only lived for 1-100+ years?

In most cases I can think of? Apt. Why on earth are you so great that you deserve to be immortal? (using the generic you here...)
I mean- most people don't do jack s**t with their 80-some-odd years as it is.

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That's really like asking why I breathe. Do you remember way...way...back in second or third grade when your teacher first taught you about Columbus and how the world was round? They couldn't prove that to you...but you believed them.

And then there was those of us who knew that 1) The Vikings had visited the "New World" hundreds of years before he did, and 2) That the Greeks knew the world was round Thousands of years before the guy was even in his daddy's sack.

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That's like asking why I love.

No it isn't. A combination of hormones, predisposed genetic markers that link to sexual orientation, cultural influences and personal ideals which can be understood through soft sciences can account for that.

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Do you remember the first time you fell in love? No one told you what it was going to feel like, but when you felt it...you knew it was love.

Actually- mass media told me often what it would feel like.

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That's how it is for me with God...I believe what I believe because it's what FEELS right.

Delusions often feel right. Doesn't make them true.