I'm not sure where the left-wing side of me comes from because while my folks aren't conservative Republicans they really aren't left-wingers either. They're just kinda cynical towards all politicians.
I definitely know where my bitter hatred of corporate America comes from ... when I was in sixth grade, Mobil Oil bought out the Montgomery Ward retail chain and proceeded to close the entire catalog division. My folks owned a MW catalog outlet which they had poured their entire life savings into, not to mention hours and hours of work every day, so much so that Mom actually wound up in the hospital. So with one swoosh of a pen or whatever, years of my parents' hard work went down the drain and we were basically destitute for the next four years. Not fun.
Spirituality, I have no idea. My views are so totally different from anyone in my family or even from R's. I'm really just kinda doing the whole freaky lone gunman thing with all that. My family were never church people. Dad grew up in a fundamentalist Baptist family, the kind that went to church four days a week, and Mom grew up strictly Catholic, and I think they just kinda burned out on church. I remember going to church when I was really little but stopping at around age four. I always liked the Bible as a story and read it a lot on my own, but not so much for spiritual purposes. Around age nine I started going to a Free Methodist church up the street from my house, but not because I felt any kind of devotion - I was just really bored and lonely and wanted some people to hang out with. So I got into the whole Youth for Christ thing with walkathons and rollerskating parties and all that, until about age 13. Not sure exactly why I stopped going, just got tired of it, I guess.
I think the thing that sets me apart from everyone else in terms of spirituality is that I really, truly, genuinely do not believe in a Higher Power or Creator. I wholeheartedly believe that the Earth did not come to be through any divine action but wholly from the beauty of scientific accident and the chaos of nature.
However, I do not see myself as an atheist either. I do believe there is another dimension, call it heaven if you want (I don't), a spiritual dimension where we all go when we die. I believe that spirits are all around us at all times, watching over us. Not angels with wings and harps and all that, just spirits. Maybe family, maybe friends, maybe strangers who are just attracted to our energy.
I believe that every spirit has the freedom to choice whether to remain on the spirit realm or to come back and try again. I believe that all of us have lived before, numerous times, and that the "unknown" part of our brains is past life memories that only a few of us have figured out how to access but all of us can get to if we really try. The goal of coming back for another existence is to try to resolve stuff that ended badly before, to apply lessons we didn't know before. (Of course, not being able to access specific past memories makes this more of a challenge). I read in a book by Linda Goodman that there is a hierarchy to the zodiac wherein people born under Aries are the youngest souls and so on up the signs to Pisces, which are the oldest souls. I don't know if that's true or not but it's an interesting theory.
I believe that we can communicate with the spirit world and that they can communicate with us because I've seen it happen with other people, although I've never been able to do it myself.
Finally, getting back to my original point, what turns me off about pretty much every organized spirituality, including R's, is that there is a Higher Power, a Creator, a God, a Goddess, someone or something that oversees it all, made it all happen, and is basically running the show. I believe that in the spirit realm, we are all one, we are all equal, nobody is better than anyone else, and there is no need for any power of any kind. There is no need for a hierarchy because there is no personal conflict. It is serenity. It is Being.
no subject
I'm not sure where the left-wing side of me comes from because while my folks aren't conservative Republicans they really aren't left-wingers either. They're just kinda cynical towards all politicians.
I definitely know where my bitter hatred of corporate America comes from ... when I was in sixth grade, Mobil Oil bought out the Montgomery Ward retail chain and proceeded to close the entire catalog division. My folks owned a MW catalog outlet which they had poured their entire life savings into, not to mention hours and hours of work every day, so much so that Mom actually wound up in the hospital. So with one swoosh of a pen or whatever, years of my parents' hard work went down the drain and we were basically destitute for the next four years. Not fun.
Spirituality, I have no idea. My views are so totally different from anyone in my family or even from R's. I'm really just kinda doing the whole freaky lone gunman thing with all that. My family were never church people. Dad grew up in a fundamentalist Baptist family, the kind that went to church four days a week, and Mom grew up strictly Catholic, and I think they just kinda burned out on church. I remember going to church when I was really little but stopping at around age four. I always liked the Bible as a story and read it a lot on my own, but not so much for spiritual purposes. Around age nine I started going to a Free Methodist church up the street from my house, but not because I felt any kind of devotion - I was just really bored and lonely and wanted some people to hang out with. So I got into the whole Youth for Christ thing with walkathons and rollerskating parties and all that, until about age 13. Not sure exactly why I stopped going, just got tired of it, I guess.
I think the thing that sets me apart from everyone else in terms of spirituality is that I really, truly, genuinely do not believe in a Higher Power or Creator. I wholeheartedly believe that the Earth did not come to be through any divine action but wholly from the beauty of scientific accident and the chaos of nature.
However, I do not see myself as an atheist either. I do believe there is another dimension, call it heaven if you want (I don't), a spiritual dimension where we all go when we die. I believe that spirits are all around us at all times, watching over us. Not angels with wings and harps and all that, just spirits. Maybe family, maybe friends, maybe strangers who are just attracted to our energy.
I believe that every spirit has the freedom to choice whether to remain on the spirit realm or to come back and try again. I believe that all of us have lived before, numerous times, and that the "unknown" part of our brains is past life memories that only a few of us have figured out how to access but all of us can get to if we really try. The goal of coming back for another existence is to try to resolve stuff that ended badly before, to apply lessons we didn't know before. (Of course, not being able to access specific past memories makes this more of a challenge). I read in a book by Linda Goodman that there is a hierarchy to the zodiac wherein people born under Aries are the youngest souls and so on up the signs to Pisces, which are the oldest souls. I don't know if that's true or not but it's an interesting theory.
I believe that we can communicate with the spirit world and that they can communicate with us because I've seen it happen with other people, although I've never been able to do it myself.
Finally, getting back to my original point, what turns me off about pretty much every organized spirituality, including R's, is that there is a Higher Power, a Creator, a God, a Goddess, someone or something that oversees it all, made it all happen, and is basically running the show. I believe that in the spirit realm, we are all one, we are all equal, nobody is better than anyone else, and there is no need for any power of any kind. There is no need for a hierarchy because there is no personal conflict. It is serenity. It is Being.
Like I said, I'm a freak.