Poll-but-Not

[active_apathy]

Just like it says on the box, we have a kind of poll-esque thingy, but using comments.

So, seeing as how I have little of interest to post at the moment, I thought I'd ask such folk as feel inclined to tell me about their particular flavour of religiosity in a comment.

In more depth: This is entirely optional, but I think it'd be interesting and fun to learn what the people who read my journal think and believe about life, the universe and everything. Feel free to include anything you feel is interesting, noteworthy or pertinent, don't hesitate to mix in links as desired, and don't feel like you have to say anything you don't particularly want to.

The comments will be screened; if you'd like yours to be unscreened, then just say so.

Needless to say, those who use others' comments to spark flamewars will be hacked to bits by hungry, angry cannibals. You have been warned. Hungry, angry cannibals are standing by.

Comments

[laurenmitchell.livejournal.com]

How many lives on the planet? How many lives in the universe?

One.

(Richard Bach, Messiah's Handbook)

I believe we are all one, that these physical bodies are just temporary bodies for our souls, which travel and learn and live through many lifetimes before we realise that the lives we live are all leading us to one goal: the realisation that we're more than our bodies, and that we'll live forever, whether the bodies die or not.

I believe in reincarnation.

I believe that the bad and evil things that happen to us in our lives are sent to us to give us a reason to appreciate the good and happy things, because life would be very boring if everything was rainbows and kittens all the time.

I believe that we're here to learn.

I believe that we can recognise souls to whom we were particularly close in previous lives, that we're drawn to them again and again. Each soul-spark that inhabits a body is just a part of the One, but those parts can become distinct from one another, recognisable for a time regardless of the physical body they inhabit, and that's why we so often meet people for the first time who we feel we've known forever.

I believe that we're here to teach.

I believe that it's not as easy as just saying 'Yes, of course, we are all one'. I feel strongly that I'm at a position in this life where I can not only speak the words We are one, but believe them and know in my heart, in myself, that they are true.

I believe that we're here to love.

I believe that there are other worlds than this, other dimensions and times where different choices played out. That dragons exist, and aliens, and phoenixes and everything else. I believe it's possible for people to identify as a creature other than the sort their body currently happens to be, and I think for the most part it's the soul remembering a time when it used to be something else.

I believe time is a linear construct that got made up just to make it easier for us poor beings to make sense of things, so they happen in order, but sometimes it doesn't work properly (deja vu, presque vu) and that's because everything's happening here and now.

I believe that everyone's entitled to their religious beliefs. It makes me sad that people feel the need to fight over them.

Over my years as Lauren Elizabeth Burge, brown-haired grey-eyed human female, I've read a lot of books and listened to a lot of music, and I've found a kind of resonance, words which ring with a certain sense of truth to me, in so many places. Christopher Pike's Sati. Richard Bach's Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Illusions and One. The Clan memories in Jean Auel's Earth's Children series. Music by Live and by Alanis Morissette. Books by Stephen King. I see no reason for the beliefs I've picked up, directly or indirectly, via these avenues, to be any more valid or invalid than the beliefs expressed by Christians or Jews or Muslims.

I don't have a label for what bits and pieces form my 'religious beliefs'. I call myself pagan from time to time because it happens to fit some of them together. I celebrate the major Christian holidays (Christmas and Easter). I also observe the sabbats and esbats, but not always, and not with huge elaborate rituals; I take note of them from time to time because I sometimes need a reminder of my spiritual status, that I'm more than my body and my job and my possessions.

And to misquote Richard Bach by way of conclusion: Everything in this comment may be wrong.

Feel free to ask questions, or to unscreen if you like, I don't mind at all.