What is your religion?

[katrinka]

13 hours ago, Decan said:

Lawful Neutral for me 🥴

I'm a bit disappointed because I thought that I would have been much more chaotic, well no one is perfect lol!

I think "Lawful" just means you follow a code. It doesn't specify what code.
Gangs and mob guys would fit this definition of "Lawful" since the members often seem to be in strict obedience to the rules of their group.
I'm not saying you're criminal - just that it's possible for "Lawful" to carry a certain outlaw cachet, rather than being some stuffy administrator writing people up for wearing the wrong shirt or what-have-you.

[Saturn Celeste]

5 hours ago, gregory said:

 

Figures. Colour me lazy !

You are not alone! 😊

 

 

[devin]

On 11/15/2019 at 6:20 PM, gregory said:

 

Figures. Colour me lazy !

No, just very zen. 

[Decan]

That's true, with True Neutral you should try Zen, maybe it's a religion for you! For Chaotic people I would see something like paganism, and for Lawful people the reference to a book like a Bible or an equivalent.

[bastetly]

This was an odd and challenging test pour moi.  This was HARD.  Fealty to a king or queen is not natural being from the US of A.  And I am not of the DnD generation.  Many of the questions for the Alignment test were conjectures about situs I have never been in.  And 3 questions I had to leave blank bc I had no idea what I would REALLY do under that kind of pressure!  I might be altruistic or may go just straight selfish!  just no idea..... I realize we all must have had to do similar things to get thru this test.  So with that, I tested Neutral Good.  Which is pretty awesome considering I had some "evil" answers lol.  I guess that's why I may be a Neutral.  All in all, a lot of food for thought, and yes @katrinka "more better" than those Myers-Briggs, of which I get a different answer every time as well 😄  Now I am wondering what religions would best suit a NG, though I probably wouldn't be a very "good" member no matter....  I have tried to be Lawful in the past, but I always poke all sacred cows to see what the fallout will be.  That's MY test!

Edited November 18, 2019 by bastetly

[ShadowMoon]

Oh this is not easy to answer. I believe in the philosophical teachings of Sanatana Dharma (modern day Hinduism), but minus the idol worship (both being equally correct). 

 

Growing up, I believed there's a God, but the more I read my own books, I realized God is within us. When I dug deeper in yog & lived at an ashram, I realized I am Absolute (Aham Brahmasmi). 

Advaita's teach us that both the creator & his creation is one and the same. This took me some time to understand. But at the ashram the first line I was told by my guru was "in order to attain peace within yourself, you will first need to unlearn everything you think you know". I loved how he stressed on "you think you know",

 

But in a nut-shell, it's all about energies. These energies flow around us, they are within us. We have the power to activate or deactivate. Understand or remain ignorant. In either case, we remain absolute. It doesn't matter what you believe in, how you believe, or whom you believe, each one is Absolute (Brahmasmi). 

 

What I like about Sanatana Dharma is that nothing is really taboo (literally nothing. Not even cannibalism. There's a dedicated sect that actually believes in feeding on the dead).

It's all pre-written. Our this life, past life, next life, every decision, every path, even me typing this response, everything was pre-written (Nadi Shastra). So tarot cards are totally cool for us. It adds more value and provides one more perspective. 

[ShadowMoon]

Just realized how off topic my direct response to the original question now is... also, only just realized the original post is since 2017!

 

Well, staying on topic: 

 

[katrinka]

14 hours ago, bastetly said:

Now I am wondering what religions would best suit a NG, though I probably wouldn't be a very "good" member no matter....  I have tried to be Lawful in the past, but I always poke all sacred cows to see what the fallout will be.  That's MY test!

Poking sacred cows/(chaos!) is a Discordian thing. It's actually referred to as an irreligion.
It comes off as satire, but there are diamonds in this muck... https://principiadiscordia.com/

[-fenrir-]

OT: I don't get Myers-Briggs either, it's just bland. Never understood why so many people define themselves over four random letters (no matter where you're online, it's like every other person starts their bio with their type, as if that's all they are...).

 

I got chaotic good... "Baby, I'm an anarchist..." *offkeysinging*

Huh, what?

Can't say I'd consider myself as a good person and I'm not sure which answers that came from either...

On 11/14/2019 at 9:23 PM, bastetly said:

I have tried several "religions" and over time, they or I, never really fit.  I have my moon in Aquarius and am just too dam independent to follow anything closely, over time.  I have my own ethics and yes, other leaders often conflict w those points of view, and then I get disgusted and leave.  Too soon perhaps, but I've never regretted leaving the group-think mentality, never.

Yeah, organised religion is something which never felt right for me too. Never thought about it, but it really might be a aquarius thing 😉

On the other hand, growing up queer in rural catholic Bavaria might have done its share too...

I don't need that. The forest is my church, nature my salvation (god, that sounded corny, but you know what I mean). If I had to put a label on it, Animist might be what comes closest...

[bastetly]

well this is odd as I got this notification @fenrir just as I was about to post on here.  hmmm  🙂  well anyway, I also feel most at home outdoors where I can feel the breezes, sun, ocean, and the smells of the trees and forest floor.  One way I celebrate this is through the sacred Hula.  I know of nothing else that expresses/celebrates all the elements while moving ones body to the ebb and flow of where you live.  Animist?  perhaps.... Hula converses w the god/esses but I don't worry about that.  Dancing to Pele works for me!

 

Being a Neutral I found this link.  I was laughing so hard.  O and LAUGHTER could be called my religion bwahahahahaha  It's a little "evil" but so am I.  Hope this is alright to post?

[Albadawn]

I love personality quizzes! I ranked Chaotic Good by one point above Neutral Good. 🙂 

 

My spiritual journey has taken a fair few twists and turns since my last post in this thread. I didn’t complete a year in Wicca, mainly because of health issues that needed urgent attention. (I’m fine now!) I strongly identify as pagan, though. I don’t have a name yet that narrows it down further under that umbrella, but that’s okay. 🙂 

[Decan]

15 hours ago, bastetly said:

well this is odd as I got this notification @fenrir just as I was about to post on here.  hmmm  🙂  well anyway, I also feel most at home outdoors where I can feel the breezes, sun, ocean, and the smells of the trees and forest floor.  One way I celebrate this is through the sacred Hula.  I know of nothing else that expresses/celebrates all the elements while moving ones body to the ebb and flow of where you live.  Animist?  perhaps.... Hula converses w the god/esses but I don't worry about that.  Dancing to Pele works for me!

 

Being a Neutral I found this link.  I was laughing so hard.  O and LAUGHTER could be called my religion bwahahahahaha  It's a little "evil" but so am I.  Hope this is alright to post?

Ah, I can relate this to your interest in the Teuila cards! 🙂

Polynesian islands (French Polynesia) seem mainly christian, protestant and catholic apparently with local particularities.

But back to the topic and this quizz it wasn't really relevant for me, Lawful Neutral...hmm no I don't feel it, I could be more "something else neutral-good" lol

 

[bastetly]

9 hours ago, Decan said:

Polynesian islands (French Polynesia) seem mainly christian, protestant and catholic apparently with local particularities.

Perhaps one reason, besides forced conversions and making illegal the practices of their cultures,  is a belief among Polynesians of the healing benefits of confession and forgiveness, which cures illness and restores balance, called PONO in Hawaiian.  I'm sure the missionaries found this very convenient .... 

 

Per Teuila Cards:  when I saw those backs, and I knew i had to have the fronts 😄  

[Etheldreda]

Roman Catholic. 😊

 

Started with a sort-of-but-not-really cultural Christian upbringing. When I was around 11/12 I found some books about magic and the occult at a yard sale and introduced them to my mom because I thought they were cool. From there we were Wiccan, with me leaning more towards reconstructionist paganism in my late teens, then agnosticism. I got into it about Christianity with a dear friend and researched it (specifically Catholicism) in order to prove them wrong and win our ongoing debate. Instead I ended up researching myself into Catholicism because the Church's theological, philosophical, and mystical traditions jived with me immediately on a deep level. I've been Catholic ever since. I still have a huge love of mythology and folklore, and comparing overarching moral themes is a fun hobby of mine. 

 

My whole life has been a lesson in humility, honestly, and I continue to learn just how little I know about the universe, life at large, or even about myself. 

[devin]

10 hours ago, Etheldreda said:

Church's theological, philosophical, and mystical traditions

Yeah, the Catholic, Orthodox, and even Protestant Churches have a lot more intelligent and subtle theology/philosophy than most people realize. Plus a detailed and practical mystical tradition going back thousands of years. Although I still don't really call myself a Christian, coming across (Pseudo) Dionysius the Areopagite and Orhtodox prayer techniques was a real turning point.... things just clicked.

[Etheldreda]

@devin It really is so cool when you delve into it, so many centuries of wisdom condensed neatly for anyone who wants to find it. I have sadly not had as much time to devote to reading and contemplation as I once did (I have three little ones now!) but it's nice to know that I've barely scratched the surface and have so much more to dig up and keep learning about once I get back into the nitty-gritty of studying the faith, and what I've already learned has been a huge help in moving forward spiritually. 

[Arania]

Buddhist and polytheistic/naturalistic pagan here. Works well together. Not enough practice in the last 15 years or so, but that's changing again.

[KaiNO]

I became Lawful Neutral when I took the test above.

 

But I think this one: "Spiritual Belief System Selector", is more interesting. My top three:
1. Secular Humanism (100%)
2. Unitarian Universalism (93%)
3. Taoism (86%)

[devin]

On 12/23/2019 at 12:40 PM, KaiNO said:

But I think this one: "Spiritual Belief System Selector", is more interesting. My top three:

I came out Liberal Quaker, followed by Liberal Protestant, then Unitarian. Apparently I am very much not a Jehovah's Witness or an Orthodox Jew. 

[Symph]

After leaving behind charismatic orthodox christianity, I'm now like this... gnosticy mystical new age taoist christian kind of... thing.  Basically I believe love is the answer and Jesus loves EVERYBODEH.  

Edited January 31, 2020 by Symph

[Symph]

On 12/12/2019 at 1:44 PM, Etheldreda said:

Roman Catholic. 😊

 

Started with a sort-of-but-not-really cultural Christian upbringing. When I was around 11/12 I found some books about magic and the occult at a yard sale and introduced them to my mom because I thought they were cool. From there we were Wiccan, with me leaning more towards reconstructionist paganism in my late teens, then agnosticism. I got into it about Christianity with a dear friend and researched it (specifically Catholicism) in order to prove them wrong and win our ongoing debate. Instead I ended up researching myself into Catholicism because the Church's theological, philosophical, and mystical traditions jived with me immediately on a deep level. I've been Catholic ever since. I still have a huge love of mythology and folklore, and comparing overarching moral themes is a fun hobby of mine. 

 

My whole life has been a lesson in humility, honestly, and I continue to learn just how little I know about the universe, life at large, or even about myself. 

I am quite interested in catholicism, it's a really sticky and kind of weird subject because in many ways I blame the catholic church for some really bad things, but then when I read some of the writings of the catholic church fathers and listen to the beliefs of some catholics it really resonates.  I think there may be different forms of catholicism or something, maybe there's a mystical sect I am jiving with I dunno.  

[MoonBear]

Hi 

I hope I am not Much of a gravedigger but I find this thread very interesting also the diversity here and still as far as I can see no intolerant behaviour which is from my experiences not like this in every forum

 

so my spiritual journey was quite long and winding and still continues somehow

I grew up Tibetan Buddhist but my parents especially my father followed more like a sect in Tibetan Buddhism which is now known for sexual and other violence and my father also was abusive in many ways 

my father always wanted that I follow in his footsteps because he saw some gifts in me and also other teachers confirmed that but although I was spiritual and I integrated many things from Buddhism into my personal belief I wasn’t interested in practising really and the meditation the way he taught me was quite challenging for me

 

with 19 I was introduced to paganism/witchcraft and I really liked that because the belief in nature and several gods fit very well to what I had experienced on a personal level

what I liked about Tibetan Buddhism was the worship of the different forms of buddhas I especially was drawn to the green Tara since childhood so practising paganism was kind of a continuation of that and I could still worship the green Tara 

two years later I got into shamanism and I really felt a calling to do those practices 

 

with 23 I got to know some friends who are into the new age beliefs they called themselves light workers because they were very accepting and I found it very hard to find other like-minded pagans in my region of Germany I started to believe in those things they believed in angels and that there was a kind of Ascension process going on and they said that I had gifts and could change the world so I started also to believe in a lot of conspiracy theories this continued for four years until something very significant happened

 

I was in an apartment living with six other people we wanted to start a commune but none of us really had much financial support so it was very difficult to find a house for that reason we were living in that apartment for longer than we wanted and this started to affect us all 

finally the couple whom this apartment belonged to split up and instead of dealing with their own emotions and stuff they started saying that I was the person who was too much and was the reason for them splitting up they said that because I am disabled I am a burden for them

But as I said then I should get help from the social system they said I shouldn’t do that because they were going to brainwash me and I would end up locked up in a ward I was really afraid of being labelled as crazy and locked up so I didn’t get help

and then I got really sick with 40 degrees fever but they said I shouldn’t go to the doctor/hospital because this was just a sign of me ascending  in that Ascension process they believed In and then they all went away for a couple of days and if a neighbour hadn’t found me I probably wouldn’t be here writing this to you

 

after that I moved back home to my abusive parents because I was afraid to get any sort of help and I didn’t know where else to go

because of that I became severe symptoms of PTSD which landed me in a psychosomatic clinic

In that time and afterwards I started to question all my spirituality my gifts everything and started to believe only that what science told me

 I threw away all my stuff connecting me with anything new age or esoteric and stopped doing any kind of spiritual work

 

in 2012 two years later I started to feel A calling to get back to my spirituality but I wanted something grounded and something that is applicable together with Science because I didn’t want to get in the next conspiracy theory I wanted something that came from my culture something that felt like home so I started to get acquainted with Norse paganism but I was hesitant at first because Nazi Germany use it exactly that belief for their cruel views and deeds but I discovered that there were people who followed Norse gods but weren’t racist so I started to go deeper and learnt to cast the runes

in 2017 though I was at a big Asatru meeting  and had Transphobic experience there as I talked about it to my queer feminist community on Twitter somebody found out and called me out because they said I shouldn’t have talked about what was happening during that meeting online so they were trying to silence me

After that incident I left almost all norse pagan contexts and was just a solitary Norse pagan I felt more drawn to people practising in the US because there were a lot of pagan queer and trans-people who are much more inclusive and much more rooted politically in queer feminism but I always felt so lonely because except me and my partner I had the feeling in Germany the people are much more conservative here

 

One year later as part of my trauma healing process I wanted to find out if all of Buddhism was what my father and his community told me it was and I found out there was much more and how little I actually knew and as soon as I visited a Buddhist centre close to me I felt like home in a way 

so I became a Buddhist very interested in Tibetan Buddhism but I also think there are some problematic things within that lineage

especially the Tantric part with visualisations prayers the different aspects of the bodhisattvas especially  The Wrathful ones 

but I didn’t leave my pagan path especially I continuously got messages from the gods I work with that I shouldn’t leave my path

 

Nowadays I find more and more things problematic about the Western Buddhist  community especially that un reflected racism and the uninclusiveness towards other genders etc  

there are some inclusive Buddhists especially in the Zen and Theravada tradition but they don’t at least mostly have the Tantric part in it with the mantras the different deities which is very important for me also there are some trans-people who follow Tibetan Buddhism and have found their communities but they live in the US so also too far away from me

Lately I have become interested in Druidry as i always also felt a connection to Celtic mythology and goddesses and also I find that a lot of the Buddhist principles also apply to the basics of druidry 

So for now I label myself a Norse/Celtic pagan Buddhist Practising shamanism I don’t call myself a shaman because I think that is appropriative  

a shaman as somebody who learnt in a traditional culture for over 20 years which doesn’t apply to me

 

Edited June 6, 2020 by MoonBear

[AuroraF]

Not a fan of organized religion, but I do believe in higher power(s)

[ilweran]

Interesting thread. I guess I'm a lapsed solitary eclectic wicca who went into more general paganism and is now looking at Dianic Wicca, or some form of solitary eclectic version of it that might be be barely recognisable anyway 😆

[Grace]

I got "New Thought" on the quiz - which rings pretty true I suppose. 

 

I grew up Roman Catholic, but I don't feel like that accurately describes my upbringing as my "Native Faith" has deep cultural roots that either influenced the way it was practiced, or was recognised in tandem. While I would not describe myself as Roman Catholic today, there is a little place for it in my heart still.