What's your progression?

**CrystalJackal** · 23 Jul 2015 09:43

Christian (Methodist) -> Kemetic
I did a lot of reading and research before actually making a decision, so I didn't really go through many different religions xD

**LearningMan** · 23 Jul 2015 16:20

Atheist-->Kemetic

**NeoPlatonic** · 26 Aug 2015 21:03

This will be long. But if anyone wants to read, feel free to.

I was taught to believe in the basic Roman Catholic beliefs, and this worked fine during my infant days and I was even partially ordained - I actually had my "First Communion". However later on became harder and harder to maintain these beliefs. Loss of faith due to various events, an increase in learning and available knowledge on my part, and the fact that none in my family were true to the doctrines they claimed to hold paved the way for a hard atheism and a misanthropic worldview.

The years brought in more learning and knowledge and somewhat better times pushed my worldview towards a better one. In time, as it changed from a hopeless to a hopeful one I began to re-examine my beliefs and my hard atheism softened to the point that it was no longer "gods are not real" but "I have no gods to follow".

This later point become the central focus of my philosophical research. I dabbled in various polytheistic and pantheistic practices (including Wicca, Tengerism) and Eastern beliefs (including Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and Shinto, even Hermeticism) but none of them felt completely right to me. To this add that as far as religion goes, I always felt like a foreigner in a foreign land: Who my ancestors were was never clear (I did research on the genealogies of my maternal and paternal families), so the European faiths felt distant. The Native American faiths were closer to home as I am of the New World, but I have no blood from amerindians and I always felt that taking their beliefs was cheating them out of their identity. If I did not even join them in their customs, why would I take their gods? There was always my mother and her Christian-veiled African religion but... It felt wrong. To this day whenever I think about African gods they feel entirely alien to me.

That is when I began to read about the conflict of Roman Christianity and Roman Paganism. The efforts at creating a new state faith and the efforts to revitalize the old one led me to read about Neo-Platonism. Platonists and Neo-Platonists are very diverse, but among them I discovered some very interesting thoughts that echoed with what I thought and felt. It also enabled me to take a more inclusive view of other religions (As even if the Egyptian gods have no love for me it does not mean they are not real, only that they have no interest in me).

Eventually, I found a god. Or to be honest, I "acknowledged" a god. Long ago I had a dream about him, and that particular memory stuck. I began to consider whatever this fixation of mine had actual meaning, even if he was not widely worshipped in the past and I am pretty sure many would consider him merely a mythological figure or minor spirit - but I always though there was something more. I read more myths about him, even with the scant literature. Over time I even identified with him on certain personal aspects that I had not realized earlier, and also noted how his other aspects are overplayed.

These days I keep going on my "spiritual quest" as it were. I am much more accepting of other people's beliefs (but I do make exceptions sometimes, for example fundamentalists are annoying whether they are monotheistic or polytheistic). Still some old beliefs remain which I am fine with. I am with Confucius on that the afterlife is unknownable, so I do not pretend to know what happens to me when I die. But while I live I try to be as true to my morals as I can. And it is good to know that I have a god watching out for me, too.

**unseen1** · 27 Aug 2015 03:38

Methodist > Non-denominational Christian > Agnostic > Northern Tradition Heathen

**faye_cat** · 27 Aug 2015 11:29

Christian->Christian Witch->Agnostic->Eclectic pagan

**October** · 05 Sep 2015 16:15

Catholic--> Science of Mind--> Wicca--> Eclectic--> Celtic Reconstructionist--> Eclectic--> Asatru--> Pick-N-Mix

I've found that I have a hard time sticking to any one thing. Might as well embrace it.

**Nerevar** · 28 Sep 2015 23:17

I was raised a Congregationalist. When I was 13, I dabbled in some general paganism (but never settled on anything too specific). By the time, I hit my late teens, I had become a somewhat militant atheist, and over the past five years, I found myself as a Spiritual Agnostic.

**DragonsFriend** · 29 Sep 2015 10:22

I like that definition. "A spiritual agnostic" it has a nice feel of openness to the spiritual without a deity necessarily involved. The mind is open and the spirit is active.

**Nerevar** · 29 Sep 2015 11:57

I appreciate that. I stumbled across the term several years ago when I was going through some tough times. I wish I could take credit for it, but there do seem to be others out there who believe the same. It tends to de-emphasize the concept of divinity in regards to one's own actions. "It matters not what you believe in. It matters what you do." The universe is so vast and full of uncertainties. The myriad of different faiths is astounding, and I would never wish to judge or criticize another's beliefs. I love hearing about how others view the world.