If one was to move from Atheism to Paganism Where would one start ?

[Guest]

I am already a hardened atheist I watch documentaries on science and I like the subject of science (I never had the math grades but I would consider a career in this field) and lectures by physicists, like Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye,
biologists Richard Dawkins etc....... So part of the reason i left the christian faith that I was raised in was that I felt nothing no spiritual connection I just you know...... was there. I would like to know how to feel a spiritual connection with a the supernatural that the people in church talked about and many of you here talk about. I do not even know which deities to worship i am working on my degree in World history which put me in contact with so many ancient cultures and religions I have been exposed to nearly all of the "Pagan" religions and others through my studies (history is also my favorite thing to do in my downtime). So a brief history of the Sith beliefs is that it is mainly meditation and trying to concentrate universal energy on yourself to feel better etc Imnot sure what worship of deities or a deity could do for me but I am interested.

[iris]

Re: If one was to move from Atheism to Paganism Where would one start ?

Well, I do believe there are plenty of atheists on here, so you don't have to give it up to be a pagan. But that feeling of connection is not one you can force. It just kind of comes when you find a path that resonates with you... also, far from all paths require deities..

[thalassa]

Re: If one was to move from Atheism to Paganism Where would one start ?

So... V is a atheist who is also Pagan, and I'm a Pagan who is technically agnostic (and also, a scientist). I would say that spiritual connection doesn't have to come from gods, spirits, etc. When you watch a sunset, or the northern lights, or dolphins playing in the waves as the tide comes in, or baby birds taking their first flight, or listen to loons calling...what do you feel? Sure, I know that the sunsets because the earth is spinning as a result of gravity and that the dolphins are really eating because food comes in with the tide...but when you watch these things without your conscious thinking brain, what do you feel? Do you feel awe? Connection? Part of something big and amazing, but small and insignificant at the same time? Something that you can't describe, but you feel none the less?

I worship that. I worship the sunset, I just call it Helios. I worship the sandy beach, I just call it Psamathe. I worship the Dolphin, the Sky, the Crab, the Turtle, the Oak, the Swamp, the Bay...

Start with a relationship you can see, one that you can touch. Is there are place that feels significant to you? Start there...

Religion is about relationship--your relationship with others, with the world at large, the universe, with a specific place, with the something nameless that you feel when you are part of that connection...not just named deities.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: If one was to move from Atheism to Paganism Where would one start ?

I didn't see a clear question there, so let me just comment.

To see light, I need an organ to percieve it - the eye.

To hear sound, I need an organ to percieve it - the ear.

To feel, I need an organ to percieve it - a layer of skin.

And so on, for taste and smell.

The things we refer to as deities are clearly not "physical things" in the way that we are used to thinking and perceiving physical things. What if "imagination" is the equivalent of the "organ to percieve it"?

Would it then matter if they are "imaginary" or "real"?

(Important Note: what we call "imagination" is not one thing, but many things which most people do not take the time or expend the effort to separate, or even attempt to understand. The reason I bring this up is that, unless one understands this, one could easily make the mistake of thinking that I have just said that "anything you imagine is real." It's not.)

[anunitu]

Re: If one was to move from Atheism to Paganism Where would one start ?

I imagine that could be true...well,well,imagine that...

[Guest]

Re: If one was to move from Atheism to Paganism Where would one start ?

I want to thank everyone for their replies I recently finished praying to a pantheon of gods that I keep reading about I keep returning to them for some reason. I prayed and I felt the answers I was looking for I forgot about Fate I was trying to reconcile how my family was Christian for so long and the last time my ancestors were pagan was before the Dark Ages before around 500 AD. I recieved my answer that I was fated to return to my ancestral religion or that I was choosen it explains a lot. And if anyone read my other thread you would know that my grandmother died recently and that sent me into an existential tumult because it thrust a mirror up to myself and persistently asked "What do you believe in?" no more skepticism, specifically the afterlife. I have thought long and hard and unlike most people I do not want to be trapped for eternity in a christian after life with my family and other people heaven or hell both the same.I want the truth not blind obedience I want the gods to choose I want to know that my life and whatever comes after is not just an attempt to make people feel better my assuaging their need for meaning after death but I want it to be meaningful to be a place where I can be free to be myself. I hope that makes sense in a way.