I figure science will eventually explain it all.
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Samesies.
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Yup. To quote Clarke’s third law, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. And in addition, just because we can’t explain something now doesn’t mean it isn’t incomprehensible and that we won’t be able to explain it in the future once we ourselves are sufficiently advanced.
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Did the OP change to request my feelings on organized religion? I don’t remember that from this morning
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I vibe with a LOT of this. Thank you for writing it! (I feel like this is what I wanted to write but something something my writing is made of whimsy on this ish)
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This is true for me as well.
Also: children. In my view, when we are born we are the truth and know the truth and it’s teaching otherwise that gets in the way.
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That’s the beautiful bit
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I also feel like I should say I’ve absolutely participated in religious or spiritual ceremonies/rituals. I do find value in doing so, and in community.
I do not however participate in anything that becomes habit, or routine, because to me there is then a layer of artifice. I should not need to strive for the sacred. Rather, I am open to its presence at all times and in all possible realms of existence.
ETA this is also more about my personality than my spirituality 
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For me, ritual/ceremony is what reminds me to stay as open as possible – I often forget/am not conscious of it. So even habitual ceremony, which can be rote, is a reminder for me.
I like that things work different ways for different people. It makes the world more interesting. 
And this thread is a nice example of that.
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I figure it won’t, but I don’t really care? Like “understanding” or explaining that isn’t important to me. I’ve always been more interested in how humans interact with one another (i.e. economies/politics) than how we interact with the unexplained.
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It took me way too long in life to realize that about myself, that ritual itself is important to me, but becoming a thing that is done following a calendar makes it something to rebel against 
As long as I don’t pay attention to how many days in a row I’ve observed a particular practice it’s fine.
This makes my Kundalini yoga friend nuts. “Come to full moon ceremony!” And it’s wonderful and connecting and chanting with other humans is always a universe-opener for me. But no way will I go every month because then it’s a calendar thing. Even though it’s really still a moon thing!
My personal rituals don’t seem to be as affected by my inner rebel, but I tend to shift between them throughout the year.
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@Elle You made me think about the fact that in Humanities 110 (the only required class for everyone at my college on all the “Great Books” etc) we had a lecture on the written vs oral traditions.
It was largely questioning how academic thought/theory put these “great books” in higher regard than oral traditions - we teach them as the basis of learning in western culture, they are imbedded into every discipline - because their storytelling traditions were preserved on paper (partially because their libraries - cough library of alexandria - were not destroyed/pillaged and their cultures won the colonization struggles mostly by force). Whereas many indigenous cultures and practices are oral traditions, which have been lost by the forces of colonialism, slavery and war (often in the name of religion).
It’s still true that in many parts of the world, oral traditions are the way that people practice. In the parts of India I was working in, most religious traditions and teachers are all via oral storytelling - most women I worked with weren’t literate but they knew 4-6 languages, and that is how all traditions in their families were passed down.
In many cases, some of the languages of these ancient traditions and stories are endangered or entirely extinct.
I should also say that tarot is a parlor game originally.
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Thinking about this more, I do have routines. Wearing particular adornment items that remind me of things bigger than myself, and to be mindful of the ways we’re all connected, is a daily practice.
There is definite ceremony in how I prepare my pets’ food. And in preparing my morning drink.
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Many of the people I’ve talked with started from a Christian background, had very negative experiences with formal religion, but found value in these other approaches. That’s why I phrased it the way I did. Certainly meant no offense.
Another way to phrase it: if I am in any way narrow minded, calling it offensive when I am explicitly trying to broaden my mind is perhaps not constructive
I believe in objective, transcendental truths. The path of Christianity speaks to me because I have had some very profound experiences within it, though I also have to bracket out the aspects of formal religion which have gotten in my way. But I recognize that there are many paths that I think are all accessing this truth in their own way. There are many elements of many different traditions that deeply appeal to me.
Wow.
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Wow what? How is it offensive to want to broaden my mind?? Any offense I’ve given is completely unintentional.
Paragraph one - not offensive
Paragraph 2- I see why Kat pulled it for a wow.
Some might say that Christianity is the dominant and patriarchical religion in North America. Perhaps the offense was in assuming that it was the dominant force and the assumed religious background of all here? Either way, my first post is very revealing about me and I may choose to delete it for personal reasons - I wanted to share but not permashare
It’s awesome that you have found a path that is great for you.
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It was the contrast between a lot of people on here having had a negative experience with formal religion (usually a form of Christianity) but finding some practical benefit in these other things that struck me. I was interested in what people were getting out of the practices, and the range of answers has been very interesting 
Thinking some more I think what makes me interested is that I myself have had a fractious relationship with my religion of origin, I walked away for many years, but I’m in the process of approaching it again on my own terms, with fresh eyes. One of my closest friends, who was the best man in my wedding, has had a fractious relationship with it as well, and he did walk away though in his case it was just switching denominations within Christianity.
So I thought it would be of benefit for me to try and understand people who have walked away and found appeal in these other practices (and all of the mentions I had seen were people who had mentioned Christianity specifically). Does that make sense? Hopefully I am not inadvertently causing offense again.
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This is really well put and you’ve given me a lot to think about.
I’m agnostic with vague pagan leanings except that I can’t quite get my head around the concept of magic(k) or the supernatural. I’ve tried practicing some pagan/wiccan rituals but didn’t FEEL anything, you know? Not the way my pagan/wiccan friends say that they do.
Meanwhile, my garden is my spiritual practice, if I have one.
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