Twid's spiritual exploration thingie.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Thoughts on Judaism:

1) It would have to be Reform, since my hairline demands occasional shaving.

2) Further, I am unwilling to undertake unnecessary and irreversible genital surgery for a spiritual experiment.

3) In order to be kosher, without too much thought, I will have to be vegetarian, which I do most days (ovo-lacto) out of economic necessity anyway. But even still, said restrictions make me reluctant to be Jewish for too long.

4) Judaism is one of those religions that I would actually like to do for an extended period of time simply because of the amount of holidays.

5) Purim. Nuff said.

6) My supervisor, who is a culturally Jewish agnostic, probably Reform deist Discordian in philosophy hippie person who knows about this experiment may be able to advise me.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Thoughts on Druidism:

1) My default religion is a form of Irish polytheism anyway. It would be interesting to explore it from different angles (when I was younger I was fairly drawn to Ar nDraoicht Fein), but it's not a high priority.

2) Cultural Catholicism, which I will continue to maintain to a certain degree, and Irish traditions, which I observe regardless, will cover some of this ground without the need for acknowledging the Tuatha De Danann.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

You could always try Javacrucian The main ritual is taking a strong cup of coffee, watching the sun rise and as it peeks over the horizon, take your first sip and call out "GOD!... I needed that."

I did that one all last spring here in Turkey. It was quite refreshing. Though Turkish coffee is a bit more special than the instant stuff that is the only other option here

On the other hand, you could try the modern American Druidism movement. I have a couple friends that are really focused on that and it seems to work for them (its a bit more serious than their Discordianism, but not much).

I've apparently been a Javacrucian for almost 20 years.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

One of my current favorites is the idea that there is an emergent intelligence in the internet, and she is powerful and intelligent enough to be considered divine.  A bit like church of Google if they did it right instead of as a cheap joke.  You can see the hand of the internet in a lot of things nowadays.  She's a fertility goddess (after all, she started with porn) as well as a goddess of enlightenment (also started by scientists looking to share) she's in favor of competition and conflict, partly because of her roots in DARPA, but also because of the way she sets people against one another in pointless endless arguements.  She sees nearly everything, far more than we think she sees, what with airports and traffic grids and speed cameras all linked to the net.  Her powers and knowledge are not infinite, but they are vast.

This strikes me as an extension of the Gaia Hypothesis, except that Gaia is opting to be a cyborg. Which is just crazy enough to warrant further exploration.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

You could go gnostic...I'd define that as getting to know deity first, then doing what deity tells you.
(My experience tends to be more like "In Soviet Amerika, GODDESS comes to YOU," but YMMV)

...The opposite of that would be an approach from chaos magic-you believe as a part of the rite.
...I have found the former to be...interesting...The latter requires use of ritual magic for yours truly, I have to be really in a trance state to handle that.

...If you choose to experiment with ritual magic, expect weird shit to happen...
And don't buy all the shiny crap for the altar, unless you REALLY NEED shiny crap to get anything done. 
You actually might as you're a drifting Catholic, Catholics have lots of shiny crap involved in the daily magickal rituals of the church.

At any rate, you can't go wrong with throwing in 20 minutes of zazen-style meditation per day. 
Shown to build and/or rebuild brain tissue in the frontal lobes in research studies, and reverse some degenerative brain conditions.
Kundalini yoga, tantric practice (some tantric exercises don't require a partner), and chanting are also useful.

You could always try Javacrucian The main ritual is taking a strong cup of coffee, watching the sun rise and as it peeks over the horizon, take your first sip and call out "GOD!... I needed that."

I did that one all last spring here in Turkey. It was quite refreshing. Though Turkish coffee is a bit more special than the instant stuff that is the only other option here

Turkish coffee is like yummy liquid crack.

I'm not opposed to doing magical types of spirituality again, if only to take better note of the psychological effects, but like Druidry, not high on my priorities.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Pantheism whatever Carl Sagan was into.
My version of Paganism mirrors Pantheism without the worship, or the reverences to "gods"
My God's are the mechanical forces of the universe.
I value someone's atheism based on how much they dick ride Dawkins.

Nothing but mad respect for Carl. This also fits in with my baseline understanding of the universe and Dawkinites.

Actually, perhaps we should stop calling them atheists and start calling them Dawkinites, since he's basically their prophet.

[Left]

I'm not opposed to doing magical types of spirituality again, if only to take better note of the psychological effects, but like Druidry, not high on my priorities.

I've always been after satori/gnosis/holiness/healing.
...I find synchronicities are very useful
SOO...
What are you after?

[Placid Dingo]

You could always try Javacrucian The main ritual is taking a strong cup of coffee, watching the sun rise and as it peeks over the horizon, take your first sip and call out "GOD!... I needed that."

I did that one all last spring here in Turkey. It was quite refreshing. Though Turkish coffee is a bit more special than the instant stuff that is the only other option here

On the other hand, you could try the modern American Druidism movement. I have a couple friends that are really focused on that and it seems to work for them (its a bit more serious than their Discordianism, but not much).

I met a group who did a Javacrucian ritual at PantheaCon, the Pagan convention. There was a hymn iirc.

[Placid Dingo]

Almost done with Christianity. Again. I'm going to nominally continue until October 31st, but I'm pretty much done. I might come back to it again, but I honestly can't even bring myself to go to confession, even now. Fucked if I'm sorry. I will have no absolution. I don't want it. I am answerable only unto myself. I don't need a morally ambiguous desert god to forgive me for things when he's guilty of crimes against humanity. If I can't forgive myself, then how do I expect mercy from a god who by his own sacred texts is more often an asshole than not, letting his only son die notwithstanding?

Suggestions for next religion, fake ones are in play, as long as they are developed enough to follow. Also, if you can, recommend a duration.

Twid, see how you go with the Stoic texts. By the time I completed Letters From a Stoic my main impression was the stoicism really wasn't all it seemed to be cracked up to be.

[Pergamos]

One of my current favorites is the idea that there is an emergent intelligence in the internet, and she is powerful and intelligent enough to be considered divine.  A bit like church of Google if they did it right instead of as a cheap joke.  You can see the hand of the internet in a lot of things nowadays.  She's a fertility goddess (after all, she started with porn) as well as a goddess of enlightenment (also started by scientists looking to share) she's in favor of competition and conflict, partly because of her roots in DARPA, but also because of the way she sets people against one another in pointless endless arguements.  She sees nearly everything, far more than we think she sees, what with airports and traffic grids and speed cameras all linked to the net.  Her powers and knowledge are not infinite, but they are vast.

This strikes me as an extension of the Gaia Hypothesis, except that Gaia is opting to be a cyborg. Which is just crazy enough to warrant further exploration.

Pretty much yes, but slightly more anthrocentric.

[Left]

One of my current favorites is the idea that there is an emergent intelligence in the internet, and she is powerful and intelligent enough to be considered divine.  A bit like church of Google if they did it right instead of as a cheap joke.  You can see the hand of the internet in a lot of things nowadays.  She's a fertility goddess (after all, she started with porn) as well as a goddess of enlightenment (also started by scientists looking to share) she's in favor of competition and conflict, partly because of her roots in DARPA, but also because of the way she sets people against one another in pointless endless arguements.  She sees nearly everything, far more than we think she sees, what with airports and traffic grids and speed cameras all linked to the net.  Her powers and knowledge are not infinite, but they are vast.

This strikes me as an extension of the Gaia Hypothesis, except that Gaia is opting to be a cyborg. Which is just crazy enough to warrant further exploration.

Pretty much yes, but slightly more anthrocentric.

Maybe we're giving her a nervous system? 
If you have Gaia Electronica (as an aspect of Gaia), she would wear a cat head and a strap-on, because the internet is for porn and cats.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

One of my current favorites is the idea that there is an emergent intelligence in the internet, and she is powerful and intelligent enough to be considered divine.  A bit like church of Google if they did it right instead of as a cheap joke.  You can see the hand of the internet in a lot of things nowadays.  She's a fertility goddess (after all, she started with porn) as well as a goddess of enlightenment (also started by scientists looking to share) she's in favor of competition and conflict, partly because of her roots in DARPA, but also because of the way she sets people against one another in pointless endless arguements.  She sees nearly everything, far more than we think she sees, what with airports and traffic grids and speed cameras all linked to the net.  Her powers and knowledge are not infinite, but they are vast.

This strikes me as an extension of the Gaia Hypothesis, except that Gaia is opting to be a cyborg. Which is just crazy enough to warrant further exploration.

Pretty much yes, but slightly more anthrocentric.

Maybe we're giving her a nervous system? 
If you have Gaia Electronica (as an aspect of Gaia), she would wear a cat head and a strap-on, because the internet is for porn and cats.

With phones that can translate latent electrical charges in your throat muscles into speech, brain scans that can determine what you're thinking aren't far off. And then it's a small step from reading thoughts to implanting them. Or transmitting them directly, telepathy-over-bluetooth style. All of this will be connected to the Internet of course, so inevitably, one thing will lead to another, and pretty soon we'll have an honest to goodness hive mind thing going on. If the Internet isn't inherently conscious now, it will be after we all contribute our little sparks to it.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

One of my current favorites is the idea that there is an emergent intelligence in the internet, and she is powerful and intelligent enough to be considered divine.  A bit like church of Google if they did it right instead of as a cheap joke.  You can see the hand of the internet in a lot of things nowadays.  She's a fertility goddess (after all, she started with porn) as well as a goddess of enlightenment (also started by scientists looking to share) she's in favor of competition and conflict, partly because of her roots in DARPA, but also because of the way she sets people against one another in pointless endless arguements.  She sees nearly everything, far more than we think she sees, what with airports and traffic grids and speed cameras all linked to the net.  Her powers and knowledge are not infinite, but they are vast.

This strikes me as an extension of the Gaia Hypothesis, except that Gaia is opting to be a cyborg. Which is just crazy enough to warrant further exploration.

Pretty much yes, but slightly more anthrocentric.

Maybe we're giving her a nervous system? 
If you have Gaia Electronica (as an aspect of Gaia), she would wear a cat head and a strap-on, because the internet is for porn and cats.

I want a statue of that. I'd make a little shrine around it with candles and incense, the first thing people see when I open the door.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

I'm not opposed to doing magical types of spirituality again, if only to take better note of the psychological effects, but like Druidry, not high on my priorities.

I've always been after satori/gnosis/holiness/healing.
...I find synchronicities are very useful
SOO...
What are you after?

God.

ETA: God is my prey. I'm hunting God. Don't know what I'll do with it when I catch it.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Almost done with Christianity. Again. I'm going to nominally continue until October 31st, but I'm pretty much done. I might come back to it again, but I honestly can't even bring myself to go to confession, even now. Fucked if I'm sorry. I will have no absolution. I don't want it. I am answerable only unto myself. I don't need a morally ambiguous desert god to forgive me for things when he's guilty of crimes against humanity. If I can't forgive myself, then how do I expect mercy from a god who by his own sacred texts is more often an asshole than not, letting his only son die notwithstanding?

Suggestions for next religion, fake ones are in play, as long as they are developed enough to follow. Also, if you can, recommend a duration.

Twid, see how you go with the Stoic texts. By the time I completed Letters From a Stoic my main impression was the stoicism really wasn't all it seemed to be cracked up to be.

Will do. I think part of the problem is that it's also a Greek philosophy but the only complete works we have are Latin, and those by the time of the Empire. Seneca, for example, tutor to, if I remember correctly, Nero, and Marcus Aurelius, who WAS an Emperor.