Twid's spiritual exploration thingie.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

Also: Pics with a yarmulke or gtfo.

You know, I was just thinking how the fuck will I attach those without any hair?

Also where the fuck will I get one.

Brookline, of course, but where the fuck in Brookline?

Do you know any jewish guys that aren't bald way before their time? I swear that thing it an archaeological record of male pattern baldness.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

I have to admit, I commend you for trying Judaism. It makes Catholicism look like a pussy sport.

Well, I am going for Reform. God help me if I was going to be Orthodox.

You could go Hasidic and wear awesome hats and grow curly sideburns.

I think the earlocks would look a bit much in my day to day life

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Also: Pics with a yarmulke or gtfo.

You know, I was just thinking how the fuck will I attach those without any hair?

Also where the fuck will I get one.

Brookline, of course, but where the fuck in Brookline?

Do you know any jewish guys that aren't bald way before their time? I swear that thing it an archaeological record of male pattern baldness.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

Okay, there's one.

I just remember my friends' bat mitzvahs being full of a lot of bald heads. I'm sure it's a common enough problem that there are some solid solutions in place.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Also: Pics with a yarmulke or gtfo.

You know, I was just thinking how the fuck will I attach those without any hair?

Also where the fuck will I get one.

Brookline, of course, but where the fuck in Brookline?

Do you know any jewish guys that aren't bald way before their time? I swear that thing it an archaeological record of male pattern baldness.

Dr. S actually. That man looks fantastic for a dude in his 60s.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Roger did raise an interesting thing with the eclectic Pagan thing. Am I walking a fine line between exploration and cultural appropration? Religion is a tricky thing in that way. To be Jewish could mean several things. I could be a religious profession, or it could be an ethnicity. Gentiles can convert to it, so it's probably not cultural appropriation in this context. But what if I decided to try Native American spirituality for a while? Is that cultural appropriation and is there a line or is it this murky area where at some point it does become a little too much like appropriation?

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

I think it's a matter of respecting the group you're doing things with. I know some jewish groups are emphatically opposed to new people joining up, so I was a little confused when you said you were going that route, but then I remembered "reform" and that kinda deals with that problem. As long as you have a community that's welcoming you into their religion with open arms and a complete understanding of your plans to continue exploring, I think you'll be fine.

As an example, if I started being all RAVENWOLF NATIVE AMERICAN PRINCESS WOOOOOOO! That'd totally be cultural appropriation and pretty inappropriate. If I reached out to the local Abanaque group and explained what little I know about the family history (because every damn french canadian family knows there's some native american blood in there somewheres) and they decided to let my cherohonkey ass in on stuff, that'd be different.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

I think it's a matter of respecting the group you're doing things with. I know some jewish groups are emphatically opposed to new people joining up, so I was a little confused when you said you were going that route, but then I remembered "reform" and that kinda deals with that problem. As long as you have a community that's welcoming you into their religion with open arms and a complete understanding of your plans to continue exploring, I think you'll be fine.

As an example, if I started being all RAVENWOLF NATIVE AMERICAN PRINCESS WOOOOOOO! That'd totally be cultural appropriation and pretty inappropriate. If I reached out to the local Abanaque group and explained what little I know about the family history (because every damn french canadian family knows there's some native american blood in there somewheres) and they decided to let my cherohonkey ass in on stuff, that'd be different.

That sounds reasonable. I will talk to a rabbi about it before Halloween.

[Placid Dingo]

Roger did raise an interesting thing with the eclectic Pagan thing. Am I walking a fine line between exploration and cultural appropration? Religion is a tricky thing in that way. To be Jewish could mean several things. I could be a religious profession, or it could be an ethnicity. Gentiles can convert to it, so it's probably not cultural appropriation in this context. But what if I decided to try Native American spirituality for a while? Is that cultural appropriation and is there a line or is it this murky area where at some point it does become a little too much like appropriation?

Dr Bob Newport (Brother Hypoc in the Principia) talked to me about Musar which is a Jewish practice that exists outside the usual dogmatic trappings of the Jewish faith. That may be something worth exploring. I'm sorry if it's been brought up I haven't read all the rest of thread.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Roger did raise an interesting thing with the eclectic Pagan thing. Am I walking a fine line between exploration and cultural appropration? Religion is a tricky thing in that way. To be Jewish could mean several things. I could be a religious profession, or it could be an ethnicity. Gentiles can convert to it, so it's probably not cultural appropriation in this context. But what if I decided to try Native American spirituality for a while? Is that cultural appropriation and is there a line or is it this murky area where at some point it does become a little too much like appropriation?

Dr Bob Newport (Brother Hypoc in the Principia) talked to me about Musar which is a Jewish practice that exists outside the usual dogmatic trappings of the Jewish faith. That may be something worth exploring. I'm sorry if it's been brought up I haven't read all the rest of thread.

It hasn't. I decided on Judaism being next less than 36 hours ago.

I'll look it up, but what is your understanding of it?

[LMNO]

Twid, the question to be asked is, "what's your purpose here?"

I mean, are you just trying on religions like suits at Men's Wearhouse, seeing if you like their fit?  Are you searching for the One True God(s)?  Are you just having a laugh? Is it a sort of immersion anthropology?

Furthermore, do you buy into the whole deity thing to begin with?  That there is indeed a sky mommy or daddy, or there is some sort of elan vitale that exists outside of experiential reality that has conciousness and interacts with humans?  And that it/they can be appeased or communicated with through a single group of game rules apart from any other?

The answers to these will help narrow down if you're on a spiritual search or just clowning around.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Twid, the question to be asked is, "what's your purpose here?"

I mean, are you just trying on religions like suits at Men's Wearhouse, seeing if you like their fit?  Are you searching for the One True God(s)?  Are you just having a laugh? Is it a sort of immersion anthropology?

Furthermore, do you buy into the whole deity thing to begin with?  That there is indeed a sky mommy or daddy, or there is some sort of elan vitale that exists outside of experiential reality that has conciousness and interacts with humans?  And that it/they can be appeased or communicated with through a single group of game rules apart from any other?

The answers to these will help narrow down if you're on a spiritual search or just clowning around.

It's partially to see a religion from an inside perspective, and partially to see which bits of it I like and which I don't, for my own purposes. I do believe in a deity of some sort but its a vague sort of belief. I would consider my baseline religion to be deism or pantheism. I don't consider that god would be moral, at least not by our standards, unless we truly are made in its image, which I doubt. So I figure that it doesn't really care how I try to connect with it, if at all.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Also: Pics with a yarmulke or gtfo.

You know, I was just thinking how the fuck will I attach those without any hair?

Also where the fuck will I get one.

Brookline, of course, but where the fuck in Brookline?

Do you know any jewish guys that aren't bald way before their time? I swear that thing it an archaeological record of male pattern baldness.

Dr. S actually. That man looks fantastic for a dude in his 60s.

See, it's because of all the science.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Also: Pics with a yarmulke or gtfo.

You know, I was just thinking how the fuck will I attach those without any hair?

Also where the fuck will I get one.

Brookline, of course, but where the fuck in Brookline?

Do you know any jewish guys that aren't bald way before their time? I swear that thing it an archaeological record of male pattern baldness.

Dr. S actually. That man looks fantastic for a dude in his 60s.

See, it's because of all the science.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Roger did raise an interesting thing with the eclectic Pagan thing. Am I walking a fine line between exploration and cultural appropration? Religion is a tricky thing in that way. To be Jewish could mean several things. I could be a religious profession, or it could be an ethnicity. Gentiles can convert to it, so it's probably not cultural appropriation in this context. But what if I decided to try Native American spirituality for a while? Is that cultural appropriation and is there a line or is it this murky area where at some point it does become a little too much like appropriation?

I had an interesting reaction to your announcement that you were going to try on Judaism, a distinct negative gut reaction. I had to really feel it out and try to figure out why, and whether there was something I needed to say. It felt trivializing, because while Judaism is a religion, Jewishness is both a culture and an ethnicity, which you can't just try on for a month and then walk away from. People who are raised Jewish are permeated with the culture and the identity, it is very much a part of who they are. But, I sat with it for a while, and I concluded that it is the approach that matters, and that you are approaching it from a place of sincerity, to try to understand what it feels like to be Jewish by adopting  the Jewish worldview for a while and genuinely attempting to see the world as a Jew sees the world. I am not sure you can fully succeed in that (not only because you lack the upbringing, but because due to the seasonal/cyclical nature of the religion I think it requires at least one full year of practice, within a Jewish community, to get a Real Jewish Experience) but I think that seeking to understand and empathize with other people's viewpoints is good and worthwhile. So, I have no real objection.