No. I am also no longer afraid of the dark. I was as a grown man in the CULT. I always thought there were demons waiting all around me as I was told as a child in primary. Effing child abuse.
My thinking is this.... I believe religions in general are man made. I do not believe in Christianity or any other mainstream religion.
I do however except the fact that I simply do not know what waits for us beyond earth and death. It very well may be nothing, but I am also open to ideas we cannot even comprehend. We know so little about this universe beyond the planet earth, that I feel it is a bit silly to claim that we know what exsists beyond our home dwelling.
My philosophy is just to live a fulfilling life, be kind to my neighbors, be thoughtful, work hard, and be prepared to except whatever futures may present themselves. Personally, I hope there is more than just an earthly life, but I am prepared to except that there very well may be nothing after this. Until then, I am just going to enjoy myself, and the people around me while they are still in my life.
I didn't grow up in a religious family, but I always believed in God and heaven, until I met my husband's Mormon family... Now I have doubts. It all seems so make-believe!
But, as my husband puts it (he's inactive, BTW), if you believe you have a soul, then that soul has to go somewhere when we die, right? I do believe we have souls, so... I also pray now and then, for me to have patience and be a good mom, for my kids health and happiness, etc. I don't know if anyone's listening, but it helps me...
After quitting TSCC, I became a metaphysical naturalist. That's basically a type of atheist, I think that only the natural world exists and that everything that happens or ever happened follows natural laws. I don't believe in anything supernatural like miracles, gods, angels, ghosts, souls or spirits.
This is not to say that something natural and now unknown, but appears god-like or an afterlife doesn't exist, it would just be part of nature. When you think about it, people 500 years ago would think we are gods because we have harnessed so many natural things and produced wonders. Since there is no evidence for these things, I just say I don't know. Being willing to admit I don't know is perfectly acceptable, but apparently it bothers others so much that they start making things up. That's called religion.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2013 12:55AM by rationalguy.
I don't believe in anything occult, but I have a love with it. While part of me does hope that I am wrong, and that there is some kind of mysterious force, that we don't understand, that makes life after death possible, I see absolutely nothing to convince me that this is the case.
To me supernatural has taken on a new meaning. Now it means currently unexplained. I'm not foolish enough to dismiss certain things, I'm just aware that the explanation is probably fairly benign.
By definition anything supernatural is something attributed to a force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature. If NO empirical evidence can be produced for supernatural claims, I see no reason to believe any of them.
To me supernatural explanations are just random unsupported hypothesis, I dismiss the hypothesis, not the seemingly supernatural occurrence. It is the claim about the event that is bogus, not the event.
My lack of belief in the supernatural was my number two reason for leaving Mormonism. Number one was that it was making me hate myself. After being away from the church a while in order to improve my mental health, I realized, "Oh, wait, I'm actually an atheist. And I pretty much always have been. No wonder Mormonism was making me mentally ill. It had me at war with myself."
I no longer have any beliefs in things unnatural. I think that anything which appears to be supernatural to us is just something which has not yet been explained or understood, but may be someday.
I still love watching ghost shows and the like though, so I still love to study things yet to be explained.
"I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other, and I've seen a lot of strange stuff; but I've never seen anything to make me believe that there's one all-powerful Force controlling everything. No mystical energy field controls my destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense."
Yes, absolutely. I've had spiritual experiences as a mormon and as an exmo. It is all based on faith.
This is something I've discovered. That you can pray about a hundred different things, but if you want an answer to a prayer, you have to be praying about the thing that God wants you to pray about.
And when you get a message, you have to believe it enough to wait for it to happen.
Sometimes a dream is a message, but what happens is that our subconsious mind takes the initial information and shreds it to pieces trying to make sense of it. A dream that you wake up from right away may be significant, rather than a long meandering dream.
I think everything is based on science and many mysteries are unexplained yet there is a scientific reason... and it has yet to be explored. My curious mind has awakened to new learning since leaving the Mormon cult.
Yes and no. Agree with Greyfort there are things yet to be explained, I think the brain has abilities beyond our understanding. Have had a few experiences that cannot be explained that religion would call "blessings, guardian angels, god's intervention, satan's power etc.", but I think it all comes from somewhere in the human brain. For example the chemicals that produce what has been for centuries "de ja veux" is just an involuntary chemical transfer to the memory shed. Lots to learn.
Yes, I do have a belief that there is something more. I have noticed that when I learn certain life lessons, doors are opened for me that were not possible before. I know that this is highly subjective. It appears to me that there are forces at work beyond what we can see.
I don't believe in hell or that anyone is being judged for anything. I think that we are all here playing our role or script that we have been given. I have a universal spiritual view. I think that all paths lead back to God...even if you are an atheist.. that is the role you have been given. Everything happens to further soul growth.
I believe in the supernatural power of boobs. They're far more powerful then the Mormon priesthood, which is why Mormon church leaders must make women cover up all the time, less this be discovered at anytime.
I remember being scared of things in the dark. Then I started to get in the closet or go down in the basement or under the bed. I didn't encounter anything and I knew such things don't exist.
I leave the option open. Is there any such thing beyond physics, scientific fact, (science is self correcting),the natural word ? I don't see any verifiable evidence, but is it possible? Maybe. We need to know more about how the brain works, I think.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2013 02:25PM by SusieQ#1.
To expand, there are things that happen that we may not understand, that does not make them "supernatural", it just means we don't yet understand the phenomenon or missed some of the context in which it happened.
Pretty much, by definition if it can happen, there is a natural explanation for it.
I always say if anything happens after I die, I'll be pleasantly surprised. And that's what I think. I really doubt there is anything out there but it would be really cool.
On the other hand, I did some really cool drugs once (and only once) and saw all sorts of crazy mysterious things unfolding in my brain. So if there are alternate universes happening all around us that we just can't see, well bring it on. Isn't all of "matter" mostly just empty space after all? Who knows what might be filling up that empty space.
There is only one thing that is supernatural in my life: My cranberry-orange scones. Crunchy on the outside, tender on the inside, delicious orange zest and sweet-tart cranberries. Sometime I put an orange glaze on them. It's enough to make Jesus weep.
Beyond this life? Nope. Beyond human experience? Ofcourse there are things beyond human experience! But because it's beyond human experience it's merely bullshit to pretend to know anything about it.
"As a fond mother, when the day is o'er, Leads by the hand her little child to bed, Half willing, half reluctant to be led, And leave his broken playthings on the floor, Still gazing at them through the open door, Nor wholly reassured and comforted By promises of others in their stead, Which, though more splendid, may not please him more; So Nature deals with us, and takes away Our playthings one by one, and by the hand Leads us to rest so gently, that we go Scarce knowing if we wish to go or stay, Being too full of sleep to understand How far the unknown transcends the what we know."