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Using religion in daily life

joeybernard

Student
J
Joined
Feb 3, 2006
Messages
33
I'm wondering if anyone else here uses the rituals and ceremonies of religion? I'm an atheist Druid, basically the pagan lifestyle without the extra calories of deity. So, religion-light. I realize the fact that I am a social animal and that myth and ritual are important facets of my psychology. So I have chosen the myths and rituals of the neo-pagan movement as the ones best fitting my actual mindset. I'm just curious if any others here do something similar? If so, what have you co-opted for your own personal use?
 
I'm a big fan of celebrating Christmas. And Halloween. I say "Bless You" when someone sneezes.

Maybe if you were a little more specific on the types of rituals you adhere to, then we could reply in kind.
 
Well, in my case, I celebrate the eight neo-pagan festival days. I use these as times to reflect on the passing of the year, and how my life is going along.
 
Nope. Atheist. Not into worship rituals, but I do sometimes pat myself on the back or kick myself in the butt...applying as necessary.
 
I meditate sometimes, and read from the Daodejing, the Bible, and several other texts from the wisdom traditions.
 
Every Friday night I go along to my local village pub and drink a few beers and talk to the other locals about the weather, state of the land, sheep, feral animals and other matters of great import, such as the cricket scores. This is a fine ritual IMHO.
 
There is the culture aspect of religion, so it's quite likely that MOST people have been affected by it in some form or another.
I personally love holidays like Christmas and Easter. But I don't think of them or celebrate them as religious holidays. I focus on the Santa and the Easter Bunny aspects of them. I know some people decide to cut all things that are even vaguely related to religion out of their lives, but I personally see no need for that. Like everything, it comes down to personal choice. There's no right or wrong.
There have even been times when I've talked to myself about a problem (some people call that praying, lol)
 
Well, I'm also celebrating Christmas without Religion. I don't think spending time with the family and giving and receiving presents is such a bad idea per se. And it's even more fun without having to sit through a boring service in church.

As for rituals, I've got an atheist (ex catholic) friend who lights a candle in church before every important game of the local soccer club. He doesn't believe it helps but it makes him feel good.

I think that "makes you feel good" is enough of a rational justification for any ritual, if you're aware that you don't really do magic and otherwise hurt noone with the voodoo.
 
joeybernard said:
I'm wondering if anyone else here uses the rituals and ceremonies of religion? I'm an atheist Druid, basically the pagan lifestyle without the extra calories of deity. So, religion-light. I realize the fact that I am a social animal and that myth and ritual are important facets of my psychology. So I have chosen the myths and rituals of the neo-pagan movement as the ones best fitting my actual mindset. I'm just curious if any others here do something similar? If so, what have you co-opted for your own personal use?
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Hi Joey, welcoe!

I am a wiccan HP for almost 16 years now, I was a pagan even when I was a christian. It is just the way that my mind categorises the ubiverse, alot of connectedness out there.

I have different parts of mysel, the rational hard knock part is an atheistic materialist. The emotional part of me is very neo pagan, I tend to like the egyptian and norse dieties with some babylonian thrown in. I practice shamanism and buddhism.

Overall I am a nihilist and a sceptic.

Religion can be both personal and social, in self practice I tend more towrds the shamanic, in group practice I have done both wicca and Crowley type rituals. I like being part of a coven or lodge but can't devote the time to maintaining a group right now. Wicca is besot with true believers and wannabes, pagans tend to be very poor at group dynamics at best.

So at heart I am a sceptic materialst, I label myself a nihilist pagan buddhist.

Happy Ladies Day!
 
I find the mourning rituals and funerals very helpful in my religion (Judaism). Although I very rarely attend synagogue or light candles, etc., when my nephew died suddenly and my brother died after a long horrible illness, it was so helpful to be told what to do next and have ritual, simply because without it I would have been at a total loss and become paralyzed. It is also helpful that Jewish funerals are extemely plain and simple with no music, flowers, etc. so there isn't a lot of intrusion.
 
I have a private temple which has two religious icons given to me by my parents, a picture of my mother holding me when I was two months old, and a portrait on ivory. On a regular basis, I take stock of things by standing there, lighting an incense stick and thinking. Since the only authority and help to which I am appealing is myself, I guess that would qualify as meditation rather than prayer. Group rituals make me giggle, so they are a no-go. I'm an agnostic, leaning towards athiesm.
 
This may be a little off from the intent of the thread, but based on the title of the thread, I have a comment.

I know of people who cannot separate religion from their daily life. Two examples:

1) Mormons. My wife's family is terminally mormon. It permeates every aspect and every second of their daily life. It determines their place of employment, what neighborhoods they live in, social schedule, even where they grocery shop.

2) I have a co-worker who is a fundie, young earth creationist. He is the minister of his own little church. He is definitely the shepard of his flock. He is acustomed to preaching to a willing, capative audience. The problem is, he can't differentiate his church life from his professional life. He will not tolerate any dissent or differing of his opinion. He is sexist and homophobic. It makes for an unpleasant work place at times.

Ok. rant over.
back to work everyone.
 
cbish said:
This may be a little off from the intent of the thread, but based on the title of the thread, I have a comment.

I know of people who cannot separate religion from their daily life.
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That's the other side of this particular coin. I think ritual can enrich your life, but it can't be the only thing in your life. That's when you start to seriously lose your connection to the world and to the others around you.
 
joeybernard said:
I'm wondering if anyone else here uses the rituals and ceremonies of religion? I'm an atheist Druid, basically the pagan lifestyle without the extra calories of deity. So, religion-light. I realize the fact that I am a social animal and that myth and ritual are important facets of my psychology. So I have chosen the myths and rituals of the neo-pagan movement as the ones best fitting my actual mindset. I'm just curious if any others here do something similar? If so, what have you co-opted for your own personal use?
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Do yous still sacrifice a red-headed boy to celebrate the rebirth of the earth each spring?
 
cbish said:
I know of people who cannot separate religion from their daily life. Two examples:

1) Mormons. My wife's family is terminally mormon. It permeates every aspect and every second of their daily life. It determines their place of employment, what neighborhoods they live in, social schedule, even where they grocery shop.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure why you'd single out Mormons here. I grew up in a town that is about 1/3 Mormon, and they work in a wide variety of jobs, and live in every section of town and the surrounding countryside. My town has two grocery stores, I know Mormon families who frequent each.

All religions determine some part of their followers social schedule. Other than being more strict on their rules concerning the Sabbath, how is the Mormon social schedule any more rigid than any other comprable religious groups?

There are offshoot sects or the mainstream Mormon church, such as the FLDS and (I think) RLDS. Is your wife's family one of these? Otherwise, I think you've made a huge overgeneralization.
 
joeybernard said:
I'm wondering if anyone else here uses the rituals and ceremonies of religion? I'm an atheist Druid, basically the pagan lifestyle without the extra calories of deity. So, religion-light. I realize the fact that I am a social animal and that myth and ritual are important facets of my psychology. So I have chosen the myths and rituals of the neo-pagan movement as the ones best fitting my actual mindset. I'm just curious if any others here do something similar? If so, what have you co-opted for your own personal use?
Click to expand...

Like money said, I still say 'Bless you' when someone sneezes. It's more out of 32 years of intense social conditioning, though, as opposed to a belief that a demon is about to enter into the person's body.

My favorite ritual is the one I perform whenever our ship pulls out for a long underway. I'll sit on the smoke deck and smoke a big lucky cigar. I don't know if it makes the ship any luckier, but it sure makes me feel good :D.
Marc
 
On the interactings god thing. The shamanic side of me definitly believes in spirits and dieties, but under examination and most of the time, I believe they are just interpretations and projections of an associative brain.
 
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