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  1. V

    Ask me about personal development and spirituality

    Here's my life, all of it, in about 100 words: ;-) I am 52. Spastic diplegic, diabetic, a bit overweight. Raised catholic. I had a few years of intense, somewhat "fundamentalist" christianity in my teen years. Later I grew out of it and became an agnostic atheist. I am forever fascinated...
  2. V

    Memorizing scriptures: Mnemotechnics, loci method etc

    My story is classic: Always had a terrible memory, suffered a lot because I wanted to learn new things, learning is one of my biggest motivations, I love languages and find religions fascinating, but my poor memory stifled my progress. Greek mythology, just the names of the 12 Olympians were a...
  3. V

    Polytheism is a form of atheism

    1. Let the definition of god (for the sake of this thread) be "an omnipotent, onmipresent, and omniscient being". 2. If multiple gods exist, they can interfere with each other. 3. If one being can interfere with another, then that other being is not onmipotent. For one, if both beings are truly...
  4. V

    Creationists, why do you attack evolution?

    Having been an agnostic atheist for a while, I marvel at this. I know that, back in my religious days, evolution was the evil of evils for some folks - but on the other hand, I was raised catholic, and catholicism has long embraced evolution (which can be done easily within christianity, if you...
  5. V

    Rule 34.x

    We all know Rule 34, right? (Not the website, you... get your mind outta the gutter!) Now, let's keep looking for variations of said rule!
  6. V

    Spirituality and Personal Development

    It appears to me that a host of spiritual practices - if not all of them - are also a form of personal development. (Or is it the other way around?) Eg. meditation, yoga, affirmations, tarot cards... All of these can be done with some spiritual background in mind, but they can also be just to...
  7. V

    How do we overcome tribalism?

    For me, one of the biggest challenges today is how everybody lives in their own little prison cell, echo chamber, whatever... incels vs feminists, men vs women, white vs non-white, etc. I loathe this kind of groupthink. But of course, I understand that there are actual grievances, actual...
  8. V

    Chakras vs Sephirot?

    I have studied kabbalah for most of my adult life (without ever claiming to be a master of any sorts", and I also do some meditation on chakras. Both systems have grown on me, even though I wouldn't describe myself as a "believer" in either. Obviously I don't want to start a debate on which is...
  9. V

    Why did christianity win out (from a secular / historical perspective)?

    Christianity is the majority religion today, and has been for 1700 years (or so). Something has to be special about it... or not? From the christian perspective, the answer is easy - it was god's plan all along, so of course christianity is the winner. If you don't believe in it, then there...
  10. V

    The "as-if" frame

    Disclaimer: I really don't know where to put this. For me, it's somewhere on the intersection of religion, spirituality, and psychology. Most (almost all?) of the debates on religion are about what is actually, factually TRUE. Fair enough. Understandable enough. Did Jesus say that? Is the...
  11. V

    The concept of "life energy"

    I would like to talk about the vitalist notion of energy in a very broad sense - qi, prana, "animal magnetism" and so on. First off - how would you try and "define" it? I know, it's terribly hard to come up with reasonable definitions for such broad terms in the realm of spirituality and...
  12. V

    Iconography and Art: Ancient mythology (Circe)

    I'm trying to understand iconography a bit better - specifically ancient mythology. I would love to get your input on this, maybe get a few pointers and ideas... I feel like I'm not very good at it myself (I always struggle with the paintings in catholic churches, too), and I don't want to...
  13. V

    Summaries of biblical stories?

    Hello, my google-fu seems to be out of order today. I try to find short and sweet retellings / summaries of bible stories, from both testaments, with as little interpretation / preaching / moralizing as possible. All I find is children's stories and diabetes-inducing sucrose stuff. Thanks a...
  14. V

    Which religions do / do not have any decrees on / against masturbation?

    Without judgment, I would like to create a bit of a map, so I might be able to figure out some potential correlations.
  15. V

    [just for fun] Describe your religion from the point of view of another religion

    For example, explain your christian worldview from the point of view of hinduism, or your neopaganism as if you were a satanist, etc. It's a bit of fun, but I also think there is a lot of actual insight to be gained here. Of course, we'll get the perspectives of other religions wrong, often to...
  16. V

    Promote your religion in one sentence (fun little game)

    Here are the rules: 1. Name your faith (or lack thereof). 2. Give your very best reason for why we should adopt your faith. ONE reason. In one sentence. Of reasonable length (No more than, say, 300 characters.) It's supposed to be a bit of interesting fun! 3. No debate: After your first reply...
  17. V

    When you ask me to "open my heart and pray..."? [Question to believers]

    Sometimes in religious debates, christians will ask atheists such as myself to just "open my heart, let Jesus in, and pray that he reveal himself to me". That makes me wonder: Assuming that I were to follow your kind advice -- what exactly is it you imagine that I do? How would I go about doing...
  18. V

    Reading the Psalms as an Atheist (rant)

    I'm currently in the process of learning the first 10 psalms by heart. In hebrew. As an atheist. Yep, I'm that strange. I only got to Ps 3 by now. (I browsed the rest.) Anyway. Even though I read some of them before, I simply had no idea of the true nature of those texts. These texts reek...
  19. V

    Sources on the actual age of Chakras and Yoga

    I recently ran across the claim that the concept of Chakras, as currently taught in the "west", and the whole concept of Yoga along with it, is actually NOT an ancient Hindu idea, but was exported from western countries into India in the 19th century. Along with that came the claim that a lot of...
  20. V

    How are systems like the kabbalah supposed to "work"?

    Suppose I knew all the secrets of the kabbalah, or of hermeticism or gnosticism... then what? How is that knowledge supposed to change me? Put in simplistic terms, "what's in it for me"? What is the goal? I never quite understood that. In buddhism, meditation is obviously a transformative...
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