Is it possible to cherry pick and follow what you like?

[Desert Snake]

I think this is a great statement

Hmm is there a reason why? Cherry picking is how the religious beliefs make sense to a persons own reality, sometimes. To avoid conversation, when asked if I was a christian, I simply answered yes, (irl), and because the people or I 'll go with one incident, the person thought I was, hmm Jewish I think, they differentiated between a 'jewish' person, and a "christian". The point being, since people actually are different, etc, then why expect them to conform to some specific idea that works for you. It may not even be possible for that person, even if they decided to.

 

[SabahTheLoner]

The left-hand path is a field of cherrypicked ideologies. I think there is truth in every religion, you just need to understand what it is and where to find it.

Using myself as an example, being a Spiritual Satanist inspired deeply by LaVey, even though the Satanic Bible (and his other works) is comparatively outdated and dogmatic, I think the philosophy in the book itself is worth holding on to, specifically the stuff about the value of life, freedom to express oneself and the importance of ritual. But I am a polytheist and spiritualist as well, something I adopted after I reflected on my experiences in nature and with emotions, which LaVeyan Satanism rejects. Polytheistic religions, in my opinion, explain the world in such a bueatifully archetypal way by giving the forces, known or otherwise, unique identities.

So yeah picking out what you like in religions is a pretty good way to approach not just your personal practice but to an extent yourself.

 

[ThePainefulTruth]

I've identified as an atheist, explored Islam and Buddhism, and have spent the most time, following Christianity. I'm interested in the Left Hand Path right now, and what's interesting, is that in each and every path, I find something incredibly useful to my own life. I find things that are negative and not helpful, but even in Christianity, there are tenets of the faith that I think are worth carrying around with me.

Is it possible to cherry pick what we like from different beliefs and follow them all?

No, the Truth is the Truth. The rule is that you find Truth and follow that; not decide what you'd like to believe, then cherry pick whatever appears to fit without close examination.

 

[Deidre]

The left-hand path is a field of cherrypicked ideologies. I think there is truth in every religion, you just need to understand what it is and where to find it.

Using myself as an example, being a Spiritual Satanist inspired deeply by LaVey, even though the Satanic Bible (and his other works) is comparatively outdated and dogmatic, I think the philosophy in the book itself is worth holding on to, specifically the stuff about the value of life, freedom to express oneself and the importance of ritual. But I am a polytheist and spiritualist as well, something I adopted after I reflected on my experiences in nature and with emotions, which LaVeyan Satanism rejects. Polytheistic religions, in my opinion, explain the world in such a bueatifully archetypal way by giving the forces, known or otherwise, unique identities.

So yeah picking out what you like in religions is a pretty good way to approach not just your personal practice but to an extent yourself.

That's interesting that the LHP is how you describe. I think that the truth is conveyed to all of us differently, thus many different faiths and religions out there. I read a little about LaVey recently, and his 'Bible' seems dogmatic, which some of his followers liked, some didn't. It sounds like this is how those who call themselves 'Setians' came to be, as a 'split' from LaVey's church, because they didn't like the direction he was going.

I've never considered polytheism, I wouldn't know where to begin. lol

 

[Ponder This]

Is it possible to cherry pick what we like from different beliefs and follow them all?

Sure. It's possible, but I don't think it's wise to cherry pick. Rather, it is easy to do so: to simply take the parts you "like" and ignore or reject the parts you don't.

The difference between cherry picking and being eclectic is like the difference between someone who only eats candy from every culture and someone who actually eats full meals from every culture. The cherry picker doesn't actually have diverse tastes.

 

[Sunstone]

The problem with cherry picking is that it can be an egocentric search like trying on shoes until one finds the shoes that fit.

"Egocentric"? That makes me smile. Some of the wisest humans in history have cherry-picked religions. Jesus cherry-picked Judaism, or at least his followers did. The ancient Hebrews cherry-picked their neighbor's religions. The Flood story comes from the Sumerian religion, the Song of Songs is at the very least inspired by Egyptian love songs. Buddha cherry-picked Hinduism. Zen cherry picked Shinto and Chinese Buddhism. Mohammad cherry picked Judaism, Christianity, and earlier Arabian traditions. And those are just some of the religious leaders shenanigans. But I guess all those guys were "egocentric". Thanks for the chuckles!

 

[illykitty]

I don't think there's anything wrong with it, as long as one recognises that it's their own eclectic path and not call it [religion name].

I don't think there's a truth, a religion which has all of the answers. A lot of religions make that claim but I've never found any that was The Truth. They say they have proof, often these are incredibly similar to each other, some old scripture, supposed prophets that claiming divine messages were directly told to them, supposed prophecy fulfilled, people claiming miracles, lives supposedly changed, etc. The more I look into it, the more I see a repeating pattern emerge. Like I said, it is of religions which claim to be the one path to follow, other religions can be less dogmatic and not make such claims.

It doesn't mean that there's nothing of value within the religions. I just think that there's a lot of outdated morals and teachings in them. Instead of letting humans progress, they're making them stagnate. One can learn from the good bits and apply the useful teachings without stopping the evolution of our ethics.

 

[shunyadragon]

"Egocentric"? That makes me smile. Some of the wisest humans in history have cherry-picked religions. Jesus cherry-picked Judaism, or at least his followers did. The ancient Hebrews cherry-picked their neighbor's religions. The Flood story comes from the Sumerian religion, the Song of Songs is at the very least inspired by Egyptian love songs. Buddha cherry-picked Hinduism. Zen cherry picked Shinto and Chinese Buddhism. Mohammad cherry picked Judaism, Christianity, and earlier Arabian traditions. And those are just some of the religious leaders shenanigans. But I guess all those guys were "egocentric". Thanks for the chuckles!

I disagree with what you describe above as cherry picking, and as per what the thread author proposed. I consider it an intellectual exercise by individuals to us logic to sort through different religions to make your own.

There numerous problems with your examples. Zen did not cherry pick Shinto and Chinese Buddhism. Shinto and and the various schools of Buddhism have remained distinctly separate throughout Japanese history. They both deal with different aspects of Chinese culture and society. Historically Shinto is the warrior hierarchical ruling class religion. The origins of Zen are specific to a branch of Buddhism that originated in China and emphasizes a classless non-violent religion, and did come in conflict with Japanese Shinto warrior class during World War II.

Smiles are free.

 

[Sunstone]

There numerous problems with your examples. Zen did not cherry pick Shinto and Chinese Buddhism. Shinto and and the various schools of Buddhism have remained distinctly separate throughout Japanese history. They both deal with different aspects of Chinese culture and society. Historically Shinto is the warrior hierarchical ruling class religion. The origins of Zen are specific to a branch of Buddhism that originated in China and emphasizes a classless non-violent religion, and did come in conflict with Japanese Shinto warrior class during World War II.

Sources?

I've never before heard your theories before in my life, not in all the time I've spent studying East Asian cultures, history, anthropology, and religions. So I'm very curious to hear of your sources.

 

[Sundance]

I've identified as an atheist, explored Islam and Buddhism, and have spent the most time, following Christianity. I'm interested in the Left Hand Path right now, and what's interesting, is that in each and every path, I find something incredibly useful to my own life. I find things that are negative and not helpful, but even in Christianity, there are tenets of the faith that I think are worth carrying around with me.

Is it possible to cherry pick what we like from different beliefs and follow them all?

Groovy question, Deidre.

I think @Carlita had hinted at this, but I'm going to communicate my perspective coming from my own experiences.


In the ever-alluded to World Cultures class, which I loved as a cosmopolitan (even from my days as a youth), one of the lessons I took away from it is that religion is but one aspect of the broader thing called “culture”. When one speaks of religions, he or she is tackling (for the most part) the beliefs, practices, and sacred traditions of specific culture groups. As I soon learned, people in different cultures, many times, have dominant religions which can vastly differ from each other. A year later, in a different class (but same field of study), we studied different ancient cultures. Greece, Rome, Egypt, India China, Japan...oh my God, lots of different ancient cultures!


Anyway, one thing I picked up on was that people in the Ancient World had identified the religion by the culture from which it had originated. Greek religion was Greek, Roman religion was Roman, Hinduism was Indian, Indigenous American religions belonged to those various tribal groups, and so on. For the most part, this is still very much true. Different religions are reflective of the various cultures in which they originate. One must never divorce the two.

As I got older, unfortunately, I became mindless of this. I didn't study the religions (or the cultures of origin) in depth. As a result, my spirituality, my religious beliefs and practices began to reflect this, becoming a haphazard melange of vastly different religious beliefs and practices which didn't exactly fit together.

Nowadays, thanks to various Reconstructionist Pagans and followers of other ethnic religions, I'm beginning to recall the importance of these things, and reshape my religious devotion accordingly.

As for my faith and practice, I have no qualms about adapting my own understandings to the dominant religion(s) of the local culture, syncretizing when necessary. Whenever I do choose to draw from “foreign” religions (those that differ from the dominant religion of a culture, which very well could be its native religion, as is the case with Japan, India, and China), I will only draw from religions that had historical contact with the local religion(s). If I lived in Japan, then I would only mix Shinto with Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, or Daoism, not with Yoruba religion or Celtic religion, as these two cultures had no historical interactions with Japan.


How does this relate to you, you ask?

In summation, dear Deidre, there are three fundamental things to remember involving eclecticism:

- Be mindful of the culture of origin.

- Take care to be sensical. Make sure the mixture makes sense to you.

In everything, EXPRESS YOURSELF!

 

[Thief]

I've identified as an atheist, explored Islam and Buddhism, and have spent the most time, following Christianity. I'm interested in the Left Hand Path right now, and what's interesting, is that in each and every path, I find something incredibly useful to my own life. I find things that are negative and not helpful, but even in Christianity, there are tenets of the faith that I think are worth carrying around with me.

Is it possible to cherry pick what we like from different beliefs and follow them all?

I've seen it written....you cannot serve two masters....

I would pick those items that lead to the Person I consider as mentor

having said that, I do have an expectation
after my last breath I might dare to mention Someone's Name
as the angels are asking what I have 'cherry picked'

they will take me to Him
and when He wants to know....What is this?!
the angelic will stand back excusing themselves......he mentioned your Name
We thought he was one of yours!

and I shall have my day of reckoning with my Lord

 

[SalixIncendium]

The difference between cherry picking and being eclectic is like the difference between someone who only eats candy from every culture and someone who actually eats full meals from every culture. The cherry picker doesn't actually have diverse tastes.

False.

“Eclectic.” Merriam-Webster.com, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eclectic. Accessed 2017.

 

[Deidre]

Sure. It's possible, but I don't think it's wise to cherry pick. Rather, it is easy to do so: to simply take the parts you "like" and ignore or reject the parts you don't.

The difference between cherry picking and being eclectic is like the difference between someone who only eats candy from every culture and someone who actually eats full meals from every culture. The cherry picker doesn't actually have diverse tastes.

I don't know if finding value in various religions/faiths/beliefs, etc is really a matter of ''tastes,'' but simply that there are a number of philosophical ideas that are part of religions, or stand alone ideas that are useful in life. Not just my life, anyone's life. The teachings of Buddha are incredibly valuable, but I'm not a Buddhist. The teachings of Jesus are incredibly valuable, but I don't believe that the Bible is literal nor do I feel I need to become a practicing Christian. The Left Hand Path has incredible insights, but I'm not a Satanist. That's what eclectic means, imo. It means finding true value in a lot of different belief systems, but not becoming a card carrying member of those belief systems. Maybe I'm commitment-phobic? lol

 

[Deidre]

False.

“Eclectic.” Merriam-Webster.com, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eclectic. Accessed 2017.

And 'best' doesn't mean ''easy,'' as some people think that cherry pickers choose what's fun and easy of a faith or belief system, and toss the harder stuff. No, I just toss the dogma that seems irrational, bigoted and nonsensical.

 

[Deidre]

I've seen it written....you cannot serve two masters....

I would pick those items that lead to the Person I consider as mentor

having said that, I do have an expectation
after my last breath I might dare to mention Someone's Name
as the angels are asking what I have 'cherry picked'

they will take me to Him
and when He wants to know....What is this?!
the angelic will stand back excusing themselves......he mentioned your Name
We thought he was one of yours!

and I shall have my day of reckoning with my Lord

You're right, we can't serve two masters, but why can't we glean insights from other faiths? I realize the title of my thread might be a bit off, but by ''follow'' I meant, applying certain insights and principles to one's life. Should one feel that he/she is betraying their belief system, simply because they glean some valuable insights from another (possibly opposing) religion? Take for example, Islam. I explored this with interest a few years ago. There are a great many positive insights that can be found in Islam, and Christianity yet both are somewhat opposed to one another, since Muslims don't believe in the Trinity, nor does Islam teach that Jesus died for mankind's sins. Does that mean that the entirety of Islam should be ignored by a Christian? I mean, one doesn't have to like any of it, but all I'm saying is that you don't have to follow a particular faith or adhere to its tenets, to think it offers some valuable advice and insight for your own life.

 

[Sha'irullah]

You're right, we can't serve two masters

I beg to differ. I am a hard polytheists and I serve many masters without contradictions. I think it boils down to what are you achieving when you serve and for what purpose. When you are in college you have multiple instructors on the same day during certain periods. Each of them is uncorrelated and rarely knows the other but they can plot together if need be and in some cases do so often.

WARNING: Prepare for rant!

This concept of a monotheistic absolute supreme being is a load of horse**** that is just self service to people who actually are monotheists. Nothing is wrong with going mono but to say that polytheism is somehow contradictory is to pull your pants down and take #2 on 4,000+ years of civilized history. It is not even up for any discussion whatsoever how polytheism works or can hypothetically work in any given situation.

Even the Abrahamist who claim to be monotheists are just polytheists with a high god and a set of lower gods called ANGELS! I have yet to see an actual monotheistic religion other than the Atenism. Even that is debatable since the concept of divine intercession was not removed. Any screwhead who says that they are a monotheist are under immediate scrutiny by your truly. THE ONLY people who the nerve to even call themselves monotheists are SIKHS. Yet somehow they are not legitimate for claims of being an Islamic rip off.

Somehow Muslims claim to be monotheists and profess Tawhid like it is a badge of honor yet after every salat they give worshipful lip service to Muhammad and Abraham as if they are going to split the heavens and personally answer a dua! Monotheism as we keep calling it now is just another word for theological idiocy as a result of theological molestation!

 

[Deidre]

@shunyadragon - Hi, did you recommend for me to read a book in this thread? I thought you did, but it might have been someone else. I would like to examine your beliefs, I'm not all that familiar with the Baha'i faith.

 

[Deidre]

I beg to differ. I am a hard polytheists and I serve many masters without contradictions. I think it boils down to what are you achieving when you serve and for what purpose. When you are in college you have multiple instructors on the same day during certain periods. Each of them is uncorrelated and rarely knows the other but they can plot together if need be and in some cases do so often.

WARNING: Prepare for rant!

This concept of a monotheistic absolute supreme being is a load of horse**** that is just self service to people who actually are monotheists. Nothing is wrong with going mono but to say that polytheism is somehow contradictory is to pull your pants down and take #2 on 4,000+ years of civilized history. It is not even up for any discussion whatsoever how polytheism works or can hypothetically work in any given situation.

Even the Abrahamist who claim to be monotheists are just polytheists with a high god and a set of lower gods called ANGELS! I have yet to see an actual monotheistic religion other than the Atenism. Even that is debatable since the concept of divine intercession was not removed. Any screwhead who says that they are a monotheist are under immediate scrutiny by your truly. THE ONLY people who the nerve to even call themselves monotheists are SIKHS. Yet somehow they are not legitimate for claims of being an Islamic rip off.

Somehow Muslims claim to be monotheists and profess Tawhid like it is a badge of honor yet after every salat they give worshipful lip service to Muhammad and Abraham as if they are going to split the heavens and personally answer a dua! Monotheism as we keep calling it now is just another word for theological idiocy as a result of theological molestation!

lol

Maybe they aren't worshiping Muhammad, but are showing reverence? This can be seen in the Catholic Church quite a bit, people ''praying to'' Mary, is the misconception, when really they are asking for her prayers. (showing her reverence)

 

[Sha'irullah]

lol

I believe you meant "LMFAO." This requires more than a "lol."

Maybe they aren't worshiping Muhammad, but are showing reverence? This can be seen in the Catholic Church quite a bit, people ''praying to'' Mary, is the misconception, when really they are asking for her prayers. (showing her reverence)

At the end of the prayer multiple blessings are given to Muhammad and Ibrahim in successions followed by another round of blessings and adorations toward Muhammad and also Muhammad family. That to me is flat out worship to me, especially considering that Muhammad is dead and his name is being given as if he is next to god himself.

Muhammad did not create Islam according to Muslims but merely gave the message so just as the Qur'aniyun say, he should not be given equivalence to god.

 

[Ponder This]

I don't know if finding value in various religions/faiths/beliefs, etc is really a matter of ''tastes,'' but simply that there are a number of philosophical ideas that are part of religions, or stand alone ideas that are useful in life. Not just my life, anyone's life. The teachings of Buddha are incredibly valuable, but I'm not a Buddhist. The teachings of Jesus are incredibly valuable, but I don't believe that the Bible is literal nor do I feel I need to become a practicing Christian. The Left Hand Path has incredible insights, but I'm not a Satanist. That's what eclectic means, imo. It means finding true value in a lot of different belief systems, but not becoming a card carrying member of those belief systems. Maybe I'm commitment-phobic? lol

It a very easy thing to do: to just take the parts you "like", whether it's finding "value" or making you feel good.

The point is that real investigation is difficult. Maybe you just want affirmation that what you are doing is "okay" or "right": that people can take whatever they want from wherever and apply it however they want. But that's not the sort of affirmation a person gets when he doesn't commit to a group. And there's no way for anyone to tell if you are applying any of these valuable insights in a truly useful way.

So it's up to you. You have to self-evaluate and decide if you are doing it because it's easy or because there is real wisdom there. I could just tell you that because there is value in every faith, it's fine to be eclectic, but it doesn't really address the question of whether the best way is to just take whatever you like and throw away what you don't like (aka "cherry picking").