Exaltist Ethan
Bridging the Gap Between Believers and Skeptics
I was chatting with Chat GPT today.
I asked it several questions about theology. First, I posed it the question: "what religions believe we are creating God?" It didn't list religions but rather the theologies posed in the ideas of panentheism and the cumulative concept known has process theology. I then asked it several questions about this, and have now realized with the help of Chat GPT that my combination of beliefs in panendeism and syntheism is actually one unified idea of panentheism. Chat GPT confirmed to me that this idea makes sense from a theological prospective.
But something happened today that I found interesting. Often when I asked questions regarding the general concept of panentheism and paired it with the idea of Christianity, it often cited the United Church of Christ for its progressive theology and having it to be influenced by the theology. I am currently attending a Mennonite church and exploring my options for various religions, and I found the pacifism that Mennonites hold dearly to be respectable. However, the United Church of Christ was said by Chat GPT to hold a wider view point of divinity than held by most Mennonites.
Several months ago I looked on the UCC website for local churches of it nearby, and there's only one on the south side, and that congregation only speaks Spanish, unfortunately. I asked Chat GPT where nearby UCC churches were, but I think it gave me false positives. As someone who is shopping around for different religions, I was considering possibly trying to find Christians who possibly may be in the realm of as panentheists themselves, even if I myself don't strictly view myself Christian, either by practicing or culturally.
I joined my local Unitarian Universalist congregation but I found their religion to lack substantive spiritual, theological or religious structure. When I attend service it seemed like talking about the big ideas was discouraged, and my Chalice Circle group always wanted to avoid these types of subjects. I am still shopping for different religions and besides a mosque that is nearby everything here seems to be Christian, typically either Pentecostal or Lutheran. I don't really feel like I belong, not even with the progressive Mennonites, because while I do consider myself pacifist, I'm not fully on board with the message of Christ or accepting everything in the Bible.
Chat GPT said explicatively that there are no religions which panentheism is the core belief of the religion. It listed various religions which people may hold that belief, but none which panentheism is the focal point of the religion. If I bite my tongue I can still attend my Mennonite services, or if that website was wrong, try to find UCC churches nearby. I contacted the Unity Center (not UCC) in Milwaukee, but my issue with them is how they view thoughts as something magical in or of themselves, something I strongly disagree with, despite being on board for much of how they view their theology. I also attended a liberal Quaker meeting but felt uncomfortable in silent worship, despite agreeing with what seems to be their belief in process theology, or the inner light of divinity imbued within everyone.
I also contacted the Milwaukee Baha'is and found that while there are 500 local Baha'is around here, only a tenth of those do any amount of community participation, so meeting up to talk about religion with them is very difficult and even when I do I often disagree with them on what Baha'u'llah taught or on theological issues.
As someone who believes and practices in a certain degree of Omnism, searching for the right religion seems to be difficult when the most important parts of theology for me aren't the most important parts of theology for virtually any other religion around here. There are religions who meet up online, like the Terasem Joiners, but when I tried to attend their Second Life location, their virtual island was deserted and was quite rudimentary. As someone whose focus is on syntheism, panendeism and omnism, rather than Christ, it's almost impossible to find people who are religious around my community who isn't explicatively focused on Jesus.
I'm sure if I went looking for it, I could find a ride for Unitarian Universalist services, just as I have found for the local Mennonites. I ended things poorly with them though, because nobody was willing to give me a ride to Chalice Circles when I decided to move out of the central city, where the church is located. I am a lapsed Baha'i member as I no longer pray to the Baha-God I really don't believe in, and I don't fast, even though I still get magazines from both the UUs and Baha'is every few months or so.
My thread and poll asking about theologies led me to realize that there are many people here who self-identify as panentheists, and I was wondering what they do to find community in a landscape where panentheism is never taught or practiced in any religious circle. If I bite my tongue I can keep going to progressive Christian or UU services, but I know that their values and mine don't really combine, even with the Unitarians, because I don't identify as a Democrat, progressive or liberal on most issues. I do agree with the right to search for meaning for oneself, but when it comes to political issues I'm often biting my tongue as I disagree with their view points.
If we are being binary here, I would consider myself more right-wing leaning and more on the religious side, but most people who identify as such are fundamentalists, evangelicals, or non-denom Christians that I have virtually nothing in common with. I tend to vote Republican but on referendums I typically vote more liberal.
So that's where I'm at right now. I told the Mennonites that I'd stay with their community, but as someone who leans right more than half of the time, and a non-Christian, I typically disagree more often than not with what they believe in. There seems to be a community for everybody except for those who self-identify and focus on most of all on process theology, syntheism or panentheism. I'm associating myself with people who really don't think like me, they don't vote like me, and most of them are twice my age because the religious landscape is filled with senior citizens. There are things I do like about progressive religions, such as the ecumenical nature of them, gender and sexuality equality, and openness to alternative theologies, but whenever it comes to talking about politics I'm always biting my tongue.
Earthseed as a religion doesn't have a church to gather in. It doesn't have a community unlike other religions. There is a transhumanist church in Florida, but I refuse to move to a different state to be close to a church which everyone has a phobia of death. Transhumanists are good with technology and meeting them online is often fast and easy, even if we are too few and far apart, but most transhumanists are atheists rather than syntheist or spiritual in any way. I have associated myself with several techno-religions online, but I have dismantled my own subset of Earthseed as I felt I was more often than not disagreeing with what I originally stated in my Fandom and original website articles I wrote. And while I was getting traffic on them, I was attracting the wrong people with it. I still very much so believe in the basic concept of Exaltism, and I still espouse that on this website, as an advanced form of Earthseed that I have come to become synchronized with in time.
As an Omnist I should be okay with going from community to community and searching and exploring different religion and spiritual traditions, but the part of me who identifies as syntheist and panendeist feels left out, and the part of me who identifies as Republican also feels left out when I'm talking to these liberal Christians I really don't agree with them on anything and I'm just trying to find some amount of community. My best friend is Mormon but personally believes in Taoism, and he has taught me that being in right relation is better than always being right on differences, but sometimes I just want to be around people who think like me sometimes, and I find that virtually impossible to do. My parents are atheist Republicans and so we talk about politics but whenever I talk about religion with them they look and feel uncomfortable when I bring it up in discussion, as they distanced themselves from Catholicism by the time they became adults.
And that's about it. I'm still actively searching for religion and meaning in a life which I've opted out of a normal life, but I often talk to people and associate myself with people who really don't agree with me about anything. I'm pro-business, pro-religion, and pretty much pro-any organization, I've even learn to tame my hatred for unions as they forced my family to close their business several decades ago. But the kind of religion I truly believe in doesn't exist, as Earthseed lacks any real community or connection besides a website, and I'm not in the position of any power to do anything about it. So, even though I self-identify myself as part of the Earthseed movement, and Republican, I'm most likely going to talk to and associate with liberal, progressive Christians whom I usually disagree with because I want some degree of community in my life that I've been lacking without a career or volunteer job.
I'm in a really unfortunate position and I'm wondering if anyone else can relate to it.
I asked it several questions about theology. First, I posed it the question: "what religions believe we are creating God?" It didn't list religions but rather the theologies posed in the ideas of panentheism and the cumulative concept known has process theology. I then asked it several questions about this, and have now realized with the help of Chat GPT that my combination of beliefs in panendeism and syntheism is actually one unified idea of panentheism. Chat GPT confirmed to me that this idea makes sense from a theological prospective.
But something happened today that I found interesting. Often when I asked questions regarding the general concept of panentheism and paired it with the idea of Christianity, it often cited the United Church of Christ for its progressive theology and having it to be influenced by the theology. I am currently attending a Mennonite church and exploring my options for various religions, and I found the pacifism that Mennonites hold dearly to be respectable. However, the United Church of Christ was said by Chat GPT to hold a wider view point of divinity than held by most Mennonites.
Several months ago I looked on the UCC website for local churches of it nearby, and there's only one on the south side, and that congregation only speaks Spanish, unfortunately. I asked Chat GPT where nearby UCC churches were, but I think it gave me false positives. As someone who is shopping around for different religions, I was considering possibly trying to find Christians who possibly may be in the realm of as panentheists themselves, even if I myself don't strictly view myself Christian, either by practicing or culturally.
I joined my local Unitarian Universalist congregation but I found their religion to lack substantive spiritual, theological or religious structure. When I attend service it seemed like talking about the big ideas was discouraged, and my Chalice Circle group always wanted to avoid these types of subjects. I am still shopping for different religions and besides a mosque that is nearby everything here seems to be Christian, typically either Pentecostal or Lutheran. I don't really feel like I belong, not even with the progressive Mennonites, because while I do consider myself pacifist, I'm not fully on board with the message of Christ or accepting everything in the Bible.
Chat GPT said explicatively that there are no religions which panentheism is the core belief of the religion. It listed various religions which people may hold that belief, but none which panentheism is the focal point of the religion. If I bite my tongue I can still attend my Mennonite services, or if that website was wrong, try to find UCC churches nearby. I contacted the Unity Center (not UCC) in Milwaukee, but my issue with them is how they view thoughts as something magical in or of themselves, something I strongly disagree with, despite being on board for much of how they view their theology. I also attended a liberal Quaker meeting but felt uncomfortable in silent worship, despite agreeing with what seems to be their belief in process theology, or the inner light of divinity imbued within everyone.
I also contacted the Milwaukee Baha'is and found that while there are 500 local Baha'is around here, only a tenth of those do any amount of community participation, so meeting up to talk about religion with them is very difficult and even when I do I often disagree with them on what Baha'u'llah taught or on theological issues.
As someone who believes and practices in a certain degree of Omnism, searching for the right religion seems to be difficult when the most important parts of theology for me aren't the most important parts of theology for virtually any other religion around here. There are religions who meet up online, like the Terasem Joiners, but when I tried to attend their Second Life location, their virtual island was deserted and was quite rudimentary. As someone whose focus is on syntheism, panendeism and omnism, rather than Christ, it's almost impossible to find people who are religious around my community who isn't explicatively focused on Jesus.
I'm sure if I went looking for it, I could find a ride for Unitarian Universalist services, just as I have found for the local Mennonites. I ended things poorly with them though, because nobody was willing to give me a ride to Chalice Circles when I decided to move out of the central city, where the church is located. I am a lapsed Baha'i member as I no longer pray to the Baha-God I really don't believe in, and I don't fast, even though I still get magazines from both the UUs and Baha'is every few months or so.
My thread and poll asking about theologies led me to realize that there are many people here who self-identify as panentheists, and I was wondering what they do to find community in a landscape where panentheism is never taught or practiced in any religious circle. If I bite my tongue I can keep going to progressive Christian or UU services, but I know that their values and mine don't really combine, even with the Unitarians, because I don't identify as a Democrat, progressive or liberal on most issues. I do agree with the right to search for meaning for oneself, but when it comes to political issues I'm often biting my tongue as I disagree with their view points.
If we are being binary here, I would consider myself more right-wing leaning and more on the religious side, but most people who identify as such are fundamentalists, evangelicals, or non-denom Christians that I have virtually nothing in common with. I tend to vote Republican but on referendums I typically vote more liberal.
So that's where I'm at right now. I told the Mennonites that I'd stay with their community, but as someone who leans right more than half of the time, and a non-Christian, I typically disagree more often than not with what they believe in. There seems to be a community for everybody except for those who self-identify and focus on most of all on process theology, syntheism or panentheism. I'm associating myself with people who really don't think like me, they don't vote like me, and most of them are twice my age because the religious landscape is filled with senior citizens. There are things I do like about progressive religions, such as the ecumenical nature of them, gender and sexuality equality, and openness to alternative theologies, but whenever it comes to talking about politics I'm always biting my tongue.
Earthseed as a religion doesn't have a church to gather in. It doesn't have a community unlike other religions. There is a transhumanist church in Florida, but I refuse to move to a different state to be close to a church which everyone has a phobia of death. Transhumanists are good with technology and meeting them online is often fast and easy, even if we are too few and far apart, but most transhumanists are atheists rather than syntheist or spiritual in any way. I have associated myself with several techno-religions online, but I have dismantled my own subset of Earthseed as I felt I was more often than not disagreeing with what I originally stated in my Fandom and original website articles I wrote. And while I was getting traffic on them, I was attracting the wrong people with it. I still very much so believe in the basic concept of Exaltism, and I still espouse that on this website, as an advanced form of Earthseed that I have come to become synchronized with in time.
As an Omnist I should be okay with going from community to community and searching and exploring different religion and spiritual traditions, but the part of me who identifies as syntheist and panendeist feels left out, and the part of me who identifies as Republican also feels left out when I'm talking to these liberal Christians I really don't agree with them on anything and I'm just trying to find some amount of community. My best friend is Mormon but personally believes in Taoism, and he has taught me that being in right relation is better than always being right on differences, but sometimes I just want to be around people who think like me sometimes, and I find that virtually impossible to do. My parents are atheist Republicans and so we talk about politics but whenever I talk about religion with them they look and feel uncomfortable when I bring it up in discussion, as they distanced themselves from Catholicism by the time they became adults.
And that's about it. I'm still actively searching for religion and meaning in a life which I've opted out of a normal life, but I often talk to people and associate myself with people who really don't agree with me about anything. I'm pro-business, pro-religion, and pretty much pro-any organization, I've even learn to tame my hatred for unions as they forced my family to close their business several decades ago. But the kind of religion I truly believe in doesn't exist, as Earthseed lacks any real community or connection besides a website, and I'm not in the position of any power to do anything about it. So, even though I self-identify myself as part of the Earthseed movement, and Republican, I'm most likely going to talk to and associate with liberal, progressive Christians whom I usually disagree with because I want some degree of community in my life that I've been lacking without a career or volunteer job.
I'm in a really unfortunate position and I'm wondering if anyone else can relate to it.
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