I'm not really sure if this is what I want.

[Quadadiddle]

I've read about.. 360 pages of "Angels & Demons" and as usual, Dan Brown is throwing thousands of questions into my mind.

I know that the book is mostly fictional, but it doesn't stop me from probing my mind and what I'm doing.

I mean, part of my believes in the gods and goddesses, and then I question myself: "I always said one of Christianity's big flaws was that there was only one God that did everything.. but in Wicca, how can we Worship just one Goddess, when in every Wicca/Pagan book, it mentions many other gods and goddesses who do other things. What makes The Tri-Moon Goddess so special? I don't know what she controls. All I've heard is that we worship her, and I naively followed it"

I've always been afraid to question my faith in Wicca, knowing that the scientist within me would disprove everything is I sat down and thought about it.
And the only thing that intrigues me with Wicca anymore is based off science. And that would be color magic. Scientifically, it makes so much sense.

And yeah, I know that the religion I was looking for and my beliefs are mostly aligned with Wicca and other Earth-based religions, but I'm not sure if I was looking for a religion, or faith. Because those are two completely different things.

My religion is currently Wicca, but my faith is elsewhere. My faith is in the hands of science, patiently waiting for every religious belief to be explained scientifically.

How can I follow one religion, when I so eagerly want it ALL to be disproved.

I'm not really sure where I'm at with my religion and Wicca right now.

With the color magic thing. It states color is vibration. And that by altering our vibrations with energy, we can alter color. Our aura is just a representation of what vibrations our body has. Not some inner spirit that sends out signals to those sensitive enough to sense them.

Sure, that's how it's (pretty much) summed up in a Wicca book, but to me that's pure science, not religion.

I'm sensing some definate late-night thinking sessions soon.  

[Jameta]

Just because something is explained and understood doesn't mean it has to be mundane. In fact, I tend to believe in things more if there is some scientific wonder about it.

Let's consider a great mystery: the Crystal Skulls of Latin America. They're these 12 skulls (although we only have 5) that are well proportioned to the average size of a human head, most of them having design qualities from the natives that probably produced them. They're made out of various types of quartz crystal. The legend goes taht once we find all twelve, their will be a major change going on with humanity, and they are somehow able to transfer information from the ancients that created them to the current generation.

Scientists have examined these skulls, many thinking they were hoaxes. However, absolutely no kind of tool mark has been found on the skulls, meaning no chisel and no laser. I am more intrigued, though, my what they're made of: quartz. Quartz is also used to made silicon chips for computers, which we know can contain lots on information. So, scientifically, they're really could be something in the skulls.

Going to faith and religion, there is nothing baring science from being part of it. Considering the Bibilical Cannon, a good portion of it is a giant metaphor for things, as well as a history of cultural perspectives (heck, it may even have merit in some of the stories). Going to Wicca, then, the Gods and Goddesses may be personifications of the energies or concepts projected by certain things, such as with the Tri-Goddess. Why do we like personifications? I have no expertise in psychology, but we do it for a reason: to understand and connect with what is in our environment. People in do it in spite of explanation, especially artists. For some reason, we really don't care if there's a "mundane" process behind it- we feel something. That's where the faith and religion part of it comes in, the emotion and subconciousness.

Also consider we may be "hard-wired" for connecting to something:

In an excerpt from the book Soul Types, Robert Norton and Richard Southern

Now, the work of Dr. Andrew Newberg, a radiologist at the University of Pennsylvania, suggest a startling idea: humans are innately structured to believe in God. To put it another way, Gay is hardwired into the human brain!

Newberg has developed a biological theory that says there is a neurological basis for the great human hunger for God. This theory has made him a leading figure in the merging science of neurotheology, which explores the link between spirituality and the brain. Newberg's research is based on work begun in the 1970s by the psychiatrist and anthropologist Eugene d'Aquili, who theorized that brain functions were capable of producing religious experiences, ranging from the most profound spiritual experience of mystical union with God to the quiet sense of holiness one feels at prayer.

Newberg and d'Aquili teamed up in the 1990s. Together, they worked to refine and test the latter's theory, using imaging technology to map the brains of Tibetan Buddhist monks deep in meditation and Franciscan nuns deep in contemplative prayer. The photographic results appeared to be pictures of the brain in a state of mystical transcendence. Newberg and d'Aquili discovered that the intense spiritual contemplation triggers an alteration in the activity of the brain that leads us to perceive transcendent religious experience as solid and tangibly real. So what Buddhist monks call "oneness with the universe," and the Franciscan nuns call "the palpable presence of God," is not delusional wishful thinking but a series of neurological events that can be objectively observed, recorded, and photographed.

Vince Rause interviewed Newberg and wrote a compelling article, "The Science of God: searching for the Divine":

In the article, Rause

Newberg tells me something I'm not sure I can grasp: that the fabled "higher reality" described by mystics might, in fact be real.

"You mean figuratively real." I saw with a troubled squint.

"No," he says, "As real as this table. More real, in fact."

"You're saying your research proved this higher reality exists?" I ask.

"I'm saying the possibility of such a reality is not inconsistent with science," he says.

"But you can't observe such a thing in a scientific way, can you?"

Newberg grins. He hasn't simply observed such a state; he has managed to take it picture.

"Does this mean that God is just a perception generated by the brain, or has the brain been wired to experience the reality of God?" I ask.

"The best and most rational answer I can give to both questions," Newberg answers, "is yes."

Their research suggests that all these feelings are rooted not in emotion or wishful thinking but in the genetically arranged wiring of the brain.

"Religion thrives in an age of reason," Newberg says.

If science really was the "true" answer for all, the ancient civilizations would have begotten their faiths and religions long ago. However, they felt this explanation came from somewhere; again, the whole 'feeling' thing. And if science was omnipotent, it would be able to explain more things than it does today.

As for the colors, the Aboriginees of Austrailia have a rainbow snake that echos the colors of the light spectrum. Just thought I'd throw that in. I also hope I made sense- I just woke-up a little while ago. sweatdrop  

[WebenBanu]

Perhaps I can help here- I'm not Wiccan, so if I take a mis-step hopefully some Wiccans will come in and correct me, but this seems like an interesting conversation and I'd like to participate.^_^

As I recall, Wiccans believe in a unity of divinity which is manifested through various channels- like rays of light emanating from the sun. So there is the One, Whose emanations can be classified as the God and the Goddess, and then likewise within the God and the Goddess there are several different classifications of divine manifestation which are known as the gods and goddesses of different pantheons. Just as the sun is able to illuminate the entire Earth, then, touching many different parts of it at one time, Divinity is able to touch every part of existence. It's just that big.

As for religion and science- religion is science, its a science which specifically concentrates on the spiritual aspects of existence. Religion isn't something which should be accepted blindly, in my opinion, it should be examined on the basis of its own theoretical/theological laws about the way the world works and how well they function in practice. You are your experiment, and those outside your religion are your control group. What sort of effect does your religion have on your life? Does it help you to live your life more fully? More effectively? I find that a good way to evaluate your life with respect to your religion is to look at it and assume- just for the moment- that the gods are not real. Would you still be doing what you're doing now? If so, then you have a good, solid system. If not, then you might want to think about why.

I believe in the gods because I have felt Them. I have sat down in my shrine and basked in Their presence, I have felt Their touch in the wind and the rain, I have worked with Them towards specific goals, and my life has been altered (for the better) since I began working with Them in a serious fashion. I look at my religion through practical eyes, because I am practical by nature.^_^ I see religion as a developing theory which gives me insight to the intimate functioning of the created world. Magic, in my opinion, is applied religion, and allows me to take that insight and exercise it toward a specific goal.  

[The Bookwyrm]

WebenBanu

As I recall, Wiccans believe in a unity of divinity which is manifested through various channels- like rays of light emanating from the sun. So there is the One, Whose emanations can be classified as the God and the Goddess, and then likewise within the God and the Goddess there are several different classifications of divine manifestation which are known as the gods and goddesses of different pantheons. Just as the sun is able to illuminate the entire Earth, then, touching many different parts of it at one time, Divinity is able to touch every part of existence. It's just that big.

That's exactly what it's like withthe Goddess and God: They encompas all of the gods and goddesses that can be "broken down", so to speak, in times of need to focus energy. If it works for light and colour, why also can't it work for entities of pure energy? The reason, I believe, that there are so many goddesses and gods is simply due to the often times simplistic approach of earlier peoples: they felt that everything needed to have one entity looking over it; that one entity could not oversee everything at one time. Even with the concept of the Goddess and God, we're trying to put things into the simplest terms that we can both understand and draw meaning from.

Yes, reilgion and faith are very different things. But there is a place for science in religion, and vice versa, since science still can't explain everything. And, frankly, it never will be able to.  

[Nihilistic Seraph]

Good job people, you all pretty much said everything I was about to say sweatdrop  

[Grip of Death]

Quadadiddle

I've read about.. 360 pages of "Angels & Demons" and as usual, Dan Brown is throwing thousands of questions into my mind.

I know that the book is mostly fictional, but it doesn't stop me from probing my mind and what I'm doing.

I mean, part of my believes in the gods and goddesses, and then I question myself: "I always said one of Christianity's big flaws was that there was only one God that did everything.. but in Wicca, how can we Worship just one Goddess, when in every Wicca/Pagan book, it mentions many other gods and goddesses who do other things. What makes The Tri-Moon Goddess so special? I don't know what she controls. All I've heard is that we worship her, and I naively followed it"

I've always been afraid to question my faith in Wicca, knowing that the scientist within me would disprove everything is I sat down and thought about it.
And the only thing that intrigues me with Wicca anymore is based off science. And that would be color magic. Scientifically, it makes so much sense.

And yeah, I know that the religion I was looking for and my beliefs are mostly aligned with Wicca and other Earth-based religions, but I'm not sure if I was looking for a religion, or faith. Because those are two completely different things.

My religion is currently Wicca, but my faith is elsewhere. My faith is in the hands of science, patiently waiting for every religious belief to be explained scientifically.

How can I follow one religion, when I so eagerly want it ALL to be disproved.

I'm not really sure where I'm at with my religion and Wicca right now.

With the color magic thing. It states color is vibration. And that by altering our vibrations with energy, we can alter color. Our aura is just a representation of what vibrations our body has. Not some inner spirit that sends out signals to those sensitive enough to sense them.

Sure, that's how it's (pretty much) summed up in a Wicca book, but to me that's pure science, not religion.

I'm sensing some definate late-night thinking sessions soon.

I didn't read the other replies yet, but I wanted to speak off the first post anyway smile

Don't be afraid of exploring your spirituality. This is your life. This religious and spiritual stuff is supposed to be like a lifetime journey, isn't it? Everyday you learn something new. Perhaps you have learned so much about Wicca, or you're not finding a nice fit with all that encompasses Wicca that you've grown tired of pursuing that path? But if you ever decide to drop the path, you can be rest assured you at least have a lot of experience about it under your belt, and you can still understand and relate to other Wiccans as a result of taking that path.

Being a skeptic, or wanting to look at reality from the observable, measureable point of view is totally ok. no matter what path you take in your life, it's still very possible to find meaning in your life.

It's my personal observations that science and spirituality do not contradict each other, but while the science can measure the physical 3-d reality, the spiritual realms cannot unfortunately be measured as easily.  

[Jameta]

Good quote I recently found:

"Religion is for him* a concious linking of phenomenon with noumenon."

This is from an essay (most of it going over my head sweatdrop ), but the "him" it is referring to is a "pagan", or one searching to connect with the 'higher' energies through nature or beyond the confines of man.  

[FireonYce]

Ok well I am not going to do much of the explaining of religion or such. The path you choose is in fact yours to choose. Through the course of my life I have always followed what I believe. Go with your instincts and beliefs. Just think over what you feel. Sometimes the best thing to do is iron out your beliefs on paper. See what you believe and don't. Whatever you believe You should know (ever if its not pagan or anything) You have the love and support of everyone here to do what you feel is right. Sometime what you feel is different then what you think. Just remember we support you.

Christo  

[QueenCrystal]

Christo Minaverus

Ok well I am not going to do much of the explaining of religion or such. The path you choose is in fact yours to choose. Through the course of my life I have always followed what I believe. Go with your instincts and beliefs. Just think over what you feel. Sometimes the best thing to do is iron out your beliefs on paper. See what you believe and don't. Whatever you believe You should know (ever if its not pagan or anything) You have the love and support of everyone here to do what you feel is right. Sometime what you feel is different then what you think. Just remember we support you.

Christo

I think thats a really good suggestion hes had, and after reading all of the posts here, I just want to back other people up. I, my self used to be Christan. I'd question my beliefs and my faith contiously. I knew almost everything there was to know about the religion christianity. My faith washed into other things when I started exploring other religons. After chosing what I wanted to become, I myself, based all of my decisons on how I felt about everything. I dont think there will ever been a religon based only off of science. There will be some as Jameta said "emotions/feelings" that also backs behind it. As Christo said, I support you my self. And I do wish you luck. It took me about 2 years to decide if I should leave Christianity.