New Age spirituality has become a cesspool of garbage

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DeathFlowerKing
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19 Nov 2022, 8:53 am

I think i'm about ready to throw in the towel and go back to being a lazy atheist.

Christianity has been hijacked by Trumpism while neopaganism has been hijacked by the woke movement.

What's the point in trying to believe in anything anymore now that it's all just a reflection of the s**tshow known as American politics? :|



ToughDiamond
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19 Nov 2022, 5:43 pm

I dumped the New Age decades ago because it started to feel like the same hypocritical crap that I'd seen everywhere else. I agree that it's probably better to be a lazy atheist. I've been that way for a long time. What were you looking for? I suppose I was after like minds, some community that matched my ideology nicely. Nearest thing I found was bunches of anarchists and amateur Lefties of anti-mainstream persuasion, but it was a young person's game. They've grown older now, they've changed a bit and have largely scattered to the winds, but I still feel pretty safe with the ones I've not completely lost touch with, and still like them immensely. Not that I expect much of them.



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19 Nov 2022, 5:55 pm

DeathFlowerKing wrote:
I think i'm about ready to throw in the towel and go back to being a lazy atheist.

Christianity has been hijacked by Trumpism while neopaganism has been hijacked by the woke movement.

What's the point in trying to believe in anything anymore now that it's all just a reflection of the s**tshow known as American politics?
Religion yields confusion.  Science yields knowledge.


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DanielW
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19 Nov 2022, 5:59 pm

Why not simply figure out your own code of conduct and live by it? You don't need anyone else's label.



DeathFlowerKing
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19 Nov 2022, 6:05 pm

ToughDiamond wrote:
I dumped the New Age decades ago because it started to feel like the same hypocritical crap that I'd seen everywhere else. I agree that it's probably better to be a lazy atheist. I've been that way for a long time. What were you looking for? I suppose I was after like minds, some community that matched my ideology nicely. Nearest thing I found was bunches of anarchists and amateur Lefties of anti-mainstream persuasion, but it was a young person's game. They've grown older now, they've changed a bit and have largely scattered to the winds, but I still feel pretty safe with the ones I've not completely lost touch with, and still like them immensely. Not that I expect much of them.


You are right about it being the same hypocritical garbage as everything else...

I guess what I was looking for in things like wicca, witchcraft, and neopaganism was for one thing: something to add a sense of real magic to my life because as a powerless person I wanted to feel like I could gain power in my life with tarot cards and crystals and casting curses and all that s**t (ridiculous I know...) :|


And to be honest i really love mythology. That was one of the things that drew me to this kind of stuff. But now thanks to the woke movement it's like I'm not even allowed to take an interest in the mythical gods, figures, or monsters I WANT to because of 'cultural appropriation'. :roll:



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19 Nov 2022, 8:12 pm

DeathFlowerKing wrote:

You are right about it being the same hypocritical garbage as everything else...

I guess what I was looking for in things like wicca, witchcraft, and neopaganism was for one thing: something to add a sense of real magic to my life because as a powerless person I wanted to feel like I could gain power in my life with tarot cards and crystals and casting curses and all that s**t (ridiculous I know...) :|


And to be honest i really love mythology. That was one of the things that drew me to this kind of stuff. But now thanks to the woke movement it's like I'm not even allowed to take an interest in the mythical gods, figures, or monsters I WANT to because of 'cultural appropriation'. :roll:

I had similar "ridiculous" hopes when I was younger. I looked into quite a few mystical and religious practices for the reason I mentioned, plus I found mainstream society so boring and shallow, and I craved something with a bit of magic in it. I wanted the amazing stories I'd heard to be real. But in spite of my efforts I found no trace of anything supernatural, and in the end I realised I'd been flogging a dead horse. So now the only "magic" I have is from well-written fiction and, crucially, in the fascinating mystery of the human mind. But that's good enough for me.



enz
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19 Nov 2022, 8:18 pm

I think yoga community isn’t toxic because it’s more what works than beliefs



DeathFlowerKing
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19 Nov 2022, 8:30 pm

ToughDiamond wrote:
DeathFlowerKing wrote:

You are right about it being the same hypocritical garbage as everything else...

I guess what I was looking for in things like wicca, witchcraft, and neopaganism was for one thing: something to add a sense of real magic to my life because as a powerless person I wanted to feel like I could gain power in my life with tarot cards and crystals and casting curses and all that s**t (ridiculous I know...) :|


And to be honest i really love mythology. That was one of the things that drew me to this kind of stuff. But now thanks to the woke movement it's like I'm not even allowed to take an interest in the mythical gods, figures, or monsters I WANT to because of 'cultural appropriation'. :roll:

I had similar "ridiculous" hopes when I was younger. I looked into quite a few mystical and religious practices for the reason I mentioned, plus I found mainstream society so boring and shallow, and I craved something with a bit of magic in it. I wanted the amazing stories I'd heard to be real. But in spite of my efforts I found no trace of anything supernatural, and in the end I realised I'd been flogging a dead horse. So now the only "magic" I have is from well-written fiction and, crucially, in the fascinating mystery of the human mind. But that's good enough for me.


I guess I can still enjoy works of mythology and fiction. I just have to learn not to take any of it too seriously.

I also love nature. I love flowers, animals, insects, the woods and sea, the moon, sun, and stars in the sky. Etc. That stuff is the closest we have to "real" magic in this world because it has all has a mysterious beauty too it. More beautiful than anything humans can ever create themselves.


As they say, I should probably just stop and smell the flowers. Makes more sense than wasting time trying to literally worship them, right? :flower:



ToughDiamond
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19 Nov 2022, 8:58 pm

DeathFlowerKing wrote:
I love flowers, animals, insects, the woods and sea, the moon, sun, and stars in the sky. Etc. That stuff is the closest we have to "real" magic in this world because it has all has a mysterious beauty too it. More beautiful than anything humans can ever create themselves.

As they say, I should probably just stop and smell the flowers. Makes more sense than wasting time trying to literally worship them, right? :flower:

Yes. Some would call those things spiritual. For me there is no spiritual, but there are certainly things, such as those you've mentioned, that aren't entirely "worldly." And there are others - dreams, music, art, shiny things.

Somebody mentioned yoga. Some of the books about it get too mystical and far-fetched for me these days (though I used to lap them up), but it doesn't have to be approached like that. Even with Raja yoga and other paths to this "enlightenment" thing, it doesn't need to have anything to do with hocus-pocus. The world doesn't have to be a tedious logical rat race. I'll probably always be unusually rational with an annoying tendency to intellectualise the life out of everything, but I've never yet completely forsaken the other side of my brain or whatever it is.



DeathFlowerKing
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19 Nov 2022, 9:03 pm

ToughDiamond wrote:
DeathFlowerKing wrote:
I love flowers, animals, insects, the woods and sea, the moon, sun, and stars in the sky. Etc. That stuff is the closest we have to "real" magic in this world because it has all has a mysterious beauty too it. More beautiful than anything humans can ever create themselves.

As they say, I should probably just stop and smell the flowers. Makes more sense than wasting time trying to literally worship them, right? :flower:

Yes. Some would call those things spiritual. For me there is no spiritual, but there are certainly things, such as those you've mentioned, that aren't entirely "worldly." And there are others - dreams, music, art, shiny things.

Somebody mentioned yoga. Some of the books about it get too mystical and far-fetched for me these days (though I used to lap them up), but it doesn't have to be approached like that. Even with Raja yoga and other paths to this "enlightenment" thing, it doesn't need to have anything to do with hocus-pocus. The world doesn't have to be a tedious logical rat race. I'll probably always be unusually rational with an annoying tendency to intellectualise the life out of everything, but I've never yet completely forsaken the other side of my brain or whatever it is.


I'm afraid to touch things like yoga out of fear of getting harassed by the woke police for the unforgivable sin of 'cultural appropriation' and being labelled as another irredeemably racist evil white boy.

:|



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19 Nov 2022, 9:48 pm

DeathFlowerKing wrote:
I'm afraid to touch things like yoga out of fear of getting harassed by the woke police for the unforgivable sin of 'cultural appropriation' and being labelled as another irredeemably racist evil white boy.
:|

I don't think anybody I know and like would be obnoxious enough to harass me for that, but if you're not so lucky I suppose you could always do yoga in secret.



DeathFlowerKing
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19 Nov 2022, 9:53 pm

ToughDiamond wrote:
DeathFlowerKing wrote:
I'm afraid to touch things like yoga out of fear of getting harassed by the woke police for the unforgivable sin of 'cultural appropriation' and being labelled as another irredeemably racist evil white boy.
:|

I don't think anybody I know and like would be obnoxious enough to harass me for that, but if you're not so lucky I suppose you could always do yoga in secret.


I had thought about practicing witchcraft and paganism in secret but then I thought about how stupid that is that I have to worry about persecution not just from the Christian right-wingers but from the people who claim to follow the same beliefs I had. It's so absurd and now I think this stuff really is just a load of BS. :|



enz
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19 Nov 2022, 10:43 pm

ToughDiamond wrote:
DeathFlowerKing wrote:
I'm afraid to touch things like yoga out of fear of getting harassed by the woke police for the unforgivable sin of 'cultural appropriation' and being labelled as another irredeemably racist evil white boy.
:|

I don't think anybody I know and like would be obnoxious enough to harass me for that, but if you're not so lucky I suppose you could always do yoga in secret.


These days there’s so much stuff online and in books. Would people really care that you do yoga though?



DeathFlowerKing
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19 Nov 2022, 10:55 pm

enz wrote:
ToughDiamond wrote:
DeathFlowerKing wrote:
I'm afraid to touch things like yoga out of fear of getting harassed by the woke police for the unforgivable sin of 'cultural appropriation' and being labelled as another irredeemably racist evil white boy.
:|

I don't think anybody I know and like would be obnoxious enough to harass me for that, but if you're not so lucky I suppose you could always do yoga in secret.


These days there’s so much stuff online and in books. Would people really care that you do yoga though?


You'd be surprised. I didn't think anyone would ever care that I wanted to work with Lilith as my personal deity considering that so many wiccans seem obsessed with her and transformed her from a Jewish Demon into a Goddess of Feminism. Then all of a sudden when I started asking on reddit about ways to work with Lilith I get verbally attacked by some woke witch accusing me of disrespecting the Jewish community with my cultural appropriation and that I needed to leave Lilith alone if I'm not Jewish.

After I basically told her to f**k off with her sanctimonious hypocrisy I decided that maybe all this about witchcraft and wicca really is just a load of pretentious crap...


And this aint the first time some b***h in the neopagan community made me feel very uncomfortable just because I reached out online to seek advice on this stuff. :roll:



enz
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19 Nov 2022, 11:20 pm

Interesting, worst that would happen in nz is me getting called a hippy



ToughDiamond
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19 Nov 2022, 11:53 pm

I don't see why it would be hard to practice yoga without letting any potential disapprovers know. Notwithstanding your experience over Lilith, even if you were open about yoga I wouldn't think there'd be hordes criticising you for it. If you happen to get criticised by one person, what are they going to do about it?

Me, I'd be slightly wary of wearing a t-shirt saying "I do yoga" on it, but I hardly know anybody these days who would think any worse of me for knowing that fact. And I'd be more worried about divulging the fact that I frequently let my practising slide, though even there I'd not be too bothered. Back in the day there were probably a few who would have seen yoga as mumbo-jumbo, but surely not any more? Maybe the odd fundamentalist religionist, but my atheism would probably upset them more.

I guess for every activity or inactivity there's a disapprover somewhere, but if I worried about that I'd never do anything without shrouding it in secrecy.