HHRay and I have vastly different views on creationism, spirituality, and religious beliefs. He’s all about science – if it isn’t proven, it’s not real, Christianity is idiotic and hypocritical, etc. And that’s fair enough.

I’m more about acceptance – you believe what you want to believe and I’ll believe what I want to believe. Don’t insult my beliefs and I’ll grant you the same respect.

A couple of weeks ago we were sitting by the pool and I explained to him what exactly my beliefs are – that I think we all turn into energy when we die, that all living things become interconnected. I explained to him that energy is everywhere – that all living things are are masses of energy, cells are energy, atoms are energy, etc. And energy can’t be created, nor destroyed, only converted.

“But that’s not a religion!” he said. “Ask any scientist what happens when we die and he’ll say the exact same thing.”

In a way he’s right, but I think there’s more to it than that. This is why I believe that religion and science do not have to be polar opposites, and just because a person has more spiritual beliefs and more faith than the other does not mean that that person cannot see from a scientific point of view as well. I believe that yes, there are many different types of energy – heat energy, solar energy, kinetic energy, etc. In fact, it is believed that there are only two types of energies – kinetic energy and potential energy. In the end, it’s all the same thing. I believe that this energy can be manipulated by the mind, that we’re manipulating it unconsciously every single day.

I guess that is the difference between mine and HHRay’s beliefs – he believes in physical manipulation of energy, such as boiling a pot of water and watching it turn to steam, observing a shark propel itself through the water, and other such displays. I believe that energy in itself is alive – after all, it is what makes up every single one of us. I believe that in essence, there is no boundary between me and the person next to me, or between my energy and the energy of the cat that’s dozing on a windowsill on the other side of the world. Therefore, because we are all one big entity of energy, we can manipulate it and everything around us much like we can flex a muscle at will.

I’ve been reading. About religion, specifically. And even more specifically, about The Church of All Worlds. It is so interesting. The Church of All Worlds (CAW) is a neopagan religious group. Their mission is to evolve a network of information, mythology, and experience that reawakens Gaia.

The members of CAW are called Waterkin. They recognize several nature-based Gods, mostly those of ancient Greece, as well as the realm of faeries and deities of other pantheons.

Reading about this religion was extremely interesting, especially because I don’t specifically not believe anything it seems to teach. I mean, I still hold to my idea that we are all a part of an endless pool of energy and that we manipulate it by following the religion and gods that are easiest for us to comprehend, but religions like this one are what is easiest for me, personally, to comprehend. I can see myself following something like this. The extent to which each person can manipulate this pool of energy is dependent on her or his own subconscious views, beliefs, and disbeliefs. I find it easier for myself to comprehend the entire idea by following nature based teachings such as this one. So this makes it easier for me to manipulate this energy to a greater extent.

I love reading about religions that I haven’t heard of before. There’s always something new and exciting to learn.

Everybody’s debating about The Golden Compass. Christians have been attempting to halt the release and convince people to refuse to see the movie, raising their holy voices and screaming at anything they think might listen that the movie is outrageous, anti-Christian, blasphemous, and so on and so forth.

“Clergymen who kidnap children. Witches who aren’t wicked. Even a pair of sexually ambiguous angels. If you thought Harry Potter was blasphemous, wait till you get a look at [this] trilogy,” wrote one film critic last week.

Oh my GOD :o Witches who aren’t wicked?! Why, this is the ultimate of evils!!! Those darn nice witches.

So fucking what? Did atheists pipe up and make a fuss when Narnia, which is so OBVIOUSLY Christian-promoting, came out? Heck no! So for the Christians who are too idiotic to realize that not everyone believes in their god or wants to or has to, for that matter, shut up and let us have our fun. You can do whatever you want with your viewing habits, but don’t push them on the rest of the public. Yeah we’ll go and see the movie if we damn feel like it, and then go and read the books while we’re at it.

I was raised a Christian, but not in a strict sense of the word. My mother believed in God, I was Baptized when I was little, but she accepted that there were many possibilities of what was out there. I was interested in yoga and spirituality since I was very little – asking my mom to always tell me about the yoga masters who could supposedly stop their hearts and go on journeys around the universe in a meditative state.

I wasn’t very religious when I moved to the U.S. at all. My friend Keeley invited me to church one time and I started going with her. And yet, I didn’t feel anything when I went. And the more I frequented church, the less connected I felt with Christianity – it’s not that these things just didn’t make sense to me, I just couldn’t believe in them no matter how much I tried.

I started researching Wicca and other Pagan religions. Now this made sense; this was believable. Wicca taught respect for others’ beliefs and tolerance of all religions. There were several branches of it and it was so much more personal. Followers of Wicca believe that ultimately, all living things are connected and all living things can be represented as having two parts – a Goddess and a God. They sometimes speak of them as separate entities to make the concept easier to grasp, they even worship them in different ways – some worship Egyptian deities, others Greek, others simply worship nature. This was perfect. Keeley, being a devoted Christian, did not favor my choice, but we got past our differences eventually.

As I went on, I started to notice myself forming my own ideas and beliefs for what is out there and strayed from Wicca. I believe that there is a giant pool of energy and every living thing is a part of that. Every living thing can manipulate it as they wish. No matter what religion we have or how we choose to worship, in essence we are worshiping and manipulating the exact same thing. A Christian may pray and receive a ‘miracle’ – a miracle they themselves created. A Satanist may perform rituals and speak to Lucifer – his way of communicating with the energy in himself and in everyone else in a way that he can comprehend best.

What happens when we die? I don’t know. I know I believe that we all go into this pool of energy, but what happens there, I cannot even begin to comprehend.

So, in an attempt to educate myself and others more about different religions, I will create a new section on the Article page, titled The Spirit Vault. If you have any contributions to this section or would like to talk about a religion, please, I would very much be grateful if you got in touch with me through this blog.