Cautions for religious exploration

Twenty years ago, when I was first researching Wicca and the neo-pagan movement, it seemed as though every site had articles about how to find a teacher, and cautions about what to avoid in a group.

Somewhere between then and now, the conversations suggested that all the warnings were doing more harm than good. Most neo-pagan groups are doing well to "herd cats," they aren't attempting to forge a group-thinking cult.

However, I've read some articles recently regarding ISIS recruiting, that suggest a few cautions are in fact in order.

One of the classic neo-pagan resources was developed by Isaac Bonewits. He calls it the "Advanced Bonewits' Cult Danger Evaluation Form," or ABCDEF. Here's one link to the form, many copies exist on the interwebz.

Also on the more new-agey side of the house, there is a very old book, Chop Wood, Carry Water: A Guide to Finding Spiritual Fulfillment in Everyday Life. In particular, they quote Ram Dass' "How to Keep Perspective Along the Path," and Daniel Goleman's "Things to be Wary of when Shopping the Spiritual Supermarket."

Cult tactics often take a page from the same #AbuserDynamics, isolating people from their friends, discouraging them from talking with other people, asking you to keep secrets. Know the red flags of people who do not have your best interests at heart.

The purpose of religion - advice for seekers

At the airport last week, I heard quite a bit of concern about seekers looking for information about religion, and not always knowing how to sort out the good from the bad.

Honestly, I've had that concern myself, which is one reason why I listed many of the links from my series as "what I found on Google" rather than a specific recommendation from me.

One book that I found that had good advice, was this old edition of "Chop Wood, Carry Water." I believe I first read it from the St. Louis County public library. While it might at first glance seem "New Agey," there are several insets about avoiding cults, finding a good teacher, and staying grounded in one's search for meaning.

From a more existentialist perspective, I also recommend Victor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning," as it discusses many of the hard questions of life that came out of his experience in a concentration camp.

Mysticism, Existentialism, and Atheism

In my survey of the major world religions, I failed to mention that each religion has at least one strain of Mysticism to it, seeking direct connection to That Which Is (some call Deity or God):

• Judaism has both the Hasidic movement and Kabbalah.
• Christian mystics include San Juan de la Cruz and Santa Teresa de Avila.
• Islam has the Sufi movement.
• Hinduism has many practices and methods.
• Buddhism also has several methods, but perhaps the most popularly known in Western culture is the Ch'an / Son / Zen tradition, which incorporates Taoist influences into Buddhism.

Some of the articles trace existentialism back to Kierkegaard, and my sister has recommended him... but I've never been able to get into his writings.  For me, I connect with Antonio Machado, in his existential poetry influenced by the mystics, particularly his poem, Cantares.

Here's a summary of Existentialism that fits my understanding of it.

[I'm not going to discuss Nietzsche today.]

While existentialism  gained currency in the years following World War II, I also want to bring up the article I shared three months ago, about "Existential Depression in Gifted Individuals." Many people in STEM careers seem to believe that one who pursues STEM should only pursue STEM, should pursue STEM in their every waking moment, and that any other subject (arts, humanities, social sciences...) is irrelevant. As the article points out, mono-focus can be difficult for polymaths, even to the point of crisis. Tomorrow, I want to write about how this crisis can push polymaths out of STEM fields and hurt innovation.

So existentialism, then, can be a bridge between theism and atheism, because existentialism itself is neutral on the topic of God or gods. Sartre is a major writer, perhaps the first, in atheistic Existentialism.

There are many different kinds of atheists. I tried looking up taxonomies, and here are two posts that seem to cover it well:

• 4 Kinds of Movement Atheist (Secularist Atheists, Identity Atheists, Evangelical Atheists, and Constructive Atheists)
  
• Interfaith dialogue looks promising with Secularist and Constructive atheism.
• Evangelical atheism, though, does not.
• 17 Kinds of Atheism

What does it all mean

Last week, I gave a very brief survey of five major world religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism). Perhaps at another time, if there is interest, I might survey the other seven listed in the InfoPlease article (Baha'i, Confucianism, Jainism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism).

As I said in my introduction, I believe that religion is an important part of culture that we don't often discuss. HOW important, naturally, varies from person to person, family to family, and culture to culture.

We live in a pluralistic society, one where many different people of many different religions live in the same neighborhoods, go to school together, and work together. The Unitarian Universalists have a saying, "We need not think alike, to love alike." I think that is a key principal to raising citizens of the world. In fact, this weekend I was reminded of the Boy Scout Handbook explanation of the Scout Law:

A Scout is Friendly.

A Scout is a friend to all. He is a brother to other Scouts. He offers his friendship to people of all races and nations, and respects them even if their beliefs and customs are different from his own.

A Scout is Courteous.

A Scout is polite to everyone regardless of age or position. He knows that using good manners makes it easier for people to get along.

It seems to me as though there are a lot of grown up, former Boy Scouts, who need to be reminded of these things once in a while. To respect other people, even if their beliefs and customs are different from their own.

I hope that having presented the survey, it will encourage readers to learn more, and to be able to have conversations with their children. It is fine to say that "as <my religion / our family's religion>s, <I / our family> believes ______." It is good to be able to add "People who practice <other religion> may believe ____, which is a different way of seeing the world."

Religion Survey: Buddhism

Last week I discussed presenting a brief review of world religions, in order to foster respect for the diversity that religious pluralism in the U.S. brings.  This is the third article in the series. For an overview of Hinduism, please see yesterday's post. For an overview of Islam, please see Wednesday's post. For an overview of Christianity, please see Tuesday’s post. For an overview of Judaism, please see Monday’s post.

It is not possible to convey the depth of a religious belief system in 500 words or less. These posts are intended to be a high-level introduction to the origin, founder (if any), holy book(s), principles, and major holy days or celebrations of each of these faiths. I will also attempt to provide references for deeper study.

Religion: Buddhism

Religion Survey: Hinduism

Last week I discussed presenting a brief review of world religions, in order to foster respect for the diversity that religious pluralism in the U.S. brings.  This is the third article in the series. For an overview of Islam, please see yesterday's post. For an overview of Christianity, please see Tuesday’s post. For an overview of Judaism, please see Monday’s post.

It is not possible to convey the depth of a religious belief system in 500 words or less. These posts are intended to be a high-level introduction to the origin, founder (if any), holy book(s), principles, and major holy days or celebrations of each of these faiths. I will also attempt to provide references for deeper study.

Religion: Hinduism

Religion Survey: Islam

Last week I discussed presenting a brief review of world religions, in order to foster respect for the diversity that religious pluralism in the U.S. brings. This is the third article in the series. For an overview of Christianity, please see yesterday’s post. For an overview of Judaism, please see Monday’s post.

It is not possible to convey the depth of a religious belief system in 500 words or less. These posts are intended to be a high-level introduction to the origin, founder (if any), holy book(s), principles, and major holy days or celebrations of each of these faiths. I will also attempt to provide references for deeper study.

Religion: Islam

Religion Survey: Christianity

Last week I discussed presenting a brief review of world religions, in order to foster respect for the diversity that religious pluralism in the U.S. brings. This is the second article in the series. For an overview of Judaism, please see yesterday’s post.  It is not possible to convey the depth of a religious belief system in 500 words or less. These posts are intended to be a high-level introduction to the origin, founder (if any), holy book(s), principles, and major holy days or celebrations of each of these faiths. I will also attempt to provide references for deeper study.

Religion: Christianity

Religion Survey: Judaism

This is turning out to be more a selection of links than a summary... but as I am not Jewish, I think that is probably better, to link to sources written by practitioners, and updated as needed.

Last week I discussed presenting a brief review of world religions, in order to foster respect for the diversity that religious pluralism in the U.S. brings.  It is not possible to convey the depth of a religious belief system in 500 words or less. These posts are intended to be a high-level introduction to the origin, founder (if any), holy book(s), principles, and major holy days or celebrations of each of these faiths. I will also attempt to provide references for deeper study.

Religion: Judaism

Wrapping up the undergrad story...

Maybe I'm not quite ready to begin writing about 9/11 or graduate schools just yet.

In 1998, after 14 moves in 6 years, I decided that I wanted to settle down for a little while.  I wanted the chance to stay put.  While I had friends on campus and locally whom I had kept in touch with as I ping-ponged between work and school, I wanted the stability to be in community, to stay put for a while.

So I redid my plan of study to add a sixth year.  I didn't have very many engineering courses left, which gave me time to continue my language studies.  I turned both of my languages into Minors.