Can An Atheist Be Spiritual?

[Teh Ebil Snorlax]

I accidentally associated it with the pseduohomophone "contradict", sorry.

You agreeing with me threw me off too. XD

That's understandable.

 

[Zuu]

Yes, but most of the traditions are derived from older models. This is much like how the Brethren Reformed Church was formed in 2007, but is a derivation of about nineteen hundred year old beliefs.

actually, to my knowledge, this false belief was spread around in the 1920s and that now research is further disproving the "fact" that these beliefs are "ancient".

Y'know pity is just slightly above repulsion on the Riddle Scale, right?

look at me i am referencing something that no one else knows about

Lordy you have no idea what Wicca is about.

i wouldn't expect most people to know ...

Magick is a willed change to the world around you. Banishing and purification is more about psychological cleanness than it is able spiritual cleanness, consecration is basically designating a space for a purpose "I consecrate the kitchen to eating and creating food!", invocation can give motivation and confidence even if you don't believe in gods but can at least concentrate on a concrete representation of concepts the God or Goddess embodies, astral projection requires meditation which is considered good for anxiety, yoga, which is naturally good for you, divination is just careful and deep thinking about their choices and world around them, a magical weapon is a consecrated object that by its very existence is a willed change to the world around you, and can make continued changes and thus is magick, and so much more.

Dismissing stuff out of hand that you don't understand is a one-track road to bigotry.

there's not much to "understand". looking past your unnecessary haughtiness concerning such a trivial subject, i actually delved into the study of magick before; i think i have a couple of ebooks. i've gone through the phase, bro. it doesn't take crystals or rituals or incantations to change your perceptions.

Y'know, a guy told me once that anecdotal evidence doesn't prove anything.
maybe not, but it's good enough to form a first impression. and if everyone's first impression is "these guys are a bit odd", then that might hint at something.

before i am ranted at, i am accepting of these beliefs; i'm not going to pretend that they're not kind of silly, though.

i wonder if i still have my tarot cards still lying around ...

 

[Eloi]

actually, to my knowledge, this false belief was spread around in the 1920s and that now research is further disproving the "fact" that these beliefs are "ancient".

Perhaps traditional Wiccan, but with historical deities available for worship in eclectic Wiccan, the traditions can venerate deities venerated long ago in a modern way.

look at me i am referencing something that no one else knows about

There is not much of time restraint to posting in a forum, and one can Google anything they don't know.

i wouldn't expect most people to know ...

If you are debating it, know it.

there's not much to "understand". looking past your unnecessary haughtiness concerning such a trivial subject,

Religion is not trivial due to its affects on people's minds.

i actually delved into the study of magick before; i think i have a couple of ebooks. i've gone through the phase, bro.
[...]
i wonder if i still have my tarot cards still lying around ...

You were a little fluffy bunny of vaguely New Age stuff, neat. That does not make you a practioner of Wicca.

it doesn't take crystals or rituals or incantations to change your perceptions.

Crystals aren't really a big part of Wicca from what I can find.

maybe not, but it's good enough to form a first impression. and if everyone's first impression is "these guys are a bit odd", then that might hint at something.

Fun fact: The word "queer"'s earliest use was employed to mean "weird", "strange", or "off in some way".
Think about it.

before i am ranted at, i am accepting of these beliefs; i'm not going to pretend that they're not kind of silly, though.

Dismissive acceptance is not acceptance.

 

[Zuu]

Perhaps traditional Wiccan, but with historical deities available for worship in eclectic Wiccan, the traditions can venerate deities venerated long ago in a modern way.

that doesn't make Wicca old though ...? which i thought is what we were talking about.

There is not much of time restraint to posting in a forum, and one can Google anything they don't know.

did it contribute anything to the debate? no, not really.

If you are debating it, know it.

you're kind of the one who shoehorned in this rant about Wicca. don't blame us for not being knowledgeable off-hand concerning an obscure faith.

Religion is not trivial due to its affects on people's minds.

a forum on the internet populated by fifteen year olds is fucking trivial lol. you don't need to be snotty about knowing more about Wicca than us, or your surprise concerning our ignorance about it.

You were a little fluffy bunny of vaguely New Age stuff, neat. That does not make you a practioner of Wicca.

this makes me want to destroy my keyboard and throw my monitor through the wall

Crystals aren't really a big part of Wicca from what I can find.

sarcasm, playing off surskitty's earlier comment

Fun fact: The word "queer"'s earliest use was employed to mean "weird", "strange", or "off in some way".
Think about it.

i don't grasp the connection here.

Dismissive acceptance is not acceptance.

opinionssssss

 

[Eloi]

that doesn't make Wicca old though ...? which i thought is what we were talking about.

It doesn't make the rituals of Wicca old, but the deities worshiped by the Wiccan method old.

you're kind of the one who shoehorned in this rant about Wicca. don't blame us for not being knowledgeable off-hand concerning an obscure faith.

I'm not blaming you for not knowing it off-hand, I'm blaming you for engaging in a debate without opening a new tab next to tCoD forum one, putting "Wicca" into your favorite search engine, going to Wikipedia or some other source, and reading up on the topic in question before saying anything.

a forum on the internet populated by fifteen year olds is fucking trivial lol.

I thought you said Wicca was trivial, and by extension, religion, which is not trivial due to its affects. The forum is not very impactive, I agree wit that.

you don't need to be snotty about knowing more about Wicca than us,

I don't know more, and I don't claim to, I just have the common decency of researching what I'm talking about.

or your surprise concerning our ignorance about it.

Ignorance is never justified.

this makes me want to destroy my keyboard and throw my monitor through the wall

Claiming a religion is the same thing as New Age stuff as hobby makes me want to do that too.

sarcasm, playing off surskitty's earlier comment

That was ambigious.

i don't grasp the connection here.

You said if the majority of people find something odd at first glance, they are on to something. LGBT people are/were called "queer" or strange by the majority of people. Are they actually all dangerous weird people? No.

opinionssssss

That's a tad obvious. Should I preface all my statements with "I feel" to make it clearer?

I feel that dismissing something while claiming to accept it is not acceptance at all.

 

[Zuu]

It doesn't make the rituals of Wicca old, but the deities worshiped by the Wiccan method old.

that doesn't do much to convince me that their traditions are old, as you said earlier, though.

I'm not blaming you for not knowing it off-hand, I'm blaming you for engaging in a debate without opening a new tab next to tCoD forum one, putting "Wicca" into your favorite search engine, going to Wikipedia or some other source, and reading up on the topic in question before saying anything.

i did.

I don't know more, and I don't claim to, I just have the common decency of researching what I'm talking about.

i've done some amount of research as well. you seemed condescending during your speech. i withdraw my previous statements if you claim that it is not so.

Ignorance is never justified.

a curious statement.

Claiming a religion is the same thing as New Age stuff as hobby makes me want to do that too.

no, it seemed hypocritical to me that you had a tirade about magick and its legitimacy and then called me a "fluffy bunny" after admitting to have done personal research into it.

That was ambigious.

very well.

You said if the majority of people find something odd at first glance, they are on to something. LGBT people are/were called "queer" or strange by the majority of people. Are they actually all dangerous weird people? No.

there's a difference between a guy liking dick and someone claiming to have effects on the universe via the worship of probably-not-existing gods and use of basically-made-up rituals, it seems to me.

I feel that dismissing something while claiming to accept it is not acceptance at all.
very well, call it "tolerance".

 

[surskitty]

Y'know, a guy told me once that anecdotal evidence doesn't prove anything.

Bit of a difference between "this is true; I know a guy who knows a guy" and "there are a lot of special snowflakes in this corner; I tend to assume people who bring up that they are in that corner unprompted are special snowflakes." I'm not going to go snark at people particularly for doing things related to the occult, but ... if you're doing much near me that isn't minor sympathetic magic, I'm probably going to look at you funny.

[blah blah]

learn to quote, dude

 

[Eloi]

that doesn't do much to convince me that their traditions are old, as you said earlier, though.

I forget the relevancy to why they should be old.

i did.

That was ambiguous, sorry.

i've done some amount of research as well. you seemed condescending during your speech. i withdraw my previous statements if you claim that it is not so.

It isn't, sorry if I seem condescending. I wish I could have my actual tone of voice so what I feel is better expressed, but such is the nature of text based communication.

a curious statement.

I don't believe so.

no, it seemed hypocritical to me that you had a tirade about magick and its legitimacy and then called me a "fluffy bunny" after admitting to have done personal research into it.

No, it seemed as though you were generalizing the specific topic I was discussing with the broad topic you were discussing, and that you were claiming that your familiarity with the broad topic gave you familiarity with the specific topic, and thus grounds to dismiss it as silly.

there's a difference between a guy liking dick and someone claiming to have effects on the universe via the worship of probably-not-existing gods and use of basically-made-up rituals, it seems to me.

There is a difference, true, but you dismissed the latter on grounds of being perceived as strange, and the former could be dismissed under similar grounds.

very well, call it "tolerance".

That word carries negative connotations with me, but I will use that anyway because the negative connotations represented are correct in this situation.

 

[Phantom]

It seems to me that the only one here who knows anything about Wicca is TES. The modern form is true, less that 100 years old, but it's history is more than that it's an evolved form of Shamanism.

 

[Eloi]

It seems to me that the only one here who knows anything about Wicca is TES.

I agree, I wish I knew more about it. :sad:

 

[Phantom]

I was simply restating that if you aren't knowledgeable in a subject, don't talk about it.

 

[Teh Ebil Snorlax]

One of the many bonuses of going out with a Wiccan. Another is that it's really easy to buy small gifts now and then; I can just pick up a few scented candles.

 

[Minish]

*sigh* Traditional Wicca is about forty-fifty years old. Most Wiccans will agree that what they do is based on beliefs and traditions created by people within the last forty-fifty years (in turn based on historical practices). It doesn't make it any less valid! That's what I don't understand about the people who continue to insist that everything they do is ~ancient~. After all, a common phrase within the Wiccan community, especially used by its scholars, are "we'll steal from any source that doesn't run fast enough".

:| grarrhfgh I really didn't want to get into this

 

[Pwnemon]

hey guys let's listen to the Wiccan.

and that also seems like it settles the whole Zuu-Eloi debate.