> > --- Share Long <sharelong60@> wrote: > > > > hey salyavin, according to the Catholic Church of my youth, once a person > > is baptised they have what is called, an indelible mark on the soul showing > > that. If I remember correctly, the other sacraments that leave indelible > > marks are Confirmation and Holy Orders. So in this sense one is never > > really even an ex Catholic. I * left the Church * when I was 17. In the > > beginning I thought of myself as an ex or lapsed Catholic. But that label > > has dropped from my thinking as time goes by. And sometimes for family > > events, I still attend Mass and Communion. I admit this probably horrifies > > me half sister who has been a devout Catholic. OTOH she did ask me to be > > godmother for her youngest so maybe not (-: > > --- "salyavin808" <fintlewoodlewix@...> wrote: > > Interesting. That's quite a load to put on someone methinks. I wasn't > even christened and so have no deep early programming to make me feel > part of any church but an indelible mark, that's heavy! > > I hate it when I hear people say they were born Jewish or Muslim or > whatever because they weren't. We are all born scientists, curious > and open minded but the adult world seems to be in a race to beat > that out of us and as soon as we are set in our ways the poison gets > passed on. My parents were really cool about things like that > and it took me a long time to notice. I Should thank them for being > so irreligious but still very moral. > > > I really don't like the word seeker and humanist sounds a little dry. > > I've read books etc. in which people use the phrase spiritual but not > > religious. But even the word spiritual doesn't sound encompassing enough > > to me now. Does that make any sense? > > I don't like anything that sounds new-agey like seeker either, > because I'm not really. I used to be a determined "finder" as > I refered to having discovered TM but I'm a bit more agnostic now. > > Same with spiritual as it it sounds like being involved in something > that isn't actually real in the sense that there is some sort of > extra realm to be discovered, when it seems to me that all I'm > doing is refining how I see this one. And even then I don't see how > we ever see anything other than what our head machinery can cope > with in a mechanical sense and we've got evolution to thank for > that. I'm the most materialist meditator I ever met...
You are not a materialist. You are a dialectical rationalist and an eclectical scientist. Some religionists are also highly materialistic. Some atheists are also highly spiritual. The two are not mutually exclusive. > > > How about devoted Earthling? > > Like it. Sounds like an acceptance of reality with an intention > to make the most of what we've got. > > > > > ________________________________ > > From: salyavin808 <fintlewoodlewix@> > > To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com > > Sent: Monday, April 29, 2013 1:12 PM > > Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Getting Groovy at the Godless Church. > > > > > > > > Â > > > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Buck" <dhamiltony2k5@> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > That is interesting. Lot like the primitive Quaker meeting. Like the > > > > Sunday Quaker meeting we have in Fairfield. Very high spiritual group > > > > gathering but not religious in the sense of iron age mythology. Very > > > > contemporary. > > > > Interesting how something fills a need that we all have, whether it's > > religious or not doesn't seem to matter. When they start reading > > Richard Dawkins lectures and saying 'all praise to DNA' at the end is when > > I'll start to think it's odd... > > > > > > > > Polling shows that ex-Catholics are the third largest religious group in > > > the United States. > > > > What do they call themselves now then? > > > > > http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-04-24/national/38776675_1_communion-body-and-blood-catholic-church > > > > > >