Are u Syncretic? and Why???

Question

Syncretism-In acculturation, the blending of indigenous and foreign traits to form a new system....
Example----Blending different relgious beliefs to form your own values and way of life....

I am syncretic I believe in many religions and the different ways of following them, christianity, Buddism, Judism, and Pagan..I use some of the teachings to form my own path and way through life....do u think there are many other people out there that live this way too...lets be mature now

Do u think people who are syncretic tend to be a bit more cultured???

Answer 1

Good for you! Totally with you. I would say that all religions and cultures are products of syncretism, and that genuine innovation, in religion and society particularly, is quite rare because we are not new to religion or society. The Judaism of Jesus' day was a combination of Babylonian and Egyptian religions, including a re-telling of many of their folks tales, such as Moses, a retelling of the story of Sargon II, Eden, a retelling of Egyptian creation stories, Noah, a retelling of Utnapishtim from the Gilgamesh epic.

Religion is nothing more than a human invention, and every now and then, when they try, humans can come up with some pretty good insights into human behavior and society. Some of these are encoded in religions, some aren't. I find value in the wisdom teachings of all the major religions and many of the minor ones as well. I find no value in their pre-scientific notions of reality or their theisms, or their systems of salvation and achieving immortality, but there are other teachings, more ethical and philosophical, that I value highly.

Answer 2

Sometimes I wonder if I am syncretic or just adding another layer to my belief onion. How can I entertain so many mutually exclusive thoughts all at the same time? Although raised in a "Christian" family (wildly dysfunctional), I have lived among the Jews, the Buddhists (the real Buddhists, not the Saturday morning kaffeklatsch Buddhists), the Hindus, and my longest sojourn was seven years with a Muslim family, who also still held many animistic beliefs and practices. I like to think that I am a better person for all this, except that I am a major disappointment to all my "Christian" relatives because I can no longer pretend to share their narrow view of the world. Thank goodness for friends. ;-)

Answer 3

Oh, certainly. I wouldn't call myself a hodgepodge, but I have certainly learned things from different religious and philosophical traditions that are now a part of who I am.