What was it about your god, religion, spirituality, or philosophy that clicked with you?

Question

In other words, what about your belief system (of lack thereof) made you say "Aha! This is the right path. This makes sense to me" ? What was the aspect of your belief system with which you could most identify?

Do you see your belief system the same way now as you did when you started following it?

Answer 1

Take me to the river and drop me in.

Answer 2

My belief system is quite different now than when I grew up, and I expect it to continue to change as I learn new wisdoms.

What clicks with me about paganism is the holidays. The pagan holidays each celebrate an aspect of the life/death cycle at the corresponding time of year. I think this is very healthy psychologically, it's lots of fun, and it just comes very naturally. It reinforces the cyclical nature of life and pauses to celebrate the stages in turn.

Taoism is a good description of my spiritual philosophy. I came to it on my own before I'd ever studied it, and when I read the Tao Te Ching I was very impressed - it said many things I already believed. I'm still studying it and trying out some of its wisdoms. So far I'm still impressed.

The first words struck me in the forehead:

The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.

The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.

I think deities and whatnot are symbols, metaphors, and archetypes for something we can't quite comprehend - an attempt to define the undefinable. But I believe in a spiritual energy. I'm content to know it as the Tao.

Answer 3

Christianity left me sorta empty. There was a panic feeling from the thought that heaven and hell could seperate me from my family and friends.. I became an Universal spiritualist over time. I went through the I am a wiccan stage, i am a pagan stage, and finally i evolved to know that there is no right or wrong in religion as long as it makes you comfortable go for it..

For me it was aligning with the Goddess. I have alwasy felt like a strong woman. My inner strength grew once I began to cherish the special relationship that I had with the Goddess. It had special meaning to me. But for others like me some did not have the same meaning. I then realized it doesn't matter what faith you are as long as it is special to you and you are not forcing others to have the same relationship it is unique and powerful.

Answer 4

I would say it was when I realized that there was a difference between what I was doing ... and what I wanted to do
(it's a Tao principle)

I was stuck in a world of learned behaviors and felt trapped doing what I was 'suppose' to do ... and then I finally gave myself permission to be honest with myself about how I really felt, and what i was really thinking ... and I was surprised about how much I tried to deny myself, and in a sense, all that time I was continually setting myself up to fail ... and then I took the risk of being honest about it with the world around me ... and the sense of freedom was amazing, I think I finally felt like a whole person

and no, my belief system is subject to change

I plan on doing the next 'right' thing, and not imposing any rules

Answer 5

I was drawn to Wicca because it teaches taking responsibility for your own actions, working towards positive change in your life, and a connectedness with Nature that modern Christianity has lost. I was raised Catholic, so I think the ritualistic faith that I was used to made the change to Wicca much easier. The emphasis on making your religion something that you LOVE to practice was a big plus for me, too. And I like that we see our higher power as neither male nor female, but both. We also live-and-let-live. I have never tried to push my faith on ANYONE. It just makes perfect sense to me. When I first started practicing, I was young and I think I was drunk off the magic. I didn't see the Big Picture of Wicca. It's about so much more than a love spell. I haven't ever even done one. In fact, I don't even CAST spells anymore. All they are is directed prayer with some symbolism, anyway. There are many other ways to practice my faith without meddling in destiny.

Answer 6

I'm a women who can go to her work if she wishes and her husband permits.
No body has the right to force me to go for work if I wish to stay at home.
I have the full authority over my earning and nobody can take my earning by force.
I have the option to give my money to anybody I wish as long as it is not in Haram.
I can share my earning with my husband and help him to look after the house if I wish, but he is first one responsible to look after me and my children.
I have to be respected for what I am, my knowledge, my personality and the way of my thinking. I do not earn my respect for the beauty of my body , because this beauty will fade one day.
I'm very happy to follow Islam, "Aha! This is the right path. this makes sense to me"

I started following Islam because I was born to a Muslim family, but now I strongly believe that my religion is the right path after I've studied the Quran and Prophets says & deeds

Answer 7

For a short time in my 20's I put God and Jesus on the shelf, I didn't believe. Things were going pretty crappy for me and I figured that he wasn't respond in the time I wanted Him to respond. Then i saw a tv program about the prophetic nature of the Bible and started to do my own research. After about a year of books, articles etc, I gave my life back to Jesus and although it hasn't been smooth sailing all the way (Satan never rests), I'm glad He found me again. God Bless!

Answer 8

Multiple Gods seem to account for the variety in the world (and universe) to me, as well as the clashes that keep happening in the world. It answered the question of, "What if both teams (countries, interest groups) are being prayed for?"

Practicing magick makes me feel a little more in control, and a little more like part of nature.

Answer 9

Because it kicks a.s.s. :-)

Seriously, I like being Asatru because its ethos match mine. I can be a reasonably good example of an Asatruar; I would never be anything but a marginal, footnoted, troublemaking member of any other religion. I like hanging around with people who think that an oath is an oath, for example. I like being Asatru because it validates my inclination to bonk irritating people on the head with a Big (Rhetorical) Hammer. I am blunt; in Asatru, blunt is a good thing. "Frith" and "cooperation" are much more resonant values for me than "niceness" or "harmony".

Answer 10

My childhood - I experienced every form of abuse you can imagine. For a large part of my life, I did not see God as good – how could he have let all this happen to me – a little child? But God’s word says that He will see us through all of our troubles. So I prayed to Him and claimed this promise – I know I can’t prove this to anyone, but within seconds He erased decades of pain from my mind. I don’t mean that I had forgotten, but the pain was as if it belonged to someone else – for me, this is what ‘born again’ means – it felt like I was a new person… there isn’t a person on this planet who can ever convince me that God doesn’t exist, because I have had a personal experience with Him! God is love – Love isn’t understood with the mind, it has to be felt to be understood. When we reach out to Him, sincerely wanting to find Him…we will find Him – He is not hiding – He is waiting for you to acknowledge Him, come to Him…my faith is not in religion, but in God, and what I have seen him do in my life.

Answer 11

I have spent a lot of time studying various religions, I found many of them to be enlightening but Judaism just clicked, it felt right. To me it seems the perfect combination of eastern and western thought. It just feels like the truth to me.