I am a 27 year old woman with pluralistic beliefs on a spiritual journey to learn more about different faiths and to more fully discover my own. I plan on using this blog to discuss my personal journey, my thoughts on certain religious topics or spiritual paths that I research or take part in, religious/spiritual books that I read, religious services I attend, worship methods I practice, prayers I recite and write, meditation methods, and just to document the development of my own beliefs.
I was born to a Roman Catholic family (although I am of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage on my mother’s side) who raised, baptized, and confirmed me into the Roman Catholic church. I attended Catholic elementary school and took ccd classes for the time I was in public school up until high school.
Starting in middle school and high school I became very interested in learning more about different faiths. My main focus at that time was learning more about Wicca, paganism, witchcraft, and ancient religions/mythology. I felt inexplicably drawn towards them and spent much time researching them online and finding books to read about them.
While attending a Catholic college, I minored in Theology, taking classes on an assortment of different world religions and religious topics, though more heavily focusing on the Abrahamic religions. I also majored in Classics (Classical Civilizations) and History, where I learned quite a bit about different mythologies and focused much of my studies on the early days of Christianity and the transition period from Western Civilization being mainly polytheistic to the rise of the Church. I’ve also studied the relationship between the three Abrahamic faiths during this period, especially during the Middle Ages, and have tried to study as much as I can about the Crusades. A primary part of my studies was on women’s history and what the different cultures, societies, and religions meant for women in classical/ancient history and what roles they fulfilled. I became very interested in my personal faith again in college, began attending daily mass, researched religious life (nuns/religious sisters) and simultaneously began researching other paths as well. I began praying the rosary fairly regularly which I still greatly enjoy doing, as it brings me closer to the feminine Divine and makes me feel at peace, although I do not really believe every word that I say in every prayer, my faith is still greatly derived from Catholicism.
I learned about pluralism in college and realized that it was the best way to describe my own view of religion. I do believe in the Divine, though I do not know whether I am right in believing the Divine exists, whether it is female, male, singular, plural, or some mixture. I believe that the Divine is more likely female than male, if it/they is not both/neither, because as a mother gives birth, it/they created us. I am not saying that I do not believe in a male god, but I am saying that I do not think that God is a strictly male patriarch figure as he is often portrayed as. I also believe that the Divine is probably connected, though can manifest in separate ways or has separate aspects or persons that are simultaneously One. I believe that interconnected-ness could be the universe as a whole, all spirits connected, a concept similar to Nirvana or the Brahman where we are or will be connected or where are goal is to reconnect, or a concept similar to the Trinity or Shaktism where one Divine being comes to us in different forms. I also believe that the Divine has revealed itself/themselves us in different ways based on what and how we could understand, without fully revealing itself to anyone, but without fully excluding anyone either. I believe that different paths and views of the Divine can be correct and that no path is entirely right or wrong. I believe that people will never be damned because they believe differently than others. I do not believe in an eternal hell or at least I mostly do not believe in one and hope that one does not exist. I find it hard to believe that a loving Divine creator would damn and forsake their/its/his/her children that way. It also seems a bit like a fear tactic, a fictional punishment, or perhaps trying to give the wronged hope that their will be some sort of Divine justice for those who harmed them. While I believe in Divine justice, I don’t believe the the eternal aspect of it. I believe in some sort of afterlife and spirits. I believe that different religions have probably gotten different things revealed to them in different ways and have different things about the Divine correct.
After college I discovered Unitarian Universalism. While I will still attend Catholic mass sometimes with my family, especially on holidays, and while I still get a lot out of it despite not being strictly Catholic anymore, not siding with the Catholic Church on many political views and theological beliefs, etc., I was drawn to Unitarian Universalism as well. It seemed to fit my pluralistic beliefs, I like how it encourages learning more about different faiths, what they can teach you, and exploring your own religious path while simultaneously not putting others down for theirs. Furthermore, I love the focus on being good people and doing the right thing by others, helping others whenever possible and protecting earth, rather than focusing on simply worship, leaving people to worship (or not) who/what they personally believe in. I now semi-regularly attend UU church with a friend. I also pray alone often and try to spend a lot of time outside, appreciating and experiencing nature, which I find to be a spiritual activity.
A little bit about me personally: I'm married and we're about to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary, although we've been together for over nine years now total. We bought our own house last year and have a dog, our little boy Brooklyn. We're adopting a second dog from the local shelter, a little girl named Ginger. We don't have human children yet, although I do love kids and spend a lot of time with niece and my best friend's children. Hopefully soon though! Having children of our own is definitely part of my "before I turn 30" life plan. I'm a grad student and I work part time. My goal is to become a secondary education social studies teacher. I'll hopefully be graduating with my master's next year. I love autumn and Halloween more than anything! I'm seriously super obsessed. I'm kind of a huge nerd: I play World of Warcraft, watch Game of Thrones religiously, I read a lot, and I'm a ridiculously big fan of a lot of older nerdy television shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, BBC's Robin Hood, Charmed, Smallville, Firefly, Farscape, Dollhouse, etc. I could be here listing nerdy stuff I love all day. Of course, I also like a lot of non-fantasy/sci-fi stuff too. I'm a huge dog lover. I'm a feminist and I'm starting to learn more about environmentalism and more general human rights and animal rights activism. I'm a caffeine addict. I don't think I could survive without coffee. I love my friends and my family. My friends are pretty much an extension of my family, as I definitely go for quality over quantity. That's about all I can think of to mention right now. Talk to me to get to know me better!
Disclaimer: I hope that everyone who happens to stumble across my blog enjoys it and is not offended by it. None of this is meant to be offensive and I realize that certain aspects of religions that I will be looking into are better understood by someone actually of that religion. If I say anything inaccurate, please correct me and educate me or at least tell me what was inaccurate so I can research it more fully to educate myself. However, the very nature of this blog is about exploring religious pluralism, so while I understand that I have a different and perhaps less knowledgeable/understanding perspective than someone of your specific religion on topics regarding it, I still have a right to explore it for my own personal spiritual journey and I will not refuse to explore or discuss any religion or aspect of religion simply because doing so might offend someone. I understand that with many of these religions my place is as an outsider, but I will not stop looking into them. I am not trying to convert to or appropriate any ethnic/indigenous faiths, but I may want to look into concepts and stories of the Divine from them, neither am I trying to claim that “all religions are essentially the same”. I am not trying to take anything away from anyone else’s religious beliefs, I am just trying to practice my own.
Furthermore, while I have respect for atheists, agnostics, people of one specific religion, etc. and realize that we will have major disagreements which is fine because we don’t have to have the same opinions or views, I will NOT stand for anyone coming to my own blog telling me that I’m wrong, that I’m stupid for having faith in something and not being atheist, accusing me of not believing in science or not being educated, assuming that I believe certain things because I’m not atheist or because of my specific religious background (basically people assuming certain things because of my Catholic upbringing or Jewish heritage), telling me I’m going to hell for not having the one “correct” religion, etc.
New Atheists, anti-theists, and anyone who thinks Pastafarianism is funny and not offensive is NOT WELCOME HERE. GET OFF MY BLOG!
