Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Religious Orientation: Fill in the Blank

I had an a-ha moment of sorts late last night when I was playing with my new Facebook profile (I'm sure I'll comment more on that later). Like Myspace, which I joined sometime last year to keep an eye on my teenage niece, you create a profile where you list interests, favorite books, music, you post pictures, blogs and can search for old friends and leave comments. Facebook is the supposed 'more mature' networking site out there and a girlfriend encouraged me to check it out since she found a lot of old friends who must have thought Myspace too juvenile to join...

Wow, I guess I did make a long comment on facebook/myspace..

So as I filled out my profile, I came to the inevitable religious question. I didn't think much of it for my Myspace profile, but on facebook, it seems like every thing you fill out potentially connects you to a 'network'. The website will search your network for friends with the same interests and voila, you make even more friends, which I guess is the whole point of the social network. (duh there)

But my religion is complicated. Baptized Catholic with a smattering of church visits in my childhood, I eventually stopped the journey toward church-guided salvation before I hit my teens. Through college, I dabbled in various world religious texts. Yoga opened my mind to other ways to encompass spirituality, so let's just say, I can't be categorized. So i wrote: Open-Minded for my Orientation (religious and otherwise, I suppose). Alas, I belong to no network. I didn't want to write atheist, because I don't consider myself that. It just struck me late last night that I really don't have an affiliation and I'm kind of jealous to those that do have that group that embrace those same spiritual beliefs.

What if I want to just scrape a bit from the Buddhists, a dash of Judaism, extremely minimal amount of Christianity, some hinduism...then where does the whole new-agey New Earth/Secret/Law of Attraction propaganda fit in?
I'm so mixed up. And I'm extremely bummed I didn't find my own network. I guess it's back to facebook to browse the writer's networks.

That should be fun...

1 comment:

Momma Kate said...

UMMMM...did you see MY religious beliefs? Non-organized spiritual? I mean, come on!!! The idea of a "group religion" is totally unappealing because nobody challenges the ideas or has anything to contribute... We on the other hand are the hunters and gathers. The very foundation of civilization... don't be bummed that there is no group for you... form one, or be proud that you are truly thinking about your spirit..not just following a false prophet.