I had a talk with someone about being yourself versus being part of a group… George Carlin said it best when he said that people are wonderful when they are themselves but when they form groups they lose their identity.
I guess I’m making this thread to discuss the topic of when its okay to be yourself versus when you conform to what other people believe because that’s just the way it is.
My spirituality is very complex, it involves thinking and processing and coming to realizations that many people do not experience. There is not a single religion that touches base on all of my epiphanies, nor do I think there will be one.
When I joined the Baha’i Faith and Unitarian Universalism I did so on really good intentions. I was going to be a part of their communities and reach out and be a good person. But after awhile I realized that neither of those two things is what I actually am. I believe Baha’u’llah is great, and I have scripture from him, but I refuse to be strictly monotheist. As far as UUism goes … it’s kind of hard being a UU and not be a liberal.
I’m going through a process of rapid individualization. I don’t feel like I belong anywhere. Do I fit into the mold of people that are, “spiritual but not religious”? Maybe. I actually want to belong to something bigger than myself, but I want to be myself too. I don’t feel like I get that. It’s either, “be like us or you don’t belong here”, even from Unitarians.
I don’t think I could ever be part of the five or six major world religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, or Judaism. None of them really ‘clicked’ with me.
I’m also coming to terms with my own insecurities. I thought I had to make my own religion, to convince other people to think like me and that way they would agree with a lot I had to say. But I don’t even think I want that anymore. I’d rather have people not think like me. It would be weird and awkward if I just had a large group of people who thought and felt the same way I do on every spiritual topic.
Almost every Christian I run into will say something like, “There’s Christians out there who don’t believe in Christianity but call themselves Christian anyways because they feel obligated to.” I really don’t want to be one of those people. I know, in fact, that due to my rapid individualization that I won’t be.
But talking about things like panendeism, henotheism, and theosis would confuse many people. I like being vocal about my beliefs - I share my beliefs often on this forum. I’m passionate about my convictions. But nobody cares.
I’ve made a website, I’ve spent countless hours editing my NRM Wikia article, and nobody cares. If I write a book, virtually nobody will read it. I don’t know how to get people to care. As I said before, I don’t want them to worship me in any way. I want to be known for something. Still, nobody cares.
My Christian friends wanted to save my soul, when all they did was the things the Bible taught them not to do. I even had one friend who completely revoked the old testament because he didn’t want to be considered a bad person. My friends would tell me I would make a good Christian but I wouldn’t because I don’t believe it.
At what point do you decide to follow the crowd and at what point do you realize to just be yourself? Let me hear your thoughts on this subject matter below.