Being Yourself Vs Being a Part of a Group

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.

I’ve been to Heaven, Ecmandu’s been to Hell, nobody cares. If you care, why isn’t that enough?

The way that I see it, if people want it to be true, it will eventually become true. My vision of the afterlife is a very nice reality, but if other people don’t see it that way my afterlife could be something completely different. Since, you know, my belief in the afterlife is directly involved with the actions people will do to resurrect consciousness. If people think it’s immoral to bring people back from the dead, then I will never be brought back to life. Which would be bad.

Are you certain that consciousness dies?

I’m not entirely sure, but I don’t think anyone is entirely sure of their own beliefs regarding God and the afterlife. And if you tell me you are, I will tell you right now that you are lying.

God and I are still working on our relationship. I know about my conscious soul and from where I come.

What the heck does this have to do with the topic I presented? Is God part of a larger group you are on the fence with? It sounds like you have a personal relationship with God, but what does this have to do with being yourself and being part of a larger group?

Be yourself.

There is no evidence whatsoever that consciousness can exist outside the brain or survive after death. Those who think it does do so because
they want to think it true not because it is true. And so without evidence these positions have zero validity and can therefore be disregarded

I am a virtual loner so I do not have to worry about groupthink compromising my true identity. Now of course I engage online with other atheists and liberals
and nihilists and sceptics and freethinkers and much of the time I am in agreement with them. But I do not always agree with them and neither would I wish
to either as I have zero interest in echo chambers. I also engage with those who are not atheists or liberals or nihilists or sceptics or freethinkers as this way
one gets greater intellectual stimulation from having ones own world view challenged and questioned. And so while I obviously identity with certain groups I
do not just engage with them. Ultimately I think for myself because I have no real peer pressure to conform even though that is not what it is about anyway

I see you complaining that nobody cares about your output Mackerni. Now I myself do not impose upon others because that is something beyond my control
And so I only focus upon myself since this is within my capabilities. Focusing on anything else can be a significant waste of both mental and physical energy

Okay. You go think that.