Yesterday I attended my second Unitarian Universalist service. I’d gone to my first one in April, and hadn’t been motivated until yesterday to go back. I’m used to doing my own thing on Sunday – too many years either as an atheist or a solitary – and I sleep in a lot, and it takes me 45 minutes to get to church, so this all adds up to a lot of no-shows for me.
I may be changing my policy on Sundays, though.
The theme for the service was “Journeys of the Spirit.” It was what they called a multigenerational service, so there were kids (okay, that doesn’t bother me). So maybe the kids were the reason we got coloring to do. Yes, I said “coloring.” As folks came in, they were handed two stapled sheets of designs to color, with these words on the first page: “Does your journey of the spirit seem like:” And there were pictures of a sunrise, a kaleidoscope, a tree with roots, two spirals, a spiral within a star within a circle, and a flowing river or stream. Boxes of colored pencils were available for use.
I started with the sunrise, because I’m a sucker for sunrise/sunset art, and I guess because the sunrise does seem to have some significance in Kemetic belief. (Daily Rite includes the words, “May I shine each day in Your presence, O Netjer, as Ra shines on the horizon.”) Without finishing all the flowers in the design, I moved on to the dragon spiral – although to be honest, the flowing river may be more representative of my journey.
Actually, I think I would describe my journey more like the route of a cruise ship or an airplane, with many ports of call. My first stop was Catholicism – I spent a lot of time there; then I went to atheism, at which I also spent considerable time, before finally arriving at Kemeticism, with a brief layover at New Age. These days, I’m more like a snowbird, living in Kemeticism and atheism for roughly equal parts of the year. Okay, so maybe I’m mixing my metaphors a little.
What is my final destination? No one knows, at least no one on this plane of existence. The gods may know, but They aren’t telling.
I like the idea that a church can get into the idea of a spiritual journey. That’s incredibly cool to me. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Unitarian Universalists, they don’t really have a particular creed; it’s possible to be Christian, atheist, or whatever you want and still be a UU. I have been on record (on Facebook) as saying I didn’t need another layer to my religious identity, but there are advantages to belonging to a community. As a Kemetic, I’m pretty much a solitary – no other Kemetics for several states around me. I can’t really go to the local atheist meetings, because I’m not really an atheist, am I? But the UUs will take me as I am. Perfect.
Guess I’ll be setting an alarm next Sunday.
Kemetic vs. Atheist 
Argument from popularity is no different for 50 million or 1.5 billion. There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, does that make them more right than Catholics? There are also over 1 billion nonreligious persons in the world, are they 2/3 as right?
Viewed from the outside, there is no real support for any deity. Since all belief is based on faith, all religions have an equal plausibility.
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You are certainly adrift. But, if you don’t know God, and if you don’t trust all that the Apostles handed down to us, then how are you going to trust or know what is right after you go adrift upon your earthly death? You will be adrift, will you not? Who will protect you if you are adrift without a home? God, Jesus Christ comes to redeem and protect and give you the way to your intended home in Heaven. And He warned about those who will not be able to enter. Why did you leave the Catholic Church? It seems that your faith (ability to use faith) has rebounded, and you are on an upward movement; this is good. I recommend you orient again on the Catholic Church.
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Why I left the Catholic Church is a long story, and I believe I covered that in a previous post (The power of religion). Anyway, we seem to have come to the end of our relationship, the Catholic God and I. He had his chance to help me nine years ago in my darkest hour, and he blew it. Isis helped me. Therefore, I’m a Kemetic.
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May I ask who validated your experience with “Isis”? Is there a person besides you who can prove that it was “Isis” who actually helped you?
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May I ask who validates your experiences with “God”? Is there a person besides you who can prove that it was “God” who did anything for you?
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Yes, eye-witness accounts, written history, oral tradition passed down from real people to real people in an unbroken line of succession…real facts. Thousands of miracles, apparitions, and written facts about historical happenings, and so on.
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Fifty million people can, in fact, be wrong.
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Yes, but Catholics number about 1,500,000,000 in the world (or close).
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So, this something for you to think about very seriously. When this very short earthly life ends, we will only find reality awaiting us.
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This is true, and anyone arrogant enough to think he or she knows what’s coming is only deluding themselves. Whose beliefs are correct? Are they all correct? Are they all false? No one knows. In the end, my faith is my own and I don’t have to justify it to you or anyone else. Time will tell the rest.
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Okay, I just wanted to bring some light to your situation. Isis does not exist, and there is no real support for the existence.
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In your opinion.
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Educated and experiential opinion, yes. I am just trying to help.
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Your help is not wanted. My parents, who paid for me to go to twelve years of Catholic school, are much more supportive of my path than you are. How can you tell me my experiences are false? How dare you? Please quit trying to “save my soul” and go “save” someone else’s.
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