Casual Conversation

I was raised in a devout Christian family. It never felt right to me. It just never felt capital "T" True.

After expressing that feeling at an early age, I was scolded and made to feel afraid of expressing any dissenting opinions about it. I guess I kind of internalized that fear, more as a coping mechanism than an actual belief.

When I got older, I rejected it outright, and went searching for the TRUE religion. I didn't find it, lol, and I began identifying as an atheist. Albeit, an atheist with a lot of knowledge of various religious and spiritual traditions.

Then, I read the Principia Discordia. That book changed my perspective on everything. It led me to Leary/Wilson's concept of reality tunnels. A person who only views things from one perspective (be that perspective religious, philosophical, scientific, or whatever) has a very narrow reality tunnel; a person who views things from multiple perspectives has a wider one. Our perception of reality is based on the perspectives we bring to it.

I think that most religions are structurally unsound as a whole. They fall apart under their own weight. But some of the discrete pieces of those religions can stand on their own, and when I find those pieces, I add them to my reality tunnel.

I'm drawn to non-dual forms of spirituality, because that's what feels true to me. I feel that way because of experiences I've had, or things that just feel true to me.

I don't expect anyone to feel the same way I do about it though. We don't have the same perspective, because we haven't had the same experiences. Expecting others to see things the way I do would be unfair, and wildly irrational.