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This is a somewhat redundant topic after my last topic, so if you already read that, you can just skip this one if you want. This topic is much more for me to precisely nail down exactly what I believe at least nowadays until further notice. As far as I know, there isn't really an official term for what I believe. Closest that I found was apatheism but even though that's close, that's not really what it is. I searched through Wikipedia's articles on religion and did some web searching but I couldn't find anything precisely matching what I now think, religiously. With that out of the way then, let's define exactly what this is.
Theistic isolationism is the belief that a god or gods or, at very least, some kind of spiritual afterlife absolutely does exist, but that any gods or spirits encountered, both in this life and very possibly the next, are unreliable or even downright malicious and are not to be trusted with full-on worship or even regular communication. Even just talking to any gods or spirits is a risky business so very often riddled with vagueness and manipulative tactics. By extension, this means that theistic isolationists consider the fellow humans they live with to be much more worthy of trust and communication than any paranormal entity as, at least with other normal living humans, the power dynamic is the same, or to put it another way, the playing field between other living humans is level.
Beyond that, although not a requirement at all to be a theistic isolationist, this belief synergizes very well with the belief in what are called egregores. Egregores are theorized to be paranormal entities that are created by the sheer belief of a group or perhaps even just one person. Egregores range anywhere from shockingly beautiful to ugly and terrible, and the power they have, at least in this physical world, is decided on how much faith and belief is behind them. For me at least, this would quite neatly explain the chaos that so deeply characterizes the general world of religion and would also explain why such entities would even care about this little planet at all.
Theistic isolationists, simply due to their very beliefs, must completely "go it alone," religiously speaking, not wanting to accept any direct help from other entities lest they become entangled in the entity's actions, lies, or conflicts with other entities. They believe at least in the self and in maximizing self-sufficiency. That one's self, one's cognition and consciousness, are the only final things that can be counted on, and that personal happiness and personal power are what should be fought for. A theistic isolationist may or may not also prioritize helping people to some degree. For me personally, I do definitely prioritize helping some people.
Theistic isolationism is the belief that a god or gods or, at very least, some kind of spiritual afterlife absolutely does exist, but that any gods or spirits encountered, both in this life and very possibly the next, are unreliable or even downright malicious and are not to be trusted with full-on worship or even regular communication. Even just talking to any gods or spirits is a risky business so very often riddled with vagueness and manipulative tactics. By extension, this means that theistic isolationists consider the fellow humans they live with to be much more worthy of trust and communication than any paranormal entity as, at least with other normal living humans, the power dynamic is the same, or to put it another way, the playing field between other living humans is level.
Beyond that, although not a requirement at all to be a theistic isolationist, this belief synergizes very well with the belief in what are called egregores. Egregores are theorized to be paranormal entities that are created by the sheer belief of a group or perhaps even just one person. Egregores range anywhere from shockingly beautiful to ugly and terrible, and the power they have, at least in this physical world, is decided on how much faith and belief is behind them. For me at least, this would quite neatly explain the chaos that so deeply characterizes the general world of religion and would also explain why such entities would even care about this little planet at all.
Theistic isolationists, simply due to their very beliefs, must completely "go it alone," religiously speaking, not wanting to accept any direct help from other entities lest they become entangled in the entity's actions, lies, or conflicts with other entities. They believe at least in the self and in maximizing self-sufficiency. That one's self, one's cognition and consciousness, are the only final things that can be counted on, and that personal happiness and personal power are what should be fought for. A theistic isolationist may or may not also prioritize helping people to some degree. For me personally, I do definitely prioritize helping some people.
This is just a personal update on this topic in regards to my latest findings at this time.
Although I've stated this before in the OP, I am periodically reminded that the road of a theistic isolationist is a spiritually lonely one. And by extension, this includes Atheism as well I suppose. The difference though is the atheist's inner belief and assurance that there's nothing spiritual out there. Nothing more to see in that regard. Just more exact scientific principles and physics and matter blindly going about the path they're on and nothing else. Such a perspective does, at least, bring closure, but the isolationist has no such reprieve.
As I've continued on with my life, I've looked into many spiritual things and have observed other spiritual things that have happened to both me and other people, but trying to make sense of all of it sometimes feels like trying to make sense of a fractal, where one sees roads splitting off into more roads splitting off into more roads... Trying to look ahead to where all those roads end seems to be a fruitless endeavor. There's always more to see. More experiences you hear about. More to learn. And along all those roads are advertisements. Billboards. "Follow this road and see eternity!" "Follow this road and you'll know bliss!" "Follow this road and you'll learn your true purpose!"
All of these roads seem to have some kind of problem with them or another, much like how I began to see the cracks in my own LDS religion. Despite all that, one is sometimes sorely tempted to just pick a road that most appeals to their inner desires and stick to that, but for a theistic isolationist, to do so would be to give up trying to hold as much to the truth of things as possible and submit to one diety or another. Or maybe even multiple deities. I don't know. There's a lot of fucking roads. Perhaps this fractal of roads merely represents the fractal of possibilities within the human imagination. Whatever one thinks, there it is.
In the end, a quote from a romantic comedy comes to me. "I don't have all the answers. I just like to try to live in the moment, if I can." And perhaps that's the best any of us can hope for right now. Whichever road you're on though, if you truly deeply believe it to be the right one, I wish you the best on your walk.
As long as, you know, your walk doesn't unjustly harm other people in their own walks... If so, then I might have something to say, to say the least.
Although I've stated this before in the OP, I am periodically reminded that the road of a theistic isolationist is a spiritually lonely one. And by extension, this includes Atheism as well I suppose. The difference though is the atheist's inner belief and assurance that there's nothing spiritual out there. Nothing more to see in that regard. Just more exact scientific principles and physics and matter blindly going about the path they're on and nothing else. Such a perspective does, at least, bring closure, but the isolationist has no such reprieve.
As I've continued on with my life, I've looked into many spiritual things and have observed other spiritual things that have happened to both me and other people, but trying to make sense of all of it sometimes feels like trying to make sense of a fractal, where one sees roads splitting off into more roads splitting off into more roads... Trying to look ahead to where all those roads end seems to be a fruitless endeavor. There's always more to see. More experiences you hear about. More to learn. And along all those roads are advertisements. Billboards. "Follow this road and see eternity!" "Follow this road and you'll know bliss!" "Follow this road and you'll learn your true purpose!"
All of these roads seem to have some kind of problem with them or another, much like how I began to see the cracks in my own LDS religion. Despite all that, one is sometimes sorely tempted to just pick a road that most appeals to their inner desires and stick to that, but for a theistic isolationist, to do so would be to give up trying to hold as much to the truth of things as possible and submit to one diety or another. Or maybe even multiple deities. I don't know. There's a lot of fucking roads. Perhaps this fractal of roads merely represents the fractal of possibilities within the human imagination. Whatever one thinks, there it is.
In the end, a quote from a romantic comedy comes to me. "I don't have all the answers. I just like to try to live in the moment, if I can." And perhaps that's the best any of us can hope for right now. Whichever road you're on though, if you truly deeply believe it to be the right one, I wish you the best on your walk.
As long as, you know, your walk doesn't unjustly harm other people in their own walks... If so, then I might have something to say, to say the least.
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