Advice from the Hermit atop Hawke's Aerie: Issue #1

Okay...I've decided to collect a lot of the advice I've given to people here and there and reproduce it here (and add to it, as things occur to me).  Sort of a mini-article type thing.  Maybe one of these days I'll actually gather up enough of them to actually publish something.  This will be one of the most recent I've given, in response to the "is/isn't there a God?" question that crops up from time to time.  Especially amongst those of us with chronic illness and/or other disorders that we can "treat" but not be truly free of.

So, below is my response to the question.  "Is/isn't there a God?"


"Well, unfortunately that's going to be a loaded question honestly :P.  There are as many that believe and find comfort in that belief as there are those that DON'T believe and feel irritation that other people do believe (well, irritated when those people try to push their beliefs on others, anyway, which is pretty often, in my experience).

I, myself, don't believe in God (or, at least, not a "God" as most religions do).  I do believe in a sort of "universal consciousness" that filters about the universe; not really "God" but basically just the balancing cycle of life/death/birth/etc/etc/etc that exists everywhere.  Honestly, my path is more of a shamanistic one; something of an Amerindian tradition, rather than a "religion".  It shares some similarities with a lot of Eastern beliefs (Buddhism, Taoism, et al), with one rather large distinction, in that shamanism says (basically) that everything has a spirit and should be respected.  Which is similar to animistic beliefs (like Shin Tao in Japan), but animistic religions worship those spirits, while shamanism (and you'll see a few places that talk about shamanism and animism as being synonymous, but they aren't) simply believes that those spirits are worth of respect (but never worshiped).

:P BUT back to the main point now; you'll probably wind up with both groups of responses, which, unfortunately when you're confused already, isn't going to help you any.  Painfully, this is one question that only YOU can really answer.  *laugh* Most of the advice you'll see will be skewed very strongly in the direction of the beliefs of the person giving it (:P which is also central to my own, personal, belief system; everyone should be able to choose their own path to follow)."