Most people go to church, synagoge, temple, ... are you one of them? Or have you your own way of praying and paying respect to the deity (or deities) of your choice?

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Personally I don't spend much time worshipping gods, simply because I haven't been particularly attracted to a single god, goddess or even a pantheon. I see my life here as my own responcibility and even though I wouldn't mind a bit of positive divine intervention, it's not something I'm depending on.

There is one 'deity' I do pay respects to and that is this planet. Call it nature, Gaia, Terra, ... it's all the same thing. In my eyes a planet is an energetic entity, made up of all the seperate elements, which includes us humans. It's a huge ecosystem in scientific terms and I believe it has some sort of awareness as an entity. Just like we are made up out of billions of cells, microbes and molecules .. planets are made up out of billions of lifeforms and resources.

Anyways back on topic now ... I pay my respects occasionally by of course not polluting any more than is necessary in this society. I don't litter, organise my garbage for recycling and take the bike instead of my car when I can. Aside from that I also have a small, self-made shrine out in the woods behind my house. I don't use it often though but I maintain it and kneel down there occasionally thinking about the planet and how all our actions affect it .. often without mankind even realizing it.

I like to view my favoured pantheon and various gods as more sort of friends than explicitly worshipping..that said i do pay my respects on special occasions such as the solstices sometimes...the main why i like to pay my respects is not so much physical as having little respectful "conversations" with them...although if there was a proper pagan temple dedicated to any of the gods i favour i would visit it from time to time...ancient temples always feel sacred and like sanctuaries

I believe in God, but more spiritual.

Mankind in my eyes has tainted the image of God and the way we view the earth. The very things that were made in the first place to be appreciated and bring us joy, is completely ignored, eradicated, or destroyed. To me, the earth and God are one and the same.

They are both my friends, and will welcome me with open arms. I don't go to church, prearranged thing me and the lord had a discussion about really. I have certain things that make it hard for me to stay in church, without either falling asleep during a sermon, or getting people claustrophobia.


The earth, I pay my respects to simply by talking to. I don't treat the elements as enemies, nor the animals, and though it's seen so commonly around here, pay my respects even to poor dead roadkill and try to avoid running them over, for worry over bad energy or some such.

Mostly it's the conversation and reassurance of earth and spirituality that I like and I just pay my respects in respecting them for their power and for helping me throughout my life, or even greeting me and opening my eyes to the energy they can give.

I do that a lot as well simply talk to entities. especially gods. Sometimes others.

Snaps:

Oh good, I thought I was the only one who made my prayers a little too conversational ^_^;.

I go to church the few times that my family goes, which is on the important holidays (Christmas Eve, possibly Easter if I'm in town, though I'm not sure if they go on Easter anymore). I suppose it's really only that one day. My mother finds it no less important. She feels a duty to take the family to the church at least that one day. I tag along out of respect for her all in all. I feel like any other-worldly entity would be fine if I spent my time enjoying life rather than sit and listen to people give sermons. After they give the bread and we are supposed to sit down and pray, I usually take that time to have a casual briefing to anything listening of how life is going and the like.

I must say, that I don't see the point of worshiping some kind of god, goddess, just a happy bunch of woodland creatures except for making you feel better and to give you purpose in life, or simply giving you hope.

I just can't bring myself to worship somebody who is in fact something less than me. For example in case of ritualistic evocation where you flatter and simply beg entity.

Let's think about gods as directors of big companies, would you worship William Gates? I don't think so, but respect is in place . I'm quite egoistic, but thanks to my admission you can't blame me!

Im not really into worshiping stuff.
It's just.. Gods are like me so why shouldl I worship them? Either we are friends and sometimes have a friendly talk or we ignore each other and so on.. Just like you would act towards humans.

I'm not either.

That's an interesting trend among kin.

I think that's because, we kind of realize, that gods are just like us, just some beings that spend their time on astral plane. But the difference is that they are kinda more powerful.
So basicaly, it's like if you, as a human, decided to worship for example Arnold Schwarzeneger beause he's way stronger than you. You won't. You will respect him for what he did but not worship him.

Atleast that's my view on this

Well I guess it depends on how far you go with your worshipping.

Back on the powerful human analogy, lets take Bruce Lee (ignoring the fact he's gone). I gladly worship that man in his martial abilities. Worshipping, to me, isn't much different from having a lot of respect and maybe hoping to learn or gain something from that being.

I think it's a normal stage in the otherkin development to be somewhat defiant to deities and see them as equals or even lesser beings. In my experience it's a stage that passes, at least for me it did.

Well personally I dont see them as lesser being but I think of it like..we have a friendly relationship, I talk to them sometimes they talk to me...I pray a lot but never worship in the sense of prostrating myself before them or following dictates of religions based around them

And yeah it is an interesting trend with us kin..i have a defiant personality, i would never blindly follow a god..maybe many of us are similar in that way

Aaah..
For me, when you say worshiping I imagine priests in ritual clothes doing silly rituals, sacrificing animals, praying and stuff so..

That's only crazy cult worshipping. Which reminds me of that kung fu cult that David Carradine was supposed to be uncovering upon his suspicious death.

kung fu cult? o.O