Another religion quiz

[sistermagpie]

Gakked from gramayre1971.

You fit in with: Spiritualism Your ideals are mostly spiritual, but in an individualistic way. While spirituality is very important in your life, organized religion itself may not be for you. It is best for you to seek these things on your own terms. 40% spiritual. 40% reason-oriented.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

I kind of wish this quiz was a little more clear. What does it mean that "spirituality" is important to me, exactly? How are my ideals mostly spiritual? It's that word, "spiritual." What is it, exactly? The definition is:

1.Of, relating to, consisting of, or having the nature of spirit; not tangible or material. See Synonyms at immaterial.
2.Of, concerned with, or affecting the soul.
3.Of, from, or relating to God; deific.
4.Of or belonging to a church or religion; sacred.
5.Relating to or having the nature of spirits or a spirit; supernatural.

And those synonyms at "immaterial" are:

1.Of no importance or relevance; inconsequential or irrelevant.
2.Having no material body or form.

I assume it's the second part we're talking about here. So that means my ideals are mostly relating to the not-tangible or material and relating to the soul, or a deity, but in an individualistic way. I'm not sure exactly how that works. I'm not ready to say it's not true, because it sounds somehow correct, it's just weird that I can't really explain it to myself.

I used to think "spiritual" meant lacking the discipline to be religious, actually. Then I hung out for a long time on a Native American board where they made this distinction all the time, but in a positive sense, like spirituality was better than religion-though you could have both. One didn't contradict the other, it was just that you probably didn't want to have religion without spirituality.

Other people seem to agree with this definition, though. That is, I've been told more than once that people thought I was "spiritual" while not being "religious." I feel kind of weird writing that, like I'm saying, "Well, I am, of course, a very deep person, though I'm beyond such petty things as religion." It's just that really, it is one of those things that's fairly consistent--I guess for the mundane reason that I am relatively interested in religion. Actually, I almost minored in it in college; I had the credits to do so. But at the same time I felt like I couldn't because despite my taking classes in it, I honestly didn't feel like I got most religions at all. (Seriously, it's embarassing just how much effort I have put into understanding Islam to be completely ignorant about it and its sects. Perhaps this is also true of the creator of this quiz, who has left Islam off completely...?) I think sometimes I feel like the more you get into a specific religion, the more you get into man-made busywork. If it doesn't mean anything to you you might as well be studying Pokeman canon.

I guess that's the one thing that's kind of refreshing about Paganism, because most Pagans are so very aware of exactly that. Many of them already see themselves as practically different sects in a fandom--which can be a good thing or a bad thing, of course. I certainly like the crowd I'm hanging out nearby on the little quiz grid, right by the humanists and the atheists. Not that I don't like the people in the other areas, just it seems like I'd probably have to have these guys as neighbors.

I sort of wanted to do the icon meme, which I've been somehow unable to answer every time I see it on other ljs, but realized that it was probably silly given my icons.:-)

Comments

[slinkhard.livejournal.com]

Draco in a dress baffles me, personally.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

It's my OTP, which in HP is H/D, and Draco is the one wearing the dress because that bird reminds me more of him. Um, yeah.