Dharma Curious (he/him)

Meanwhile, in south Carolina, I pay bring home about 60% of my income, I can’t afford to eat well, I get absolutely zero assistance for food, medical insurance, or God Forbid basic income, and I am genuinely contemplating attempting to live in my vehicle in an abandoned parking lot near my work to save on gas money.

I didn’t expect to find my fellow Advaitins on this particular thread, but hello, well met!

I’m not hairy enough to be a bear. Forever without a box or label D:

Not really. There are nondualist traditions within Christianity. Meister Eckhart being the most well known. Nonduality isn’t the worshipping of other gods before Yahweh, it’s the belief that all that exists is within God. Panentheism isn’t incompatible with Christianity, it’s just a super niche trend within it, but with lots of historical precedent, even within large Christian organizations like the RCC. They never excommunicated Eckhart, and while he was controversial during his life, his thoughts on nonduality effectively forced the church to admit that it was not heresy.

Going beyond the RCC and into protestantism there is no unifying body to declare what is and isn’t allowed, so basically, screw that, imma do what I want.

But if you’re at all interested (not in a “Join us!” Way, more in an interesting historical knowledge way), there are tons of nondualist Christians, and I’d be happy to share.

Yeah, there’s a lot of damage the church has done. I don’t support the RCC. I just wish the RCC could be progressive and keep the liturgical/tradition side of things. Total pipe dream

Spiritual tradition, for starters. I also feel deep connection to liturgical traditions, and there’s a lot besides that I like about the RCC. I like that, generally, there’s someone at the church at any given time, that the building doesn’t stand empty for all but a few hours once per week. That I could go, and light a candle, and sit in contemplation, or speak with a priest. I like confession, I like a lot about the way the RCC functions. I just dislike the scandals, the bigotry, the, frankly, hatefulness that the church has proudly warn over the centuries. A big reason why I’m an Episcopalian is that it’s progressive, while also being liturgical. There are more progressive churches like the MCC, but they’re more congregational and remind me too much of the baptist churches I grew up in.

While it’s probably not important for a lot of people, for me, having that line of demarcation between the sacred and the secular, the robes and the chalices and the incense and bells, the line that says “this is a sacred space, one for meditation, contemplation, prayer” is important. It allows me to leave behind a certain mindset and enter a new one. Regardless of our ideas behind religion and spirituality, humans have been doing ritual for thousands, and potentially millions, of years. There’s a power behind it, even if it’s just in our heads. Nobody in Christendom does ritual quite like the Catholics. The episcopalians are good at it, but only on Sunday morning, and as much as I love the tradition, it lacks a lot of the spiritual tradition, like intercession of saints and a Marian ideology that I also crave. Anglocatholics are pretty good for that, but they tend to be conservative and anti gay, and most of them have moved to the ACNA, a schismatic group founded against the ordination of women and gay men.

There’s a lot to dislike about the RCC, and organized religion in general. I disagree with a huge chunk of it. The prohibition against marriage for priests has lead to so many problems. There’s too much to list, from the way nuns are treated, the prohibitions against birth control, LGBTQ+ issues, abortion, surrogacy… There’s a lot wrong with the institution. But I don’t think we should throw the baby out with the bathwater. It’ll never happen, but I dream of a day when there’s major reform within the Church.

I just want a hyper progressive RCC with a married trans woman pope :(

Edit to add:

Feel a bit like I’ve misrepresented myself, so to clarify: I’m an Episcopalian, but I’m also a nondualist Advaitin (Hindu). I am not your average viewer or really anyone’s target audience, so don’t extrapolate my comments to the larger religious/gay community. Haha.

May your enema be forever empty, and may you have always just gained 3 pounds

There are also us gays who aren’t members of the church, but really wish we could be (but won’t, because of gestures wildly at the church with frantic, panicked eyes)