Vesperianism ~ My new religion/philosophy.

this is a religion/philosophy in the making. i hope to have it ready to be opened by the end of the year. by the way can anyone help me to understand the difference between a religion and a philosophy please?

anyway, down to businss!...

Beliefs:

There is an event happening on the Astral Plane, effecting the Material Plane. this event is called The War. it is basically the Apocolypse, though i do not believe it to be the end of the world. rather, Global and Planar Revolution. The results will be determined by the actions of those involved. we must work hard to make our worlds the way we wish them to be. Restore the planet's health, put an end to humanity's flaws, and be aware of what is going on in the Astral Plane, so that we can have a hand in shaping it's new government. we are out to change the world to our liking, a greener planet, and a peacefull Land of The Dead.

Nothing can be known for certain, but we must always pursue knowledge. Look to the past, and teh present, for lessons and wisdom to apply to the future. never settle on any belief. it is good to have faith in your beliefs, but always accept that what you know just might be wrong, even if you don't believe that it is. be always open to new ideas and possibilities. only you can decide what makes sense of it all.

The Shadows are our prefered element. Within darkness all is possible. but without a little bit of light to shape it, it can have no definite form. too much light will destroy our dark works, but none at all makes them impossibly unstable. Live in balance with Darkness and Light. Embrace the Shadows. Twilight is our time of power, Dusk our favored hour. When the hellish sun has dipped low in the sky and Vesper comes out to greet us, and all the Fae spring from their holes to play, we too rejoice.

Believe in the Otherrealms, and in Otherkin. They are very real. Be respectfull to all who show respect to you, and all who's respect you want.

Everything is sacred. Do not discriminate against another person's lifestyle out of ignorance.

Well until this moment no one I have ever talked to knew the world I knew. Your philosophy (because there is no god or goddess at the head of it) I truly akin if not identical to what I have grown up believing. Those few who I trusted I teach about the war and how to fight. There are a few things i would like to mention though...

First off I have always called our kind "Shades" just seemed appropriate given our medium.

Second...I believe I have been fighting here in this world as well as the astral...given how I live in both Light and Darkness, I have been fighting in two worlds as well as living in them. (lol ask Nyght, this makes me a little hard to understand sometimes =))

Would love to find out just how deep you are atm. You mentioned that we can fight by saving our planet, what other ways do you know of we can fight the imbalances of the universe? And being a Shade are you truly alright with all the things you must do? And finally.... knowing what you know are there ANY circumstances that would make you walk away? Make you hang up your sword so to speak?

Forgive the rambling but something tells me if you were close to where I was we would be having MANY long nights over coffee.
Luna bless those who are different then the common ones.

i can certainly agree with you on the last couple sentances, though i'd stick to my vanilla frapcinnos. ^_^ (i cannot stand caffiene without vanilla, it gives me headaches... i'm a schitzophrenic alchaholic, see?)

anyway, at the moment, i am at a point of having made it through all my solitary experiences, and now i have made it through and past the hopelessness. i have my guiding sources, and i have lived through teh greatest of suicidal depressions, i am immune to hopelessness. this also means that my answer to your next question is that at this point nothing can convince me to hang up my sword, depending on how you view it. i suppose there MAY be secrets i could potentially learn that would make me feel as though my entire plan was faulty, but the desire to do good would remain and i'd only switch my focus.

anyway, i havn't managed to finish making this religion ready to officialize. i still preach my beliefs, in a non-pushy way, and i still act according to my ow tenets, hoping always tht humankind will bit by bit copy good deeds, monkey-see-monkey-do, right?

i need to find a way to word all these things, and the lessons i hope to share with others, in a book or other form of text. i feel that to have a subtantial text will be important as a guiding factor in this faith, but unlike most religions not a central point of the religion. frthermore, i need a way to make this religion appealing to others.... sort of like advertisement. a way to get the news of this religion public while drawing positive attention to it.

by the way, i issed one of your questions, i am sorry.

i have to say... i am pretty certain that i would do anything i had to to accomplishthis goal. i had resolved on many a nefarious means-to-an-end scheme in the past...

I am now posting an Updated Version of this right here.

Beliefs

The world we are living in today is falling apart. Here in America we live endless cycles of emptyness. We go to school, get a career, buy a house, work to payrent and put our kids through school so they can do the same, and then retire and spend our last few years of life playing golf and taking vacations. There is no higher purpose, no greater goal.
Also, The American Government is mind-controling the people. The only representatives ever realy acknowledged are the Republicans and the Democrats, and if people even know about the other Parties they still feel that if they do not vote Republican or Democrat their vote will go to waste, because they all know that everybody else ALSO feels this way!! It is stupid! It is sad! And it is how the corrupt politicans keep their power! Someone has to stop this madness! Their must be someone to lead the people out of their mind control and let them think freely for themselves, to truely make a difference in the world! To bring the power back to the people!
In the Middle East people are killing eachother over religion, and in many cases also over immature family or business squabbles. In Africa, the Homeland, genocide and shortsighted greed rule! When we attain freedom in America we cannot let the rest of the world suffer. We must spread our good will to the whole world, and allow greatness to flourish everywhere. We CAN unite, and we can all live peaceully together, whatever our culture, whatever path we follow, whichever gods we worship.

There is an event happening on the Astral Plane, effecting the Material Plane. this event is called The War. It is basically the Apocolypse, though i do not believe it to be the end of the world. rather, Global and Planar Revolution. The results will be determined by the actions of those involved. We must work hard to make our worlds the way we wish them to be. Restore the planet's health, put an end to humanity's flaws, and be aware of what is going on in the Astral Plane, so that we can have a hand in shaping it's new government. We are out to change the world to our liking, a greener planet, and a peacefull Land of The Dead.

Tenets

Nothing can be known for certain, but we must always pursue knowledge. Look to the past, and teh present, for lessons and wisdom to apply to the future. never settle on any belief. it is good to have faith in your beliefs, but always accept that what you know just might be wrong, even if you don't believe that it is. be always open to new ideas and possibilities. only you can decide what makes sense of it all.

The Shadows are our prefered element. Within darkness all is possible. but without a little bit of light to shape it, it can have no definite form. too much light will destroy our dark works, but none at all makes them impossibly unstable. Live in balance with Darkness and Light. Embrace the Shadows. Twilight is our time of power, Dusk our favored hour. When the hellish sun has dipped low in the sky and Vesper comes out to greet us, and all the Fae spring from their holes to play, we too rejoice.

Believe in the Otherrealms, and in Otherkin. They are very real. Be respectfull to all who show respect to you, and all who's respect you want.

Everything is sacred. Do not discriminate against another person's lifestyle out of ignorance.

Values

Any subject of Faith is acceptible, their is no Head Deity here. This is a Philosophical way of life more than a religion.

Seek always Higher Knowledge and Wisdom.

All experiences in life, good or bad, are chances to learn. Consider them and meditate on them.

Acknowledge yourself as capable and powerfull. You hold miricles at your whim, as does everyone else. persever and use your power wisely.

Do whatever is nessasary to create positive change.

Act as you want others to act. The best way to spread the lesson is to demonstrate it. People will follow what they like.

All actions bear a consequence, and all energies attract similar energies. Be always aware ofwhat you are doing, and what will come of it.

Vices

Do not settle on your beliefs, always chalenge them. You can never attain absolute certainty of the Truth.

Do not enforce Faith in any idol or philosphy on any person. Their personal spiritual relationship is right for them, or else the right one will find them on it's own.

Do not close your mind to infinite possibilities. You can never know what is and isn't real. Even your senses and the concepts of sense, logic and sanity are in question.

Do not be disrespectfull to anyone unless they perpetually give you reason to. and forgive any and all who show an honest desire to atone for any wrongdoing. Mercy is a virtue.

Do not Judge harshly, and do not condemn others. You are not Rightchous, and neither is any mortal.

Do not be afraid. Fear is an illusion, a trick of the mind convincing you to give up. It is Illogical.

Do not give in to hopelessness or depression. Negativity can induce heavy emotions, but to give up is idiotic and cowardly, as well as weak. If you are to lose anyway, at least go down still fighting to the last breath.

Sacred Lessons

The one Truth we can be certain of is that everything we think e know could be completely wrong.

Change is the only constant. Nothing stays the same, and all things must pass and come to an end. Do not be afraid if Change and Chaos, because to be so is to displace yourself and disorient yourself; It will only cause you pain.

Life is like a game of Backgammon; All you can do is roll the dice and make the best move with what you got. You cannot go back and you cannot take back your moves, you can only keep going forward.

Message

People! Christians, Jews, Muslims with your Jehova! Wiccans with your God and Goddess! Pagans with your Pantheons! Hindus with your hundreds of thousands of deities! Shintoists with you kami! Animists with your Totem Guides! Listen as I tell you something blunt and straight! Your Idol of Faith will not do things for you. He/She/They will give you what you need to do things yourself. Our gods are our spiritual parents, and as such they want to teach us to learn to grow up and be responcible.

We come from many different religions and philosophies. We worship many different beings in many different ways. But we all are striving for generally the same thing: Peace, Harmony, Happiness. We can have this by working together and living together, without arguing over little inconsequential things. We only have ourselves to blame, not some Idol that represents all Evil.

Stop arguing over whether Jesus had God-given powers or not! Stop arguing over whether Satan was an angel or a djinn! Stop arguing over whether Buddha transcended mortality or not! Stop arguing over whether th Earth was created in seven days or formed from stardust that came out of nowhere! None of these things are worth fighting over! They are not worth the millions of lives lost at Holy Wars, or the trillions of tears spilt ver someone who's business it wasn't to tell someone else what they should or should not believe!

I see two possible futures for humanity, two roads. On one, teh world is green, everyone is happy. There are no wars. Nobody has any prejiduces. Everyone works together and helps eachother out, and everyone benefits from this community. No country is impoverished or disavantaged. All benefits are shared and create more benefits for everyone, so that the benefits themselves grow greater and greater, and become bountifull. Everyone trusts and loves and shares and grows. Wisdom abounds, and people grow and lean at an astounding rate.

On the other, we continue as we are, spiraling forever downward in endless cycles of emptiness, no goals, no greater purpose. Everyone is full of paranoia, fear and doubt. Nobody trusts anyone else, and the only policies and methods are cutthroat. Nobody can achieve anything without dragging someone beneath them, climbing up the ranks until they reach the top, with nothing to show for it but a view of all the rivals and enemies plotting and scheming to take your place. And this continues until humanity becomes it's own downfall, crumbling away into extinction.

The one reason I am not afraid is because either way nature wins. Humanity will either self-destruct or return to the natural rythms, where everything can prosper together as equals. I have no reason not to keep giving humanity the mercy it does not deserve of chance after chance after chance to get it right. So which is it people? Are we ready to step up and take responcibility for our actions? Are we ready to do something about the situation we are in, and make this world a better place for tommorrow? Because I say we damn well better be!

Heiarchy

Master or Mistress (there is only one of these, the very head of the Faith).

High Priest or High Priestess (there is only one of these, the highest appointed minister).

Priest or Priestess (there can be any number of these. they are as Reverends or Pastors in other churches and ministries, able to legaly and officialy perform all duties and services of the ministry).

Unordained (a term used for Worshippers and non-Worshippers alike).

i am looking for clergy now, so that when i put this up on a website i'll have some leaders of this Order.