I used to dance naked in front of lots of people pretty regularly. No, it’s not what you think. There were no poles, and no money involved. This was a spiritual service, believe it or not. You see, for about seven years, I was one of the high priestesses in a local coven of Pagans. Within the coven, we had a special affinity group of women who professed an abiding love for “the goddess” and vowed to serve her by providing meaningful rituals and ceremonies for other women. Think “learn to let your inner goddess shine” at the Summer Solstice, and stuff like that. We performed almost all of our rituals “skyclad.” That’s witch-speak for “naked.” Although, in order to picture this correctly, you should imagine us wearing lots of decorations, like glitter, jewelry, crowns, or maybe a headdress.

So, now that you’re familiar with my weird spiritual past, let’s travel back in time together. We priestesses had all gone together to a retreat deep in the woods of Santa Cruz, where we helped perform a ceremony for hundreds of women. Twelve weeks pregnant, I danced naked around a bonfire, surrounded by hundreds of women sitting in bleachers under a starlit sky, framed all around by majestic redwood trees. We spurred the women on to ecstatic experiences, encouraging them to trance into a deeper notion that they are a manifestation of the goddess. The idea was to empower them, and to display our whole-hearted acceptance of our bodies as part of nature, glorious and free.

The ritual was intense, as they tended to be, and in it, I was overjoyed knowing that the baby inside me had danced with me to the drums and so many voices lifted in song. Afterwards, I, wearing only a skirt and shoes, walked back to my cabin in the dark, feeling like I could be or do anything, which was good, because I was called to action right away.

A friend of mine, one of the witches, knocked on my door and asked me if I could go check her cabin for raccoons. She was afraid to be in there unless someone could make sure there were no wild nocturnal guests waiting to chew off her face.

Half-naked in my doorway, I listened to her, and mentally assessed the situation. It occurred to me that raccoons might be rabid, so we might need to interface with a park ranger soon, and, if that was the case, I’d need to put some clothes on. So I said, “Hold on, let me grab a shirt,” then went into my cabin to do just that. I also grabbed a broom.
I marched over to her cabin, went inside clutching the broom, ready to use it to evict any creatures, but verified that no raccoons were waiting in there. When I came out, my friend and a few other women were laughing hysterically. When they saw how confused I was, my friend explained, “How could a shirt protect you from a crazed raccoon?” They’d thought I wanted a shirt for a shield. Everyone thought it was super funny, and we told and retold that story for years.
Everything is different now, though. I gave up on all of that, and, unfortunately, lost most of my friends in the process.

You see, back in college, I took a lot of psychology courses, including the basics of conducting psychological research. When you’re a researcher, you’ve got to be really careful not to allow what you want to be true to influence your conclusions, because, if you do, then your research is basically worth a hill of beans. When testing reality, it’s so easy to allow your own beliefs and biases to influence what you see, then convince yourself that what you see proves what you believe.
It happens to all of us in everyday life, too, especially when it comes to religion. It’s beyond easy to fool ourselves into subscribing to whatever spiritual path floats our boat, if wanting to believe colors our perception.

I never forgot my early lessons in testing reality, and there was always a voice in my head saying, “There is a rational explanation for this.” Eventually, I grew interested in learning about logical fallacies and cognitive biases. Logic is the best cure I know of for superstition, and, so, my world shifted forever.

Today, I no longer dance naked, singing in exaltation to the goddess. I no longer believe in any religion, having already tried several. Though I don’t, as the astrophysicist Jason Wright put it, “...begrudge anyone their succor against existential darkness.” (http://sites.psu.edu/astrowright/2015/05/23/faith-doubt-and-science/ ) Everyone is welcome to their religions and spiritual ideologies, assuming they don’t hurt anyone, but I no longer believe any of it. For me, there are no miracles. There are no gods.

Now, I’m naked in a different way. Now, I’m doing my best to look directly at the natural world, to see what is really there. There is no divine cloak to comfort me. To decorate my experience with magical thinking does, to my mind now, a profound disservice to nature. The objectively real world, the one you and I can both see and touch together, is plenty mysterious. It is beautiful and inspiring - just as much as anything we could ever imagine. There is concrete work to do, with more impact than any prayer can offer. As far as you go with it, there is always more to learn, more to see, more to contemplate, more good to create.
I miss my friends. The absence of community is sometimes heart-wrenching. However, I can acknowledge that the only true friends I had are the few who have stuck by me through this process, and to them I am devoted.

Now, my clothes are on, but my mind is bared to the universe. It is enough.

source: https://m.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/4tzk9x/naked_my_story_of_changing_from_a_pagan_to_an/

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Edek27:
What's d diff
no offence tho bt i'll suggest u try christianity for a while at least

lol, the subject doesn't give a shit about it

its even stated that various religions were tried

Nice Thread!

hopefulLandlord:

lol, the subject doesn't give a shit about it
its even stated that various religions were tried

Nt rily

hopefulLandlord:

lol, the subject doesn't give a shit about it
its even stated that various religions were tried

Nt rily

Very interesting ,religion is a mishmash of self interest, cognitive biases, mass delusion and constant diluted fear of faith . While it is impressive that so many people would allow those doctrine to control their lives and dictate their actions ,it's also astonishing that people have grown up in this ambiance and still decide to leave it behind..

Jesus is the answer, try Him

Pidggin:
Jesus is the answer, try Him

What makes u think Jesus is superior to her former Goddess

Pidggin:
Jesus is the answer, try Him

I hear he gives anal sex has he done u b4

When you spend your precious time doing these things on a section meant for believers, are you trying to convince yourself or us?

EyeHateGod:

I hear he gives anal sex has he done u b4

bump