Sorry if this sounds ugly, because I mean no harm and am legitimately curious but what's the point to having any religion? I have tried several religions and found that it's best for me to do nothing. Why put in the effort?
Anthropologically, religion provides:
Rules (Commandments, Statements, Virtues, etc)
Comfort (life after death, “better place”)
Explanation (If you experience something supernatural; back in the day it also explains why people exist, why bad stuff happens, etc)
Rewards/Punishment (Heaven/Hell, The Halls, etc)
For me, spiritually, I find beliefs that match my personal experiences. A lot of people try to find religions to follow without having any reason to, so often coming to a religion or structural belief when you haven’t had either supernatural experiences to question, a desire for comfort in regards to belief systems, a desire to worship a god, looking for a religion falls flat.
Don’t look for a religion just to have one. Look for a religion to explain your experiences and/or to worship a god either for your own sake or for their sake.
In Heathenry, which is Norse Paganism, I worship Loki not for myself, not for rewards, but to worship Loki. Sometimes it’s that simple. It just happens that I ended up finding it rewarding for myself.
In my aspect of polytheistic Satanism, I look to demons and Satan as guides and teachers.
Using both of these beliefs, I am also able to find general explanations for my experiences with demons, the supernatural, the “veil” and otherworldly experiences, witchcraft, magic, and much more.
Atheistic Satanism, or Laveyan Satanism, it’s specific goal is to better the self, expand your wisdom and insight, while also being a specific movement against most Christian virtues - by this I mean instead of doing things for a G-d such as abstinence or holding off on your indulgences, do them. Don’t give a damn, be yourself, don’t harm anyone, don’t let anyone get away with hurting you, etc. It’s “anti-Christian” in the sense that it’s literally the opposite of specific Christian tenents.
There’s too many things in my personal experience that are inherently supernatural or have no natural explanation, but make perfect sense in beliefs.
On top of that, religion and belief in the supernatural are also not the same thing. I was a witch before I was religious, it just made sense to me years ago and it still does, if not even better sense with the practice that I have.
With witchcraft I look at it two ways. I have never had a spell that failed me, so either its Pure Coincidence that every single spell I’ve made coincided with an event that I happened to make a ritual for, or I’m actually making some kind of difference. The coincidence could be true, but the amount of times I’ve had “success” versus coincidence is a little too much for me to really say its all in my head or made up or just coincidence. There could be a coincidental factor, but I’d rather believe than take any chances.
Religion requires effort, inherently.
If you’re not going to put in any effort, then don’t. But to have a religion is inherently to put effort into your belief. I worship Loki to worship him simply. However, that does not mean that I have 100% verifiable proof of his existence nor does it mean I’ve never doubted my beliefs at all. I have, terribly, and it requires blood sweat and tears to believe in an entity a vast majority of people say doesn’t exist, that I shouldn’t bother, that doesn’t immediately provide results, that’s always questioned when people bring up religion and the intangible. And yet, pushing through the times I’ve felt the worst have felt rewarding in and of itself, and my bond I feel is stronger. It’s not necessarily a “test” the way monotheistic religions tend to have, but rather sometimes gods in polytheistic religions have other shit to do, have other things to attend to, and sometimes they just Don’t Care or don’t want to be bothered.
You put in the effort either for yourself or for the deity you want to worship. You can’t just pick a religion, do nothing, and expect something. It;s a lot of study, a lot of work, a lot of learning, and you always learn. I’ve been Lokean for 6 years, and a Satanist for about 8, and I can tell you it was nothing back then like it is for me now. It was far more quiet, far more distant.
To quote my own Loki Devotional post:
Loki, to me, is a Father. He is there when I need him. He knows when to take me seriously and not, he’s kind, very warm, but will also give me a kick in the ass if and when I need it. He has helped me grow much as a person. He’s taken care of me, he’s helped me, he’s supported me, he makes stupid dad jokes. He’s welcome into my home whenever he likes, no matter how much I gripe about the excessive amount of spiders. We have grown over the years, and he is still my Father. The Father I wish I had as a child, but my Father now is no less important. He is there when my Biological Father is not, and supports me through my troubling times when feeling doubt. No matter how I feel about myself, whether I feel that I am horrible, that I am a “monster,” he doesn’t tell me I’m not - he says “So what?” - and that is the most supportive thing anyone has done for me. That perhaps I am a monster but I can still grow and become something to be proud of, that monsters can learn to control themselves and revel in what they are all the same. He has helped me heal a great deal. I love him dearly, and have been neglecting my duties to him, and for that I need to greatly apologize.
To also quote an even older post about Loki:
When I started working with Loki, myself, I was heavily fighting mental illness. My personality disorder was taking its toll and I was getting extreme violent and intrusive thoughts, nearly acting on them. I was getting scared of myself and I was doing therapy at the time, in which my therapist was curious about how my religious searching was going for a couple weeks.
Eventually, learning more about him, I felt very at ease. I made an altar to him, I looked up how to do offerings and such, I did a blot, and felt a very strong connection to his children as well. Felt that they were monsters, he is the Father of Monsters, and I felt rather at peace with the fact that I was a monster. Ive always teetered between hating myself and hating everyone around me because I felt that I was a monster thanks to PDs. But suddenly, being a monster wasn’t so bad anymore. I felt less hateful, less violent, I could control myself better, and I felt like I really belonged in this Pantheon, especially thanks to not just Loki but Hel as well.
I started to reach out to Loki, far more nervously than I am now. It was messy, I didn’t know what I was doing, and I was very new to Paganism. I’ve been dabbling in witchcraft since my “edgy” middle school days, but talking to deities?? I thought I was crazy for trying. Hell, we all might be but at least I’m not shaken up by it anymore ahahha.
In polytheism, the relationship with one’s gods tends to be slightly more informal, because you get to know the god and they get to know you, and you form a kind of relationship with them.
You can have a religion based on belief, relationship, interest, code of conduct, explanation, reward or punishment, but you always have to put in the effort. You put in the effort to see results. You don’t always get immediate results, so having patience with your own belief is important.
Not having one is nothing to be ashamed of either, but if you truly want to have one, look for a religion with more than just its surface value. You put the effort in to see what could happen or to have a specific result. If you don’t, then obviously nothing will come out of it. It takes a long time, and its understanding if people dont want to waste months or years of their life on something that the feel may not do them any good, but if you really want to do something spiritual or religious, you do have to do the work and studying, and if it falls flat, then at least you’ve expanded in knowledge and wisdom so it wasn’t all a waste.
On a TEDTalk I watched, there was someone explaining Animism.
The best explanation for any kind of belief was their explanation of it.
“The insight [the author of an article] gave me was a word he used, and that was the word belief. He said Ngai Tahu believed Aoraki [a mountai] was an ancestor. Now, Ngai Tahu don’t believe Aoraki is an ancestor. Ngai Tahu experience the mountain as an ancestor, and that’s a big difference. There’s a difference between experience and belief.”
He also uses the analogy of having a pet:
“Ask yourself, is your dog member of your family? For most people, the answer is yes. Of course your dog’s a member of your family. Now these people don’t believe their dog’s a member of heir family, they know its a member of their family, they experience it. Now the reason they experience it is because they can see their dog can show love and affection. They can relate to it. They can see its identity. Consequently we can say this dog here [on screen], it’s gunna have a personality, and you’re gunna be able to relate to it. But if we say we know it’s not a human, because even though it’s a part of our family we know it;s not human, we know it’s a different species, but we can say that because it has a personality that it is a person because it’s a part of our family and we can relate to it.”
I recommend watching the full TEDtalk for the experience and knowledge because it’s truly interesting insight on Animism, and in general belief as a whole.
You know what you experience, you don’t believe in your experience. In religion, you may start out believing, but you end up knowing, whether or not it was for you, you know that now. I don’t just believe in Loki or believe in my relationship with him, I know it and know it exists, I experience it myself.
The reasons vary person to person, and my efforts are rewarded without me really wanting them to be. I put effort because I want to, because it simply makes me feel good, and because I know, not believe, that Loki appreciates it.
The effort is often, by itself, the reason you put effort into things. Sometimes it’s simply to see what would happen, if anything. Sometimes it’s specifically for rewards, sometimes it’s nothing to do with you but rather that you just want to, sometimes it’s to validate your experiences.
I hope that makes sense! It’s understandable if it’s confusing, but this is my personal take on it, and this reason will change person to person to person, depending on who you ask. It’s not for everyone, and that’s fine, but I hope this is helpful !
