Tao of EGWBT

Since this site is sort of a chronicle of my beliefs and way of looking at things, I present the following:
I am not a follower of any particular religious view, instead, I follow the train of thought that they are all valid in their own context. In fact, I draw upon just about whatever strikes my fancy that I feel a connection with. I have always followed a more or less culturally shamanic view of things, and was in fact, initiated into a mystery tradition as a teen.

With the growth of the Internet, I explored my Choctaw heritage a bit. Things that were impossible to find in the pre-Internet days have now become easily available with a good search. I have since discovered many previously unknown cultural items that had escaped me. As an adolescent, I also explored Buddhism for a while. At the time, I was hardcore into Martial Arts, and it seemed a good fit. I was also a diehard Punk Rocker for quite some time(1984-present?), and in fact, still basically have the same attitude and ideologies. All of these factors have influenced my views on the world, and how we create our own reality. I came to understand that divinity is not something external to us, but is in fact what we are made of. God is All, All is God - to put it in a Hermetic/monotheistic way.

Our subconscious mind seeks to create reality with what we think, see, hear, and do. If given a chance, it will do exactly that. Most religions are a mind game, with the true core elements being the same for all, once the limiting dogma is removed. Their myths are all variations of each other, and all basically say the same thing on an esoteric level. It is Magic(k) for the non-initiate. The real big stuff is kept hidden in most religions, for fear their followers will actually learn it and usurp the powers that be, or persons not sufficiently advanced will get hold of it. If you dig deep enough in any major religion (with the exception of maybe Buddhism, or Taoism) you will find the same thing. Maybe it is just my anarchistic view of the world, but I firmly believe dogma of any kind is a bad thing. How can a person grow and learn if there are rules before they even start?

I have found for myself, there is a difference in spiritualism and religion. Spiritualism is the path of the Shaman, Medicine Man, or historic "Witch". Religion is a set of rules and dogmas governing your beliefs to fit a certain memetic image. As such, I do not follow any one religious paradigm, it all depends upon what I feel I need to connect with or desire. On a side note, in Native American spiritualism, it is normally considered to be a very bad thing to be considered a "witch". A native "witch" is a bad Medicine Man who curses other people and does bad things. Being called a "witch" is normally a grave insult. As for myself, I do many things that go beyond the native practices. If someone called me that I would probably agree with them.

The God's are all creations of man so that we can connect to certain levels and aspects of divine energies. They are the personal face we put on something that is incomprehensible on our Human level. The true "God" is totally beyond comprehension and human understanding, and is certainly not an anthropomorphic idol on a throne throwing down lightning bolts to the cowering humans. Imagine what existed before the Big Bang, even before "God", and there you will find the true divinity. Once limitations are placed on it, it is no longer divine. Note: If it says it is god, it most definitely is not!

The true divine has NO limitations, neither should you.