How many here are believers?

['andersom']

LOL, I had told my kids St Nic was a dressed up guy. And that it was all about the game of giving eachother presents and pranks, while being unknown. It was not about a real St Nic. He clearly is not real. Told them that at a very young age. It never interfered with them believing in the game of St Nic. That was a firm belief till they were 10 or 8.
I had told them similar things about other traditions. But, had never said that specifically about the toothfairy. Thought it was obvious. Since they had expressed similar thoughts about God too.

So, one day I had kids over for lunch, and they started telling the toothfairy wasn't real. My kids were shocked, so I told them it was similar to St Nic, and that I had thought they had realised that.

At that moment the kids I had over for lunch started to cry, because I had made them realise st Nic wasn't real. 

oh no Hyke - you must have felt like the grim reaper  -  killing off santa :lol:

i sussed on about the tooth fairy when walkers crisps costs 7p in the shops -  i recall the 7p left under my pillow and they were copper coins - so i queried my mum 'why didn't the tooth fairy leave me silver, tracey next door had a ten pence yesterday'  and the look on her face just said it all.

Make believe is great for kids.  I am gonna do magic, and fairy's, and wizards, goblins, elve's and pixies right up til the urchin is at least 15 lol

That's the funny thing. My kids believed 100% in St Nic, yet they knew it was all a game. My oldest believed it till she was 10. The youngest is less a make-believe girl, so at age 8 she gave up on really believing it. They still love the game. And my oldest will go for all elves, pixies, vampires and what not. And she'll believe, what ever she wants to believe, and will believe it really.

The two girls I broke the news to were easily sussed into believing again btw.

[Dexter Morgan]

Not looking good for the Jews.

[Squidusa]

Not looking good for the Jews.

I didn't see the extra "i" in "Shiite" at first.  :lol:

[Osensitive1]

It's not an extra i.

["couldbecousin"]

It's not an extra i.

Not extra in the sense of being a misspelling, but extra in the sense of being one more "i" than there is in the word "shite." 

[Osensitive1]

[Rissy]

I'm maybe agnostic. But really my philosophy is complicated. I don't really like militant atheism because that can be quite annoying too. I guess I'm kind of spiritual. But that's mostly because I doubt the validity of anything so I believe anything could be true. Spirituality is kinda fun and interesting anyway and it's passive. I live the way that feels right to me.

[Graelwyn]

I used to consider myself to be spiritual, but these days I seem to not have belief in much of anything. I have never followed a religion, as such. I have no interest in it, beyond the beauty of some of the buildings associated with it. When I took some online test, my innate beliefs seemed to most fit those of Buddhism.

[DirtDawg]

I used to consider myself to be spiritual, but these days I seem to not have belief in much of anything. I have never followed a religion, as such. I have no interest in it, beyond the beauty of some of the buildings associated with it. When I took some online test, my innate beliefs seemed to most fit those of Buddhism.

Maybe you should take some time in the woods, sleep under the stars, build a fire and listen to a stream.
Can not tell you what religion this is. You have to work that out on your own.

[Graelwyn]

I used to consider myself to be spiritual, but these days I seem to not have belief in much of anything. I have never followed a religion, as such. I have no interest in it, beyond the beauty of some of the buildings associated with it. When I took some online test, my innate beliefs seemed to most fit those of Buddhism.

Maybe you should take some time in the woods, sleep under the stars, build a fire and listen to a stream.
Can not tell you what religion this is. You have to work that out on your own.

Yes, I must admit, I have spent too much time holed up in my flat lately, and barely seen daylight, let alone nature. I have always felt at my best when I have had a good amount of time out in the countryside, away from the city and the noise. Incidentally, I have actually never slept under the stars. I have never even camped actually, it is something I have on my bucket list to do really. Thanks for the reminder.

['andersom']

I used to consider myself to be spiritual, but these days I seem to not have belief in much of anything. I have never followed a religion, as such. I have no interest in it, beyond the beauty of some of the buildings associated with it. When I took some online test, my innate beliefs seemed to most fit those of Buddhism.

Maybe you should take some time in the woods, sleep under the stars, build a fire and listen to a stream.
Can not tell you what religion this is. You have to work that out on your own.

Yes, I must admit, I have spent too much time holed up in my flat lately, and barely seen daylight, let alone nature. I have always felt at my best when I have had a good amount of time out in the countryside, away from the city and the noise. Incidentally, I have actually never slept under the stars. I have never even camped actually, it is something I have on my bucket list to do really. Thanks for the reminder.

That, and true solitude.

Could do with it a lot more.

[Walkie]

I used to consider myself to be spiritual, but these days I seem to not have belief in much of anything. I have never followed a religion, as such. I have no interest in it, beyond the beauty of some of the buildings associated with it. When I took some online test, my innate beliefs seemed to most fit those of Buddhism.

Maybe you should take some time in the woods, sleep under the stars, build a fire and listen to a stream.
Can not tell you what religion this is. You have to work that out on your own.

Nice idea; not sure how you would go about that in England (that's where graelwyn is too) . It's probably illegal to build a fire, almost everywhere you might go. You probably have no idea how tame this country is. And how just about every square inch of it is owned by somebody-or-other.

My only attempt to sleep beneath the stars was a little bit rash, you might say.

I felt a burning need to get away , so I packed a few basics in a small backpack, caught a random train, and got off at a more-or-less random station (Great Malvern in the Cotswolds, actually. I'd pased through there a few times in the past, on my way to somewhere else,  and always fancied getting off at that stop. So not very random, as you see)

It was sometime after I got there, potterered around on the hills for a bit,  and realised that it was way too late  to get cheap lodgings, that I had the bright idea of sleeping under the stars.  Given that it was a pretty chilly Spring night, and I'm cold intolerant, it didn't work out very well at all. In fact, by 2.00 am-ish I gave up and sheepinshly ambled back into the town and  booked in to a 4-star hotel for the rest of the night (nothing less than that had a night porter) .

I was living on the last of my meagre credit at the time, so I really had to make that expense worthwhile. So I hung around the hotel for a good few hours the next day, and had fun playing the " mysterious lady" (No that didn't entail doing anything out of character  ; and it got me into one or two pleasant conversations).

Then I played the tourist for a bit, then  went home.

Do i regret it? Well, actually not in the least .

But any tips re. going about it  more sensibly would be appreciated 

-Walkie

[Walkie]

Oh! P.S. I'm more-or-less Buddhist , btw

If an option of Buddhism or gnosticism had appeared (not Christian gnosticism, which is what most people think of,  but general non-specific gnosticism, which would include buddhism) ; then I would have checked that box. But no half-way suitable option was up there. So I didn't vote.

[Graelwyn]

I used to consider myself to be spiritual, but these days I seem to not have belief in much of anything. I have never followed a religion, as such. I have no interest in it, beyond the beauty of some of the buildings associated with it. When I took some online test, my innate beliefs seemed to most fit those of Buddhism.

Maybe you should take some time in the woods, sleep under the stars, build a fire and listen to a stream.
Can not tell you what religion this is. You have to work that out on your own.

Yes, I must admit, I have spent too much time holed up in my flat lately, and barely seen daylight, let alone nature. I have always felt at my best when I have had a good amount of time out in the countryside, away from the city and the noise. Incidentally, I have actually never slept under the stars. I have never even camped actually, it is something I have on my bucket list to do really. Thanks for the reminder.

That, and true solitude.

Could do with it a lot more.

I get a lot of solitude, some might say too much.
Before I started my own meetup group, I pretty much didn't talk to anyone face to face for weeks on end.
Now I am alone other than a few hours a week. Not always a good thing if, like me, you tend to get stuck too much inside negative thinking patterns.

[Gopher Gary]

I get a lot of solitude, some might say too much.
Before I started my own meetup group, I pretty much didn't talk to anyone face to face for weeks on end.
Now I am alone other than a few hours a week. Not always a good thing if, like me, you tend to get stuck too much inside negative thinking patterns.

Then I'm doubly glad you're back here with so many people to talk to.