I don't know what I believe in any more.

[chrissnow]

I was raised Catholic. Like many I stopped going to mass when i discovered more 'interesting' things to do with my Sundays when I was about 16. I have ventured in and out of church at Easter/christmas/when I want something/when I've been thankful for something.
Just recently I've become very confused. Even though I could never be described as strict or practising as such I always believed. I've been umming and aahing about getting my daughter's baptised and have come to the conclusion they can make their own informed decisions later.
I think my main problem is I believe in too much rather than not enough. I believe in ghosts/tarot/psychic phenomena/too a lesser degree I don't discount the idea of aliens - none of which is compatable with Catholicism. I believe in a more Karmic life after death/reincarnation belief. Or a Wiccan do no harm to others.
Sometimes I believe in a god not necessarily the Christian one. Sometimes several (why not). I think a lot of it is spending time at work with Muslims/hindus/a.n. others and listening to their religious beliefs and just analysing it in the way that I do. They all sound so plausible and good....
No real question for anyone - just an outpouring. My DH is atheist and can't really understand. Is anyone else a big spiritual hodge podge?

I feel the attraction of all sorts of mumbo-jumboey things myself and I think we are nowadays exposed to so much from different cultures that it is fairly normal to feel a bit confused or open perhaps.

How about going back to where you started from and reading some good clear book on Catholicism and chapter by chapter seeing where you stand on it? You may not have strayed as far as you think you have. On the whole I think you can meet very tolerant Catholic priests (Jesuits surprisingly IME) who will know a lot about and respect a lot about other traditions, however I think they'll be pretty clear in denouncing tarot.

Think I'd clear up your stance on your own tradition/culture before looking further into something else

There was a link on a thread here recently to the Beliefnet Belief-O-Matic, where you answer questions about the things you believe, and it shows the religions which match those beliefs. Link

I know it sounds like a teenage magazine quiz idea, but actually I had a go and was impressed with the results. It might show you which of your ideas and beliefs at the moment are compatible with your Catholicism and which might be from other religions. If nothing else, it helps you think through what you do believe.

ooh thanks.

Well I wouldn't want to admit to it at a public event, but it's coming up with Neo-paganism (with very close ties to various buddisms - but I suspect I'm to impure to be a true buddist).
A lot of it does hold true to what I'm thinking at the moment.
You were right MIS - the questions themselves revealed how far away from catholicism I am now.

The pages about each faith are interesting too - I had a look round some of the near-misses and I could see why they were close-ish but not a perfect match, which confirmed what I already knew (I got 100% match on my current denomination, which didn't surprise me any )

And of course you're not required to pick one anyway. It's perfectly ok to design your own plan for how you want to live and see things.

Although I'm an atheist I always thought that "do unto others" was a pretty good guide regardless of who said it first. Even if it turned out that I was mistaken and there were rules to the universe that I should have been following I'd feel no shame at having kept to that.

I agree with you there Grey. That's how I try to live my life. (I say try I have been known fall off my perch from time to time!)