Devout Discordian Odinistic Neo-Shaman with Chaos Magician Tendencies

I recently was filling out some important forms for a doctor's appointment. Due to the nature of the doctor I was seeing (there may have been the tiniest amount of head shrinking involved) there was a section that asked about religion. It's not a simple question for me. There was a time when I'd just put Mormon without thinking and move on.

This is no longer the case.

Hell there was a time when I would have put "Pagan" and not thought any more of it. But that time is also past.

It's a complicated question, the one of religion. It brings us to a worldview. It brings us to a number of preconceptions and subtle understandings. "We worship the same Jesus? Why fantastic! Isn't it silly those folks that worship that other subtly different Jesus?" And then they throw back their heads and laugh the wondrous laughter of those who will travel to the same heaven.

Religion has shaped the world in ways that are completely undeniable. For Good? For Bad? It doesn't really matter to me. The world is what it is. Religion as far as I'm concerned is a neutral force. For some it acts as a guide to becoming more moral and ethical individuals. For others it's a chain that binds them and guides them to try and ensnare all others into their own terrible bonds.

Now there's also every other iteration between those two, but those two are the most dramatic. And I'm writing for my buddy's enjoyment so gotta keep this shit all fancy and whatnots.

But anyway, looking at the form I put what is the title of this very post. Devout Discordian Odinistic Neo-Shaman with Chaos Magician Tendencies. I did this cause as I've been learning more and more my beliefs keep evolving. They absorb the new data, new experiences, and new energies and alchemically process it all until it works together.

On top of that I'm a humanist, a transhumanist, a major technophile, and an Adherent of St. Vidicon of Cathode.

I worship Odin, Frigg, Eris, Kali, Little bit of Shiva, Raven, Bear, Promethius, Hades when I'm feeling nasty, and pretty much whoever the hell I'm feeling like at any given moment.

I believe that the Gods are constructs of the human mind that have the power to effect our lives by extending energetic forces from within the collective unconscious. Or not. It's all just the whim of Primordial Chaos anyway. Who doesn't really have whims but it's a parable. Like throwing the first stone, only with the divine starfire that shaped the universe in the Crucible of the Big Bang.

Or something.

But that being said, my doctor asked me what I had written for religion. I told him, Devout Discordian Odinist ... wait... Devout Discordian OdinistIC Neo-shaman with Chaos Magician Tendencies.

He looked at me with the look that said, "So are you fucking with me? Or are... seriously are you fucking with me?" and asked how important spirituality was in my life.

I said with complete sincerity "It is deeply important to me."

He couldn't call me a whackjob cause of professional decorum, so he just moved on.

It still makes me giggle to remember his face.