Salutations!

It's really not like you're probably imagining it, except for in some parts of Tokyo. The fashion is fun, a lot more my style than what they have here in America. xD

Well I could tell you, but I feel like people would find it offensive. ^^; But it's not so much supporting it with religion, but more like twisting certain things in their religion to fit their own agenda.

Heh. I figured as much.  
How is the tech level in everyday life? It seems like they are always ahead of us technology-wise.

I'm pretty chill,  I may not agree, but I won't be offended.
Mm. Yeah, that is not good at all. If you profess to believe something you can't try to twist that to be convenient.

Yeah, the technology's pretty high tech compared to America. The phones in particular work completely different. Text doesn't come from your service provider, you use an e-mail address. And the cars a lot more gas friendly, since a lot of the people there use hybrids. I swear every other car is a hybrid. Which is a good thing! ^^

My beliefs on religion are pretty secular, so a lot of people find it hypocritical and stuff. But it makes perfect sense to me, and that's what matters, yeah?

That seems like it would work better than having two disparate systems.
And they are smaller too! I'm sure that helps with congestion.  

Do you care to share?

Ruthalas_ wrote:That seems like it would work better than having to disparate systems.
And they are smaller too! I'm sure that helps with congestion.  

Do you care to share?

Hah~~~ It does NOTHING for congestion. Tokyo is absolute hell all day round -- walking is faster, but there's still extremely heavy traffic there too. xD Only fast mode of travel is by train, but there's so many weirdos there you don't even know.

It'd be hard to explain, but Wicca's pretty close I guess. It's definitely a form of Paganism, though.

Oih. That sounds bad. I can see why bicycles are popular!
I'm glad I don't have to make subway/train commutes myself.
No pickpockets or weirdos!
I visited Rome recently and had to swat several pickpockets.

Gotcha. I've got a friend who is a practicing wiccan actually.
(Not that that lends me much experience, he doesn't talk about the particulars much.)
How did you come to that choice in belief?

OH GOD ROME IS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL I WANT TO GO THERE SO BAD Well really anywhere in Europe, specifically Great Britain or Italy but I mean anywhere would be nice there's so much history and sophistication and cool places and and and--

Well my dad was a Buddhist (but not a very strict one) so I was never really forced to believe in anything. I kinda figured Buddhism was really the only religion, until I was like 7 and found out that there were in fact other beliefs. So until I was like, 12, I was atheist because it was like, if there's so many religions that believe whole-heartedly their's is right, then who am I to choose between them? So yeah, but like then I discovered Paganism and it's huge freedom policy and I was like "this is it" so I kinda created my own belief about it. It's kinda like Wicca, but there's a lot of differences.

This is the first time I've talked about my religion in such depth, everyone else is trying to convince me to join their own religion by this point. =w=;

Rome was lovely.
I recently went on a three week trip through France, Germany, Austria, and Italy.
Squee!
I got to see the Louvre, the Large Hadron Collider, the Colloseum and so much more!

I've found that arguing with folks generally isn't the way to convince that your religion is better than theirs.
As a Christian I am trying to show as many people as I can the truth I have found;
but often the best way to do that is just to demonstrate how my faith leads me to act- not debating it.

Understanding what someone else believes is not only just plain polite if you want to converse with them, it also helps you know where they are coming from.

Thank you for talking about your beliefs with me!

I don't have a full grasp of how wicca operates anyway, heh.
If you want to tell me how you do things I'd be glad to listen.

I want to see the Hadron Collider, Stonehenge, the Colloseum, Venice, and really anywhere in England and Ireland. >w< That'd be so cool.

Wellll in most Pagan beliefs, there's this thing called a pentacle, which, contrary to popular belief, is completely different from a pentagram in Christian belief. In Christianity and other religions like it, a pentagram's an upside down star usually in a circle that represents a goat head, which in turn represents the devil. A pentacle is right-side up star that's always in a circle, and represents the five elements, in clockwise order: Air, Fire, Earth, Water, and Spirit. In traditional Pagan beliefs, these create everything ever and are manifestations of the magic that the Goddess uses. From there Paganism branches off into other religions, but Wicca is the one I'ma talk about. :u Wiccans follow something called the Wiccan Rede, which says "An' it harm none, do what ye will". In other words, if it doesn't harm anyone in anyway, physically mentally or otherwise, then you are allowed to do it. If you do something that harms someone, then you get bad karma, and if you do something that helps someone you get good karma. Wiccans also believe in magic where, through rituals that basically ask the Goddess if you can borrow some of her power, you can alter the magic around you. No, not in the type that suddenly forms a rain cloud in ten seconds or make things levitate or whatever, but in the same way that the Goddess uses her magic: Gradually and inconspicuously, kinda like your own God. c: So let's say you wish for rain during a drought. Maybe you won't get water today, but you will get it soon, even if it isn't in the way you expect. Maybe your power goes out and the ice in your freezer unthaws. You never know. :u

That's about as far as my religion relates to Wicca, but I also believe that the five elements are completely seperate spirits, but are all manifestations of the Goddess. It's kinda confusing, but I think they all have their own will and drive, but are all the same Goddess -- kinda like the Father Son and Holy Ghost, except with the elements being the Goddess. :u And in that, they keep each other in check. Like, say there's a drought; droughts are a manifestation of Fire and Earth. When rain comes, there will be a lot of rain; rain is a manifestation of Air and Water. Living things are a manifestation of all of them, but are the only things that manifest Spirit -- but they are still kept in check by all the elements. Our karma directs how our wishes work, so like if you have bad karma and want water, maybe you'll get so hot you'll sweat. Or if you're starving wish for food, maybe your pet dog will die. This is how we are kept in check, along with all the other elements. A dam breaks because Spirit tried to control Water. A nuclear reactor explodes because Spirit tried to control Fire. Avalanches, hurricanes, disease -- all of it is simply to keep the other elements in check from each other, and in that I believe no matter what humans may do while we're here, there will always be something that will hinder us so we can't destroy ourselves or other things, including Earth. :u If we overpopulate, we'll die out because there's not enough food, which would bring our population back down to carrying capacity. But yeah. Also I believe in a weird sort of afterlife, to where we get reborn as many times as we have to until we find the meaning to our *own* life. There isn't a universal meaning; for each soul, there is its own. Once we find it, we get to go to the Otherworld, which is unexplainable through words. =w=;

Soooo yeah... That's the gist of it, but I can go on and on about it. xD; Sorry if it's confusing or whatever. I do like being able to talk about it though.

(Sorry for the delay, I was out of town for a wedding!)

Ooh, Stonehenge would be awesome. I've never been there before!
The Colosseum was amazing.

Ah! Thank you for sharing.
That was actually very clear, don't worry.

You said 'like your own God'- do you believe in the five spirits and God, or were you just making a parallel to explain more clearly?

So do you try to do good things to earn good karma in general?

Yeah I've wanted to go to Stonehenge since forever. @3@ SO MUCH MYSTERY.

Well I was just trying to draw a parallel. I don't believe in Christianity, but I do respect its message. c:

Yeah, I do try. But just like everyone else, I'm not perfect. >w<;

Indeed! It's like the pyramids. ().o How'd they do that!?

Gotcha.

Yeah, neither am I. Not even close.
Heh.

How'd you get into ponies?

My story's actually kinda boring. ;w; I was just surfing the interbutts and saw someone post ponies and I'm like "wtf why so many ponies" so I just kinda looked it up and bam. You?

That's actually very similar to how I stumbled upon MLP.
The funny part is how my friends found out.
We have a shared media computer in out living room that's connected to a projector.
It has all of the media on our hard-drives automatically added to it.
I start watching ponies and suddenly the 'most recent' section of our media center was filled with pony goodness.
Heh heh. That caused some consternation at the next movie night. ^.^

Also, 'interbutts'... hah hah!

I ended up just out and telling my friends. =o= I was all "Hey bro you see that new pony show its not bad at all". Needless to say no, no they didn't see it. ouo;

Lol yeah interbutts.

Excited for November?

We get Season 4! (And Doctor Who coincidentally. ^.^)

Got to get through some schooling first though. ~sigh~

I'm just ready for the EQG shitstorm to be over. =3= I'm seeing a lot less hate than usual about it, but I still see some and it's kinda getting on my last nerves now. But yeah s4 seems awesome dude best villian makes an appearance! ;u; Haven't seen much Doctor Who, but I've seen a couple episodes and it seems cool.

Heh, yeah. There is always a fuss about something!
I don't like the drama, but I figure it's to be expected from an internet fandom. Especially with one that covers such a large demographic!

I haven't heard about the villian! Who is it!?  

It's pretty chill, fun, sci-fi.

**SPOILER ALERT GAIZ**

No there's no new villain, it's just Nightmare Moon comes back. Or we see her trying to take over Equestria way back when. Something. We see her. >:I

Well yeah but I mean I've been in several fandoms and none of them fuss and groan as much as bronies do. Still though, when S4 starts hopefully we'll forget it. =w=;

Ah, cool! I bet we get moar history! That will be very interesting.

This is true.
Many fandoms are comprised of a much narrower demographic than Bronies, I think that helps with the drama some.

We better get history or I'ma be pissed. <:u Like legit.

We only fuss so much cuz we love ponies! >w< That being said, the fussy ones simply think they own the show and Hasbro should do what they want and not what they've been planning on doing the whole time. :u But whatever. There's people like that in every fandom.

We just have more. ouo

Agh. I hope we get history too!
I love the over-arching plots.