Someone informed me that neo-nazis have their own version of Zen/Taoism called "Cosmotheism".
It's part of the "National Alliance" branch of neo-nazis, originally led by William Pierce (who died in 2002 and wrote "The Turner Diaries") .
I always wondered why white nationalists and nazis cuck for Christianity instead of something more "European" like Sol Invictus or something. I assumed they just had a boner for "tradition".
But hey, having your own Zen/Taoism is ever better than Sol Invictus
@amerika A lot of religions are inseparable from the culture they come from, and when they're exported they adapt to the culture where they're transplanted (i.e. Asian Buddhism is different from Indian Buddhism due to the influence of Taoism and Chinese/Japanese culture.
Indeed. In my view:
* The best religion is the one that emerges from your culture
* Religion may be an obstruction to spirituality generally
That is, in religion, you worship a dogma; while SOME discipline is necessary, it can replace honest spiritual experience.
I find it entertaining and sad when I encounter Christian anti-Semites, BUT religion seems to me a proxy for culture in that case.
@amerika This is a rather messy rabbit hole to go down, but I'll just say that religion has a productive place in the preservation of a nation's culture and values.
The issue is when people are conquered and have a religion forced on them, or if they allow a religion to spread within their borders that promotes opposite traditions and values, then you see a lot of conflict.
At it's best religions gives people a wider sense of "belonging" by doing rituals together. At worst, it's about control.
I agree generally.
Religions are also not as isolated as people think... for example, Buddhism and Hinduism were ancient Indo-European religions, and Christianity later cribbed a lot of those as well.
Also, when Pierce and I talked about this, it was clear he was trying to revive some form of the ancient Indo-European faith. It was not until I found hermeticism and New Thought that it became clear what it had been (the mysteries).
@amerika If you study ancient Greek/Roman philosophy, you'll see references to the "Logos" which is very similar to the Tao in concept. If you look at the evolution of religion is tends to go from animism to polytheism to henotheism to monotheism. Nature "spirits" become gods, become a hierarchy of gods, and eventually become one God.
I like how Zen simplifies things, but I have to admit that those "extras" are useful and popular.
Zen seems to me mostly to be a "write nothing down" religion which I think is quite sane.
Logos and aether, a view of the core of existence that is invisible from the surface...
@Tfmonkey
It's basically Advaita Vedanta for a racially-aware audience.
Third paragraph makes sense to me.