21st century hermit 36

36m on a journey of self-discovery.  I'm building a life on my established 40-acre homestead in Maine, growing food, sawing lumber, raising livestock. Too much time spent living with my dogs has me chasing my own tail.  I desire to improve myself and be useful to others deserving of my efforts which is often easier said than done!  

At present time, I can say the following.  I'm a Christain but I don't attend any particular church.  I'm a politically active conservative with a strong libertarian foundation. I have firm convictions but I'm hungry to learn other perspectives!  I strive to do things to the extreme in life including my physical fitness.  I'm an omnivore, I may sing songs to and befriend my cows but someday I will eat them, respectively.  I'm currently living an extreme hermit lifestyle now to the point where I've developed a bit of agoraphobic tenancies, I don't go into town unless something really motivates me to.  I don't drink or use any drugs other than coffee, but I don't judge occasional recreational or medicinal usage. I had my fill from my younger years experiencing with psilocybin.  I'm financially independent, grounded (maybe?) and totally comfortable with myself.  I've never been married, but all of my former romances ended with mutual respect or continued friendships.  So, why am I posting here?  I'm not particularly looking for anything romantic.  Suppose I am more interested in meeting honest, genuine, interesting people and perhaps together we can share our experiences, explore ourselves, the world and challenge one another to reach new heights.  The only expectations I have of other people are for them to be honest.   I've always been comfortable in solitude but lately life feels a bit unfulfilling without someone there to share with.

I've probably said too much here, probably should leave some things for a conversation.  Feel free to moosage me if you'd like to chat or desire a photo of me.

Hi John.

    You sound pretty cool and down to earth. I will say I was raised in a Christian church but I've very much left any aspect of a religious mindset behind and have found my connection with source, am "spiritual", as one might say. I think that Jesus was actually a mystic, one of many real profits, and that his spiritual teachings were hijacked and distorted by mainstream religion for control purposes. And that by extent we are all sovereign beings coming from the same source energy and that there is no vindictive sky daddy submitting us to eternal damnation but rather laws of cause and effect which balance out karma.

I'm sure you've heard a bit of this before, "christ consciousness" and so on (or not)?

Anyways. I'll see what you respond, if anything.

Hello Amber, thank you for taking the time to share and engage.  Thanks for your compliment, the feeling is mutual.

I'll start by saying that I try to live by a loose philosophy that I know nothing with absolute certainty.  Faith then, requires one to trust in something without any guarantees.  Whether true free will exists ties all of this together somehow.  On the one hand Jesus may have been a high IQ man who was able to impact the world with his wisdom in ''miraculous'' ways.  I personally do see clues or "signs" that point towards there being a God, separate from us and Christian teachings have been the most genuine way for me to make any sense of whatever that truly means.  Is it possible that Jesus was one of many prophets?  I could understand that. Do I think the Christian bible, which was written and translated by men, is perfect?  Absolutely not!   However, I do believe that Christianity was able to record, interpret, challenge and preach that message far more accurately.  If it all turns out to be merely an illusion or sort of step in our evolutionary development, then I personally still choose to participate, barring someone presenting a better alternative with evidence.  

As far as eternal damnation vs karma.  That's thought provoking indeed.   I'll have to reflect more on that.  If you could, please elaborate on balancing Karma, I'm interested.  Again, I appreciate it!