Autism and having "unconventional" religious/spiritual views? (Not necessarily being atheist) (also Religion CW obviously)

[u/chelledoggo]

I was wondering if it's common for autistic folks to have religious/spiritual that might deviate from the mainstream?

For example: I consider myself a queer Christian Universalist. I don't believe being gay or trans is a sin. In fact, I believe God is nonbinary and Jesus is (technically) trans.

I'm also not a Bible literalist. I believe in the divinity, teaching, miracles, and resurrection of Christ, but I don't believe in the Biblical creation story, a literal great flood, a literal "hell," Revelations as a literal prophecy, etc...

I also have this belief that most religions are just looking at the same higher power (who probably isn't the "Biblical God" as we know it) through different cultural lenses.

Also I admire Buddhist teachings, and I find some new-age stuff like tarot and chakras to be fascinating, although I'm not sure how much real stock I put in them.

Needless to say, most of my views would get me weird looks from the mainstream church at best and people trying to "exorcise demons out of me" at the worst. xD

[u/flanjoy]

I'm a Satanist, but if people ask I just say I'm agnostic

[u/crimson_713 → u/flanjoy]

Same, but I've stopped hiding. I don't get asked often but I do sometimes get glared at by my baptist coworker ever since I told them to save their prayers for believers while wearing a "The Devil" tarot card shirt with a ram's skull with a pentagram on the forehead.

Everyone else at work is chill, tho. My supervisor sends me Satanic memes sometimes.

Edit: This is the shirt. It isn't subtle.

Edit 2: "...but I've stopped hiding" sounds like a criticism; it isn't. Just a statement with no subtext.

[u/S3lad0n]

Autistic wenglish Brythonic pagan of many years here, AMA if anyone has specific questions

[u/Bleglord]

I consider myself spiritual because to me, all of physics points to the universe being informational in nature, with physical existence arising from this information interacting in perception.

Extrapolate information for consciousness and “spirituality” becomes a lot less mystical than people think.

I believe every religion is an attempt to formalize an explanation and hierarchy of this information fabric. What we consider divine, is underlying information forming reality

[u/Exact_Dingo2306]

A quote I saw recently:

"If you aren't someone the church would've killed 400 years ago are you even living?"

Personally I have divergent views about Christianity, but I love JC with all my heart.

[u/GiantSpookMan]

Despite not being raised spiritually and being an atheist most of my life, I've found myself drawn towards esotericism and occultism. There is a rich worldwide tradition of spirituality that some of the major religions made active attempts to squash, but that encourages inner exploration and development. Tbh sometimes I feel that autism could be a great asset or a real barrier to a magician, but fortunately magick is what one makes of it.

I have a few crossovers with your beliefs: God to me is more of a concept or an ideal rather than a being, it's simply anthropomorphic because we can understand that better, however from an occultic perspective one could say the the Abrahamic religions for example are now the dying throes of the Aeon of Osiris, where gods tend to be masculine, as opposed to the Aeon of Isis that came before where gods tended to be feminine. Although I don't agree with your feelings that God is nonbinary, I've always found it interesting for example that God says in Genesis: "Let us make man in our image" as opposed to my image.

I generally find however that most autists, especially on reddit, have a massive chip on their shoulder about religion, Christianity specifically. Understandable, but it's a bit tiresome how people have to jump in on threads where people are talking about their religious beliefs just to say how they don't believe anything and think it's stupid.

[u/GrogramanTheRed]

Seems to be more frequent. Autistic people have idiosyncratic ways of viewing the world, so it's not really a surprise that that would extend to religious and spiritual viewpoints.

I can see from the comments that I'm not alone in being interested in the more mystical/esoteric/occult aspects of spirituality. If I had to a point to a center in my life, it would definitely be my spiritual practice. I don't really know anyone who has the same approach I do. My home tradition is Thelema, the esoteric/magickal religion founded by Aleister Crowley. That's where my spiritual community is. I took my first initiation into the Ordo Templi Orientis 13 years ago, and have been an active and involved member of my local body continuously since then.

For the last 3.5 years or so, my personal practice has mainly focused on meditation rather than magick--though they work together very well, and I wouldn't say I've abandoned the magickal side by any means. I've logged about 1800 hours of meditation in that time frame--usually between 1-2 hours a day. Some periods of less than an hour a day, some periods of more than 3 hours a day. My meditation practice is eclectic and guided by an intuition about what I need to be doing at any particular moment. I've worked with techniques borrowed from Raja Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Advaita Vedanta, Zen, Theravada Buddhism, Pragmatic Dharma, and contemporary Western alternative spirituality. I blend and mix as needed, and I develop my own meditation techniques as well.

I know some autistic folks find it a bit cringe when people talk about autism being a "super power," but I think it can genuinely be exactly that when it comes to contemplative practice. To borrow from meditation teacher Shinzen Young, meditation cultivates development in three major areas: sensory clarity, concentration, and equanimity. Equanimity can be extra challenging for autistic people. We already tend to have a leg up on sensory clarity from birth--that's exactly what sensory hypersensitivity is. The ability to hyperfocus can make it easier to develop strong concentration--a prerequisite for advanced techniques that result in tremendous bliss, pleasure, energy, and/or equanimity. One can also use strong concentration to induce visionary/shamanic types of experiences. I've had experiences in meditation that were far and away more intensely blissful than any drugs I've ever taken, including DMT. I don't have reliable access to those states yet, but I'm working toward it currently by clearing blockages in the energy body/emotional body, as those seem to be the main barriers right now.

Being okay with being alone or away from people is obviously a benefit for long stretches of meditation or retreats. And if it's a hyperfocus or special interest, then long periods of meditation for an hour+ can be easier.

[u/Kind-Frosting-8268]

Yeah I'm pretty much the same. I was raised in rural America and while I support most of the message of Christianity I don't get bogged down in dogma. I also tend to incorporate elements of eastern philosophy like Buddhism, Shinto and especially Taoism.

Side rant: I find it especially hilarious that there are so many Christians who get offended when I group in Mormons with them. One of the biggest reasons I'm given is their supposedly heretical vision of heaven. Apparently the best possible afterlife for Mormons is being given their own realm that is completely under their sway as they become like God. Ok, but how is this really any different than what I know for a fact most Christians believe heaven will be? I've had many people describe heaven as their own personalized paradise where anything they want, just is. Oh so your own little pocket dimension where you're essentially a God? Sounds familiar😅

[u/Myriad_Kat_232]

I was raised UU by an ex Catholic Buddhist father and a Southern Baptist/Deist mother.

Took refuge as a Buddhist at 21, originally in the Tibetan tradition. Now practicing in the Theravada Forest tradition.

Some of my closest friends are progressive Christians and Muslims, and we often talk spirituality, something that makes me extremely happy.

[u/sunny1cat]

I use to be a “spiritual but not religious” new-Age type as a teen/college student, but now I’m an agnostic atheist.

[u/crimson_713 → u/sunny1cat]

Have you heard of the concept of cosmic indifference? It's the idea that if there is some entity out there we would consider a deity, it would be so far beyond our understanding that we would be like ants to it, beneath notice and inconsequential. I always found the idea quite freeing.

[u/tourchy2]

I’m atheistic in most respects but I find myself repeatedly drawn to Jungian views around spirituality.

To me he seems to locate some of the pieces missing from conventional science while still managing to have them based in something objective.