Believing in Everything

"Believing in everything is just as bad as believing in nothing."  ---many random Christian adults throughout my childhood

Is that true?

When I was a little girl, I thought that my parents were right about God and the bible and Jesus and everything.  That when I died, I would go to Heaven and be with Jesus and all the angels and saints.

When I found out that there were other beliefs out there, I was befuddled.  How was that possible?  There were other Gods and Goddesses, other religions, other churches and houses of worship.  There were even people who denied religion altogether!!!

I studied the religions furiously, so curious to figure out who had gotten it "right". 

Of course, my parents refused to acknowledge that their religion of choice (Roman Catholicism) may be wrong.  And they hated that I even cared about other religions.  But they were pretty okay with my studying as long as I still went to church with them every Sunday and said my nightly prayers at bedtime.

Of course the religion that made the most sense to me was Catholicism, since that was what I was taught.  Basically I compared all religions to my own.   My favorite parts of the Catholic faith were (and are) the belief in Mary, the Angels, and Saints.  I loved the idea of praying to patron saints when in trouble, or when giving thanks.

For example, I loved praying to Saint Anthony when I couldn't find something, since he is the patron saint of lost items. 

Anyway, I finally decided around age 13 that I would just believe in everything.  That everyone was right.  That if you believe in the Christian god, and follow in Jesus' example, you will go to Heaven.  If you believe in reincarnation, you will be reincarnated.  If you believe in nothing, you will not have an afterlife of any kind.  Etc.

I told my new belief to my mom, to my dad, to my neighbors, to my teachers.  The response that I got was always, "Believing in everything is just as bad as believing in nothing."

Recently, I've come back to this belief in everything.  And I've decided to embrace it.

And that Paganism is the path for me to follow as I embrace my belief in everything. 

Since I started to study the Craft, I have learned that the most important thing in life is to be true to myself.