The View Which Discriminates Between Thoughts and Names

How debilitating is the view which discriminates between individual thoughts. ...How deluded we have been in clinging mistakenly to nominalism!

Tibetan Book of the Dead, Penguin ( 2005), pg 145

Someone asked me recently, "Well what are you?", in reference to my religious affiliation. All I could do was shrug my shoulders.

"Are you a Hindu because you practice yoga on and off the mat?" 

Again, I just shrugged my shoulders and answered hesitantly, "I don't think so. Though  it certainly has a strong Hindu influence because of where it originated, yoga really isn't a "religious" practice.  It is a "mind" practice.   And though I resonate with some of  the teachings in the Gita, the Vedanta traditions and the Upanishads etc I don't call myself  a "Hindu. "

"Are you a Buddhist?  You keep mentioning the Buddhist teachings and stuff." 

I took a deep breath before answering, "I don't think so.  There is so much wisdom in the teachings. I can't help but learn and grow from them. Of all the religions I studied so far, it does seem to be the most practical. But I can't call myself a Buddhist either. " 

"And you are always speaking about the Tao Te Ching...are you Taoist?" 

I could only shrug my shoulders. "I don't think so."

"But I remember you being such a strong Catholic, a Christian, and going so far as to spout that  all other religions were "false". Do you still think that way? Are you against the Catholic church now?" 

This question always gets me the gut and I swallowed hard before I answered, "No! I very much love and learn from Christ's teachings and there is so much beauty and grace in the rituals of the catholic church.  Though I do not practice as a Catholic anymore, nor do I see Christianity as being the only way to receive the grace of true understanding....I am not against the church. I am not against any religion. In fact, I try not to be "against" anything. 

I am sure that to a person, who defines themself as a Hindu, I would not be seen as a Hindu.  A  self proclaimed Buddhist would likely not see me as a Buddhist, neither would  someone  identified as a Taoist say I was one of them. I have received all my sacraments as a Catholic so technically, I guess , I am still viewed by others as a Catholic, as "fallen" as I may be,  but I do not define myself as such anymore.

The thing is, I don't define myself as anything anymore.  I do my best not to define myself at all. So, I definitely do not identify with one religion over the other, one belief system over the other. I am very cautious about getting attached to any,  "belief and conviction",  be it based on religion or something else.

In answer to your first question, I don't know what "I" ...as this "me" ...is,  in terms of religion...Maybe I am all of it and maybe I am none of it." 

To which the person responded, "Huh? WTF(fork)? You have lost me. I don't understand you at all."

And I just smiled and said, "Either do I. Either do I."

All is well.