Best spiritual tradition

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Which spiritual tradition do you like most? (note: I say it this way because I am trying to avoid the outright religion, for instance one can disagree with literal & essential doctrines while liking the thrust of something, and I am also trying to avoid the answer of "atheism" because that isn't a spiritual tradition so much as many variants of self-proclaimed atheism include shaving off metaphysical entities and tend to lack the basic cultural attitude) Your metrics can be the quality of the scriptures as that tradition interprets them, the virtues promoted, the quality of the metaphysical doctrine, the aesthetic tendencies of the religion, the kind of culture promoted, etc, just please don't actually involve the literal truth of a doctrine as I actually care nothing about whether you think doctrine X or Y is true, especially for non-philosophical reasons at that. I know that I will probably miss a lot and be unbalanced in other areas as I am not educated in all religious traditions perfectly but rather in some better than others, but here's a shot at it.

Why do you like the religious philosophy/spiritual tradition that you do?

(ok, just a weird idea I've had, as some people are relatively inspired by eastern religions)

Hinduism.
Bright colours, good stories, fun traditions.

I chose liberal Christianity. Specifically, I am a Lutheran. We are one of a few denominations to ordain women as pastors, and along with the Episcopal Church, are the only ones to ordain gay/lesbian pastors.

But I chose Lutheranism because of the ambience at their churches.

OP has listed several excellent spiritual paths. Advaita Vedanta (Hinduism) and mindfulness practice (Buddhism) for me. I also have this quirky idea that god is a divine equation. It is possible that quantum physics, string and m-theory may give rise to inspirational new spiritual paths for future generations.

I am attracted to the eastern religions because they practice what they preach, and have good techniques for the development of compassion.

Baha'i faith. ^^;

Peace, love, and unity.

I don't think there is a single tradition known as "Catholic Christianity." The faith has a few definite groups within it, one being decidedly social justice liberal, and the other being decidedly socially conservative. Are you referring to the sacramental traditions and such when you refer to "Catholic Christianity," as v. belief systems?

My sister married a Hindu. Pretty cool ceremony, the Hindu part. It is a faith that was designed to encompass a variety of belief systems; it takes them all in. Yes, that is pretty cool.

Liberal Catholicism.

Because I am Catholic and politically liberal.

Taoism, a definate philosophy.

I picked Gnosticism, mainly for the Valentinian camp. Though, I'll warn, that aeons creating universes sounds a lot like a supernatural explanation of Eugene Koonon's multiverse theory, complete with decay points in the inflationary field (and perhapse the 'Plemora' is just that - the numbed beauty of oblivion inbetween the bubble universes). Its also a religion that brought a questioning of reality deep enough that it I think it at least keeps in pace if not beats the current straings of Kaballah in that sense.

That said though, I don't know if I fully buy gnosticism or would ever describe myself as gnostic, however still I'd say out of the list it has to be the most fascinating and probably the most avant gard. That and, of my current stance between an abstract Judao-Christian outlook and more eastern outlooks, I tend to find gnostic outlooks very intuitive and maybe even having some of the best theodacic explanatory capability of this life, this universe (or the many), what it is, why it is, etc..

You do realize that every single option I gave has multiple traditions within it, don't you? I mean, do you really think that conservative Protestantism is homogeneous? They have a large number of denominations, each denomination expressing a different theological view, and views that can go as diverse as theocracy to anarchy, from militarism to pacifism, from a transcendent God who ordains all things, to a more relational God who cannot fully predict the future, etc. The same follows for liberal Christianity, which has had theistic rationalists such as Unitarians and the more traditional liberals, and theistic irrationalists such as the existentialists and postmodernists, and even with groups going so extreme as to deny the existence of God.

I mean, if you want to know why Catholic Christianity was put into it's own single tradition, here's why:
1) I already had enough Christian groups. If I were to get another one, I would have added Eastern Orthodoxy, not broken up Catholicism.
2) Catholic Christianity has a high view of the official Church body compared to other Christian groups and likely other religions and there actually is ONE Catholic church.
3) Catholic Christianity has defined dogmas, things that cannot be rejected without being considered a heretic which is more than many other religious groups I cited can say.
4) Catholic Christianity has a high view of tradition compared to Sola Scripturists, or postmodernists or rationalists, and it has a tradition that is itself distinctive.
5) Catholic Christianity tends to have it's distinct set of heroes, such as Thomas Aquinas or GK Chesterton.
6) Catholicism has theological ideas in common, as the Pope and councils talk about theology and basically create theological doctrines that other Catholics can cite, argue about, and use for building their own ideas. The same with historical Catholic figures, such as Thomas Aquinas, or Luis de Molina, or any of the church fathers, such as Augustine of Hippo.
7) Catholic Christianity is rather easily identified compared to any of it's subdivisions, and y'know, there are a lot of subdivisions that could have been picked based upon what issue I decided to emphasize, which is itself a difficult issue.

I mean, DW_a_mom, perhaps I am being a little touchy here. But out of the entire selection, you are claiming that the most defined and traditional group I provided can be doubted on how unified of a tradition it is. I mean, unless you are going to try to deconstruct the entire question, I have probably committed greater sins to other groups by lumping them together or omitting them completely than I have probably done to Catholicism.

Have you ever heard of Process theism? I am just curious because Process theism is a philosophical theology developed by philosopher-mathematician Alfred North Whitehead (he's also known as the coauthor of the Principia Mathematica with Bertrand Russell). I am not sure that it is a mathematical equation so much, but it is a philosophical idea based upon a particular metaphysical notion more so than a revelation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Process_theology

Some tenets
*God is not omnipotent in the sense of being coercive. The divine has a power of persuasion rather than coercion. Process theologians interpret the classical doctrine of omnipotence as involving force, and suggest instead a forbearance in divine power. "Persuasion" in the causal sense means that God does not exert unilateral control.

*Reality is not made up of material substances that endure through time, but serially-ordered events, which are experiential in nature. These events have both a physical and mental aspect. All experience (male, female, atomic, and botanical) is important and contributes to the ongoing and interrelated process of reality.

*The universe is characterized by process and change carried out by the agents of free will. Self-determination characterizes everything in the universe, not just human beings. God cannot totally control any series of events or any individual, but God influences the creaturely exercise of this universal free will by offering possibilities. To say it another way, God has a will in everything, but not everything that occurs is God's will.

*God contains the universe but is not identical with it (panentheism, not pantheism or pandeism). Some also call this "theocosmocentrism" to emphasize that God has always been related to some world or another.

*Because God interacts with the changing universe, God is changeable (that is to say, God is affected by the actions that take place in the universe) over the course of time. However, the abstract elements of God (goodness, wisdom, etc.) remain eternally solid.

*Charles Hartshorne believes that people do not experience subjective (or personal) immortality, but they do have objective immortality because their experiences live on forever in God, who contains all that was. Others believe that people do have subjective experience after bodily death.

*Dipolar theism, is the idea that God has both a changing aspect (God's existence as a Living God) and an unchanging aspect (God's eternal essence).

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/process-theism/

No Satanism?

I guess I would choose pagan/wicca for the simple fact I'd have trouble conforming to only one ideology or divinity.

Plus they have such fun festivities that other religions have assimilated them into their cultures as well....

I sort of regret not putting Satanism on there because it is a good left-handed path, it just slipped my mind until after I had created this thread.

and you forgot Jedi

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6204199/Jedi-ejected-from-Tesco-for-wearing-hood.html

I suppose if humanity had to have a religion/philosophy I would vote for Taoism.

...except for "the Tao that can be followed is not the Tao"?