I tend to share your opinion, Jeff. Very religious people make me nervous, as so many of them seem to feel they are in possession of the "truth" and need to force others to accept a religious way of thinking. There are exceptions to that, of course. Moshe and Heaven - you bring up an interesting point regarding the appeal and role of organized religion. As Jeff says, spirituality is not religion.
Ever since suffering my own loss of faith, I've been in a kind of limbo. I haven't come to terms with whether I want to embrace a set of beliefs that might be defined as religious. Cantleave's idea and humanist philosophy is also appealing.
I'd say existentialism is probably the closest to my belief right now. Two of existential theory's founders: Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, argued that organized religion prevented the use of free will and allowed people to avoid actively embracing life's anxieties. Sartre, May and Frankl took these ideas further and developed existentialism into a form of therapy, with the key message that we are each alone and must find validation for life within ourselves. Our problems are our own and we are the authors of our destiny. Once we take responsibility for our choices, we can find our potential and true meaning in life. Existentialism is very much about taking control of one's own life - something quite contrary to JWs and other organized religion.
I haven't yet formulated a complete theory of my faith and spirituality as an existentialist. However, I'm now responding to questions from my grandchildren about god and the meaning of life, so I think I must resolve my crisis of faith fairly soon!
