Philosophy

Okay, here's a little bit about my personal philosophy and my 'journey of discovery' so far. It may seem a little bit mixed up, but I think that's best in these postmodern days.
Well, as a child I had the usual Church of England upbringing, and was baptised at eight years when I had no idea what was really happening. I think the image I had of the Church, especially through my peers, really put me off Christianity, in fact, for a while I was quite anti-Christian, though still I was longing for some kinda spiritual path. Presently, Christianity in all its forms is starting to interest me again, especially Allan Kardec's Gospel according to Spiritsm.
This somehow led to Buddhism of all varieties- Mahayana, Tantric, Tibetan. I was 'converted' so to speak by the Tibetan Book of the Dead which, to someone terrified of death, was comforting and inspiring (you should definitely read Sogyal Rinpoche's The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying). I was also very drawn to New Kadampa Buddhism.
Anyway, when the Buddhist phase was over and my confusion over the absence of a soul had gone too far I took a drastic turn and became really interested in pagan religions. I followed Druidry and Wicca and visited lots of ancient pagan sites across the UK. I became little obsessed for goddess worship (I was beciming ultra feminist as well)- especially Diana, and today, I am drawn to the cult of the Virgin Mary.
Further down the line Hinduism became my thing, especially the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and Srila Prabhupada. The Bhagavad-Gita As It Is was most influential. That was probably the most overtly religious time of my life so far- very basically, no sex, no drugs, no gambling, no meat and lots of chanting!
Now, that was just a brief overview of some of the paths I've followed. I could, and will, say much more about the philosophies I have been able to discover.
Personally, I'm more confused about the big 'why?' now than I was before I started to follow anything that could be called a spiritual path. But I've learned a lot. The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran is a good read for those who don't want to be labelled Christian, Jewish whatever, but are still interested in God, humanity and so on.
I've tried to construct some basic tenets of my beliefs and some guidelines on ideal behaviour in my eyes. This isn't meant to be too dogmatic and I don't wish to force my ideas onto anybody. This is very basic and I could say much more esoteric stuff, however, I'll be adding more ideas when I've finished perfecting the rest of the site. This should help you to understand the kind of person I want to be and the beliefs I hold at present:
1) God exists, is at the same time one and many, and, although aware of us all, is somewhat aloof until we try to connect with Him/Her.
2) We can reach God through many religions and many paths, the easiest of which is through devotion to Him/Her and evolution of the soul through good deeds.
3) We each have an individual soul, which houses our real personality, not the materially created personality which we misidentify with our real Self.
4) Reincarnation can and does happen.
5) The material world can be a place of learning, punishment, pleasure etc. depending on our soul's position, but is ultimately a place of pain.
6) We create our own future through our thoughts, words and deeds and will reap what we sow based on this.
7) Although actually spiritual beings, we as people should respect the Earth and all her creatures, and try to make life much less of a struggle for each other. Selfless charity is paramount.
8) The 'Golden Rule' (to do to others what we would have them do to us) should be our first moral guideline.
9) Spirituality should unite and not divide- a path which seeks to harm those whom it would call its brothers or excludes based on the natural
10) Our aim should be to bring our material ego under control, by following the instructions of our true Self we will be following the will of God, and thus we will have our own best interest at heart.

Although most beliefs seem to be socially constructed, we should remember that the memory of ancient cultures is in our genes, our memories and our collected knowledge. Thus, though some people argue that mankind invented its own 'commandments on morality' there are global values, shared by many cultures, and, irrespective of religion, it is these we should look to in times of disunity and aggression.
Well, that's all in this section so far. Please share your ideas with me. I hope you can give me some feedback so that when I write again I can be more specific and detailed about certain beliefs of the world.
Enjoy the rest of the site!