tmnt and religio-spirituality

[heretic888]

Well, in a certain sense 'paganism' just refers to any non judeo-christian tradition. however, it was ORIGINALLY used to refer to the Mystery Schools throughout the Mediterranean (Greece, Egypt, Syria, etc etc.). Nowadays, people use it primarily to refer to the tribal religions of Western Europe.

In a certain sense, Christianity IS paganism. That is, the original 'christian religion' was creating by merging the pagan Mystery Schools with Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah), and the figure of "Jesus Christ" is essentially a merger of the Jewish messiah and the Pagan dying and resurrecting godman. In fact, original Christianity (Gnosticism) was almost identical to the pagan Mystery Schools. It was only centuries later that Christianity took on a more 'fundamentalist' and 'literalist' flavor (the Gnostics knew the stories about Jesus and Jesus himself were metaphors).

As for Buddhism. Well, Buddhism has very little in common with some of the tribal religions of Western Europe, but has much in common with the Greco Mystery Schools. However, at root, all religions are one, so to speak. So, I could probably draw a parallel to any two religious traditions in that the true goal of ALL religion is oneness with "Spirit" (however IT is conceived) via meditative and contemplative practices.

Yeah, the TMNT are buddhist in nature. I tend to think they are a combination of Taoist, Zen Buddhist, and Tantric Buddhist (think Tibetan Buddhism), with perhaps some elements of secular Shinto.