Be an agnostic with faith

Read Thoreau or Tolstoj or Steiner, as i always say.

Anyway, outside of the etical teachment of the gospels and religion in general, for example bibble is most Numerology and Astrology and we take litteraly, things that maybe are the explanation of the universe and that a normal guy will never understand. I don't like agnostic because is just a dogmatic religion that justify the church (they are the sinners). The entity is the Demiurge (Plato Timeo, Pistis Sophia), the creator of the matter.
The thing of the Ying Yang is the dualism, we grow up with this idea of good or bad but we are always the protagonist of our story, so the good, and, a bad just do his own interest, so, we can trascend this dualism.

 

Yep

Yep, Steiner is pretty hard for those who start with Philosophy..Socratis or Talete are the first s, so mostly start fro m there, they are.the most common, but if you didn't already know, every philosopher bring to another philosopher, so Socratis, Plato, Aristotle, Sant'Agostino, Ecc...the list is pretty long, and you will find people Atheist, Religious, so,there is a philosopher for everyone, EVERYONE. Not an easy hobby but of course interesting if you find the ideal for you.

 

I would recommend you to read Baruch Spinoza, specially his book ethics,i am nor agnostic nor an atheist,,i believe in god and religion but honestly Spinoza's ideologies are great,Albert Einstein was also a spinozist,
Watch this short introduction-

 

I agree with your statement about believing in a higher force can bring a measure of comfort. Unfortunately, religions as a whole have made it super difficult to pinpoint just what that force is. There are so many conflicting ideas from one group to the next. I've found that the Bible has the best answers for not only what higher powers exist, but also really important questions that all humans want to know the answer to, such as, why are we here? Why do we suffer? And what does the future hold? But with so many Christian denominations and beliefs, it also makes it hard to pinpoint what the Bible is actually teaching. The best thing would be to study the Bible yourself without using traditional Christian doctrines that usually don't even originate with the Bible.
I actually found that Jehovah's Witnesses do this by using only the Bible to form their beliefs. And their version of Bible truths is by far the most comforting and logical I've seen. Studying the Bible in a way that let the Bible interpret itself rather than some religious leader or clergy solidified my trust in it as a valid source of beneficial and encouraging information that surely originated from a higher source.
You guys should check out their website. The articles on there helped me learn a lot of stuff. The Bible's given me hope that we won't always have to deal with crap like addiction and mental disorders, and I have real motivation to try and be the best person I can be today!

 

Compared to what?