Defining my Path To Enlightenment
May 30th 2007 20:22
So, since I'm incredbly bored, and have nothing to do-well, that's not true. I have a helluva lot to do, actually: two projects, one of which hasn't been started and the other of which has barely been started, two sheets of geography, massive writing...
Eh, you get the point. So, since I'm procrastinating and pretending I have nothing to do, I thought I'd expand a little on my earlier post by telling you about my spiritual path. Oooh, now I sound all funky pagan-y hippy-ish or something. New age-y, that's it! *Gag*
Both my parents have at some point in their life been Christian to some extent. They both had at least one Christian parent, anyway. Mother still calls herself a 'non-Christian Jesus follower' of sorts, which I think is really just her clever attempt to confuse us all. She also claims herself to be a dragon spiritually, which I totally get. I'm not sure what I am spiritually, but I'm pretty sure that while my lives were human, my soul is not. I hope.
By the time I was ten, they had both decided they were Pagan. Daddy was the Eclectic Epileptic Elementalist, and mom was just... Mom. When I was ten, I went to my first PPD, Pagan Pride Day. I had a lot of fun there, but I blame the forest and the potluck, not the rites. The next year I did the rites. Lo and behold, I'm Pagan, too.
I've spent a while trying to define my path. At one point I asked someone we call Raven to help me learn magic. She introduced me to Diana, lady of the hunt. I will tell you now what I saw in that meditation-after all, it is not the visions themselves that are meant for silence.
It was dark, late evening. We were within a forest, thick with trees. The dew had landed on the grass and it was cool. Before me stood a woman whose face had only hues of purple and blue, and whose dress was the same. She held out one hand to me, one elegant hand, and her name flashed across my mind with brilliance like lightning across the night sky.
This beautiful creature became my Goddess. While I have always felt her presence, she is a more removed deity, not one to simply step in. Her temple, a reflection of this, lays just beyond that forest, a silver building blocking the Mountain Pass. She and her twin Artemis rest there, but the temple is through the forest-and I have yet to make it that far.
Most Pagans start out with some brand of Wiccanism; I did not start there, nor did I ever go there at all. Instead, I started with just two goddesses of the Greek and Roman pantheons.
I have since then studied a great deal in two short years. The deities I know now are even male and female-Loki, Thor, Dianna, Artemis, Set, and Hecate. (Guess which one is most annoying). I hang out on Pagan forums. Although everyone's definition of Paganism is different, I consider it to be the ever-shifting, fluid, term for any number of unnamable paths, as well as those we can put names to. It is who a person is.
Shamanism is something I have studied for over a year and a half now. My grandmother on Daddy's side was at least part Aboriginal, but we don't know how much. Probably about half; she looked it, too. So I have studied to explore those roots inside myself.
But I think my path to enlightenment is more about healing, magic, ritual, and writing. I write each day, even if only a few words; I try to define honour and truth in my path. I meditate often, and I search for healing. That is what my calling is, I think. To write, to divine, and to heal.
I want to help people. I want to make life more enjoyable, by healing; more understandable, by reading the cards; and more fun, by writing. I hope that not only I will benefit from these things, but that others will, as well. I hope that some day, I will be able to live off of these three things: they are what I live and breath to do.
This is my chosen path to enlightenment; my systems may be flawed, but that is human; I can change them with my willpower, as they are fluid. My choices are my own, based off who I am and who I want to become. Most of all, the roads I walk are mine and mine alone, but I would lead others down them if that is the way I feel they should go.
I am a person. I have a soul. So do you.
Which roads do you walk? The ones of simplicity or cowardice-or the roads you feel lead to enlightenment?
Eh, you get the point. So, since I'm procrastinating and pretending I have nothing to do, I thought I'd expand a little on my earlier post by telling you about my spiritual path. Oooh, now I sound all funky pagan-y hippy-ish or something. New age-y, that's it! *Gag*
Both my parents have at some point in their life been Christian to some extent. They both had at least one Christian parent, anyway. Mother still calls herself a 'non-Christian Jesus follower' of sorts, which I think is really just her clever attempt to confuse us all. She also claims herself to be a dragon spiritually, which I totally get. I'm not sure what I am spiritually, but I'm pretty sure that while my lives were human, my soul is not. I hope.
By the time I was ten, they had both decided they were Pagan. Daddy was the Eclectic Epileptic Elementalist, and mom was just... Mom. When I was ten, I went to my first PPD, Pagan Pride Day. I had a lot of fun there, but I blame the forest and the potluck, not the rites. The next year I did the rites. Lo and behold, I'm Pagan, too.
I've spent a while trying to define my path. At one point I asked someone we call Raven to help me learn magic. She introduced me to Diana, lady of the hunt. I will tell you now what I saw in that meditation-after all, it is not the visions themselves that are meant for silence.
It was dark, late evening. We were within a forest, thick with trees. The dew had landed on the grass and it was cool. Before me stood a woman whose face had only hues of purple and blue, and whose dress was the same. She held out one hand to me, one elegant hand, and her name flashed across my mind with brilliance like lightning across the night sky.
This beautiful creature became my Goddess. While I have always felt her presence, she is a more removed deity, not one to simply step in. Her temple, a reflection of this, lays just beyond that forest, a silver building blocking the Mountain Pass. She and her twin Artemis rest there, but the temple is through the forest-and I have yet to make it that far.
Most Pagans start out with some brand of Wiccanism; I did not start there, nor did I ever go there at all. Instead, I started with just two goddesses of the Greek and Roman pantheons.
I have since then studied a great deal in two short years. The deities I know now are even male and female-Loki, Thor, Dianna, Artemis, Set, and Hecate. (Guess which one is most annoying). I hang out on Pagan forums. Although everyone's definition of Paganism is different, I consider it to be the ever-shifting, fluid, term for any number of unnamable paths, as well as those we can put names to. It is who a person is.
Shamanism is something I have studied for over a year and a half now. My grandmother on Daddy's side was at least part Aboriginal, but we don't know how much. Probably about half; she looked it, too. So I have studied to explore those roots inside myself.
But I think my path to enlightenment is more about healing, magic, ritual, and writing. I write each day, even if only a few words; I try to define honour and truth in my path. I meditate often, and I search for healing. That is what my calling is, I think. To write, to divine, and to heal.
I want to help people. I want to make life more enjoyable, by healing; more understandable, by reading the cards; and more fun, by writing. I hope that not only I will benefit from these things, but that others will, as well. I hope that some day, I will be able to live off of these three things: they are what I live and breath to do.
This is my chosen path to enlightenment; my systems may be flawed, but that is human; I can change them with my willpower, as they are fluid. My choices are my own, based off who I am and who I want to become. Most of all, the roads I walk are mine and mine alone, but I would lead others down them if that is the way I feel they should go.
I am a person. I have a soul. So do you.
Which roads do you walk? The ones of simplicity or cowardice-or the roads you feel lead to enlightenment?
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Comment by David
I have very set views on spirituality ...
Many people accuse me of being of a closed mind ...
My take on that?
After opening it up for 30 years, I just shut a few doors ...
When open-minded people leave their minds open for more than a few seconds? They might be interested in listening to what I did learn in those thirty years ... rather than telling me I have a closed mind?
Until then? Their only interest seems to be in enlightening others without arriving at enlightenment themselves ...
Are they truly enlightened? Or are they still on the path to it? Still seeking it? ...
I'll keep my 'wisdom' to myself ... for I much prefer the term wisdom to enlightenment ...
When wisdom 'arrives'? The one thing it teaches a person is 'compassion' ... It certainly does not teach a person to 'enlighten' others ... In my world? 'The desire to become a teacher before being a student is the surest sign that the 'enlightenment' is coming from a dark source ...
It's so contrary to humility ... and Humility and Wisdom walk hand-in-hand ...
The humble person has no desire to instruct others ...
The humble person believes he/she still has so much to learn ... and is more conscious of what he/she doesn't know than what he/she does know ...
David ...
Comment by Dianna G
I Wish This Was 42
Fictional Worlds
I hope not to be thought of as 'guru', but as 'mentor', where both are students, for both learn-only one has more experience.
Of course, there are some things one can only learn through death; such as what comes after.
I think one must be confident in oneself without being cocky. That's important. But, like I said, too much humility is also a bad idea.
Everything in moderation. Including moderation.