Introduction....
Greetings,
I guess I shall begin with a little bit about myself. It might help you to know something about me. Something that perhaps resonates with you as well.
I have a love of religion and spirituality. Almost an obsession. And yet I don't consider myself in the least bit religious. I grew up in a Christian environment, but at an early age I knew that I had more questions than I could find answers. Since Chrisitanity is where I was, that is where I started searching for those answers. But it didn't take me long to understand that any religion created by anyone other than myself would not quite fit all my particular needs. It wasn't anything horrendous, it just didn't seem to have the whole story. And that didn't sit well with me at all. And I had trouble relating to people who seemed to either believe that it did have the whole story or merely accepted that it didn't and were okay with that. I was not okay with that.
The Christians that I knew seemed to feel superior to others who didn't follow the "one true faith". And I resented that arrogance. And yet, as I started to define my own beliefs, I too felt superior to them, because I had "surpassed" them. This is a trouble with ego that I struggle with even now.
But eventually I became more rebellious. Especially as I entered college and was introduced to a myriad of new faiths. All seemed equally valid. And all seemed to be equally limited. As I struggled to define my own views, I found it easier to simply attack the views that I was most familiar with. Those of Christianity. It became my launching ground for true logical, rational analyzing. With ease I was able to point out what are still to me glaringly huge holes in the whole concept that Christianity was teaching. I may include a few of my thoughts on that at some point, but this is not the time.
The exposure I received in college opened me up to a vast palette of New Age teachings that I took to immediately. These beliefs and practices had been around me almost all of my young life in one form or another, but for the first time I was able to truly dive in without my family's ideas to shroud my own. Understand that my family was one of the most open-minded group of people I've ever encountered. And the late-night conversations we used to have (and still do have) brought me great joy. But on my own, I was able to really discover what made me "me". And the friends I made there helped me to do just that. They came from many cultural backgrounds. And I learned about everything from tarot reading to atheism. And it all seemed to start filling in the holes I'd always felt existed.
Eventually I became comfortable enough in my own developing beliefs to look back at my roots and see if there was anything from Christianity that was worth keeping. This was quite a large step for me, since I had been attacking the religion for some time, and it had practically become habit. But as I delved into it a bit, I realized that it wasn't Christianity that I didn't like, it was Christians that I didn't like. I started to believe that most of those I knew were not what I would call 'good' Christians. In the sense that the word means Christ-like. Very few Christ-like people in the churches I experienced.
However, the teachings of Jesus were something different altogether. I've come to my own opinion that Jesus really "got it". He understood so much. And tried to pass that understanding on. Unfortunately, most Christians today don't "get it". They don't seem to grasp what he was trying to describe. Its as if its really out of reach for most followers.
Or perhaps they simply don't need to understand it all. And I do.
To be con't....
I guess I shall begin with a little bit about myself. It might help you to know something about me. Something that perhaps resonates with you as well.
I have a love of religion and spirituality. Almost an obsession. And yet I don't consider myself in the least bit religious. I grew up in a Christian environment, but at an early age I knew that I had more questions than I could find answers. Since Chrisitanity is where I was, that is where I started searching for those answers. But it didn't take me long to understand that any religion created by anyone other than myself would not quite fit all my particular needs. It wasn't anything horrendous, it just didn't seem to have the whole story. And that didn't sit well with me at all. And I had trouble relating to people who seemed to either believe that it did have the whole story or merely accepted that it didn't and were okay with that. I was not okay with that.
The Christians that I knew seemed to feel superior to others who didn't follow the "one true faith". And I resented that arrogance. And yet, as I started to define my own beliefs, I too felt superior to them, because I had "surpassed" them. This is a trouble with ego that I struggle with even now.
But eventually I became more rebellious. Especially as I entered college and was introduced to a myriad of new faiths. All seemed equally valid. And all seemed to be equally limited. As I struggled to define my own views, I found it easier to simply attack the views that I was most familiar with. Those of Christianity. It became my launching ground for true logical, rational analyzing. With ease I was able to point out what are still to me glaringly huge holes in the whole concept that Christianity was teaching. I may include a few of my thoughts on that at some point, but this is not the time.
The exposure I received in college opened me up to a vast palette of New Age teachings that I took to immediately. These beliefs and practices had been around me almost all of my young life in one form or another, but for the first time I was able to truly dive in without my family's ideas to shroud my own. Understand that my family was one of the most open-minded group of people I've ever encountered. And the late-night conversations we used to have (and still do have) brought me great joy. But on my own, I was able to really discover what made me "me". And the friends I made there helped me to do just that. They came from many cultural backgrounds. And I learned about everything from tarot reading to atheism. And it all seemed to start filling in the holes I'd always felt existed.
Eventually I became comfortable enough in my own developing beliefs to look back at my roots and see if there was anything from Christianity that was worth keeping. This was quite a large step for me, since I had been attacking the religion for some time, and it had practically become habit. But as I delved into it a bit, I realized that it wasn't Christianity that I didn't like, it was Christians that I didn't like. I started to believe that most of those I knew were not what I would call 'good' Christians. In the sense that the word means Christ-like. Very few Christ-like people in the churches I experienced.
However, the teachings of Jesus were something different altogether. I've come to my own opinion that Jesus really "got it". He understood so much. And tried to pass that understanding on. Unfortunately, most Christians today don't "get it". They don't seem to grasp what he was trying to describe. Its as if its really out of reach for most followers.
Or perhaps they simply don't need to understand it all. And I do.
To be con't....