Enlightenment From a Writing Site
Can spiritual awakening be gained from something so simple as a
writing site?
I believe it is possible, even if that isn't the intention when
joining.
When I signed up with my favorite writing site and had the
opportunity to interact with others like me, I reveled in the
joy of that simple act. It increased my writing skills, my
editing skills, and brought me to a point of not only
discovering new dreams, but fulfilling them.
And then, I realized, my spiritual connection to God had grown
as well.
I am completely enamored, and speak highly of the site to any
who will listen. We (members on the site) all laugh over its
addictive quality and tell others about it, hope that they'll
join too, even encourage them to do so. We inspire one another
and cheer each other on to enter contests, submit stories to
magazines, and novels to publishers. And we're there for each
other when not only our writing gets us down, but life itself.
Not only do we give and take constructive criticism and honest
assessments of our work, the atmosphere of the site also makes
it easy for us to offer one another friendship, understanding,
forgiveness and comfort. It is a community - one where all are
made to feel welcome.
One day I was talking to a friend (offline) and, of course, my
online friends came up in conversation. They are a big part of
my life even if we are divided by hundreds or thousands of
miles. I praise them. I praise the site. I praise my joy over
being a part of it all. I realized that I spoke of the site the
same way converts to Christianity speak of their religion; the
salvation of it, the epiphanies discovered there, and the way
I've grown, not only as a writer, but as a person.
I came to the conclusion that it was the communion with others
that led to the increased spiritualism.
When we are lost on a spiritual level - when we know we've hit
the wall, so to speak, it is natural then to seek a better way
to live, a better way to view the world. It doesn't matter if
you wake up one day from a long drug-induced sleep of a wild
biker life, or if you wake up from the fear-induced sleep of not
living to your full potential. The point is, we as humans, need
balance in all areas of our life. When it's severely out of
balance and we can no longer pretend otherwise, we turn outside
ourselves for help. We search for something external, with the
intention of internalizing it.
This happens because whether we are willing to admit it or not,
the balance needs to come from within. We either know this
consciously or unconsciously but it is an undeniable fact that
all the things we learn outside of ourselves, we incorporate
within and it becomes a part of our world view.
Often, when people reach a low point of spirituality, they turn
to those elements we've been taught are 'supposed' to have that
cleansing, clarifying effect. We turn to Buddhism, Christianity,
Taoism, Hinduism, Wicca, et cetera - established icons of
spirituality.
What then happens is that we find what we are seeking there; or
we don't, and move on in our quest for wholeness. However, what
we learned there becomes part of our internal belief system. We
either reject or accept the teaching of a particular school of
thought and it then affects how we will respond to the next
spiritual lesson that comes along.
We intrinsically know what works and does not work for us as
individuals. We are different in how we view the world, the
experiences we've had that helped to shape us, even the way we
look, act, dress, and where we live. How then, can one religion,
one way of thinking of God, one path be right for us all?
I realized that it was not the site alone that actually
>i>saved me, or for Christian converts, it is possible that
the church or even the Bible were not what saved them.
What changes us, is the finding of that which we sought:
acceptance, wholeness, awareness, peace of mind, tranquility,
love and balance. When we find the one method for attaining
these that resonates with us, we are filled with joy.
Christians would call it being filled with the Holy Spirit. I
have to agree that is exactly the term for it whether we arrive
there through their methods or not. Our spirits know when they
have found home. That is what makes us joyful - the recognition
and awareness of having discovered our connection to God on a
spiritual, rather than an intellectual level.
It stands to reason then that we loudly and joyfully proclaim
our allegiance to that which brought us back in balance with the
energy of the Godhead. We then proclaim to others that we know
just the way for them to achieve this same joy - though our ways
to God may be entirely different.
God is not an elusive, out there somewhere thing for me that has
the power to destroy or uplift me - God is the part of my spirit
that I revere and recognize as part of me. However I came to
that recognition is between God and me, and however much we may
praise that which brought us back to wholeness, we need to
remember that it was the resonation within the soul occurring
and not the method itself that is praise-worthy. A particular
church, religion, website, book, or glorious spot on a mountain
top are the vehicles to finding our soul - none of them can lay
claim to being the One True Way to God.
Of course, there will be people who claim that what I'm saying
is practically blasphemous; however, I am certain that anything
we focus our lives on that moves us away from our spiritual
balance is a false idol. If my spirituality was suffering
because of my love of being on that website, then one could
easily say I was honoring a false idol. But it actually helped
me to grow as a person, be more accepting of myself, of others,
and helped to strengthen my spiritual life and my faith in God.
I'll tell people about the site - for its primary purpose of
encouraging writers to grow in their craft, and maybe they'll
make, on their own, the same spiritual discovery I did. If they
don't, that's fine by me. They must have to connect with their
spirit by some other means.
I think it's important that people be aware of this and not
fault one another for not finding spirit the same way they did.
Acceptance of self and of one another is a cornerstone to
spiritual balance.
I don't have a particular affiliation, and I don't treat the
writing site as a church. It is, first and foremost, a writing
site.
I learned much from Judeo-Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism and
Wicca before joining the site, and I call myself a Spiritualist.
I have taken some important lessons from all of them, from
friends, family, and life itself and incorporated these into my
own belief system. The site I adore enhanced all of that. It
works for me, has me feeling more spiritually fulfilled than one
of those elements alone could do and I know that within, I am
spiritually balanced and fulfilled.
That doesn't mean I view everything from a calm, Buddha-like
perspective. I am human too. Events and emotions being what they
are - extensive variety in all things human - I still cry, still
laugh, still feel anger. I am not some highly evolved being who
is above the human experience. I revel in all of them. I know
that no matter how good or bad things may be, however much I may
adore or despise certain elements of life (and state my views on
them), it's all part of the human experience and I'm here to
live it all. I'm fortunate to have found the way home that works
best for me, and I hope everyone can find their path home.
By the way, there's this really great writing site . . .