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Does everybody wants to find a spiritual path?
Shoshin1
Veteran
I like listening to Alan Wallace, he has an easy flow when it comes to breaking down the Dharma into understandable bites...
In my teens I didn't really have any interest in spirituality, I started to journey along a spiritual path in my early 20s...At the time I was not satisfied with the way things were flowing... Reggae music & ganja led me to Rastafarianism, it filled the void for a while ...Then Buddhism came along and the void took on a whole new meaning....Form is Emptiness-Emptiness is Form....
So were you looking specifically/deliberately for a spiritual path?
Or did you stumble upon one by accident?
3
Comments
In the dervish way, we never leave our life until dead. We are always on the path.
However in the sense you mean it, I have always sought to Sikh. Copying yoga postures out of a book before I could read. When I could read. Read everything.
I iz religion nerd.
I always believed in God, although my rather vague concept was more along the lines of something like Tao, rather than the proprietary and narrowly defined gods that were, and are, the stock in trade of specific religions. Those I regarded as utter fantasy from the time I was 14 or 15.
Then, in my early 30s, a friend gave me a book on Zen Buddhism, and I was an instant convert. Buddhism amazed me in being rational and completely different from the fantasized systems of deities that I had believed religion to be.
So I think I have had a sort of natural spiritual path at least from adolescence onward, but it did not really take on much of a shape until I was given that book, and I had not been looking for it to take shape either - so it happened by accident. Or did it?
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After reflecting a bit on this, I seem to have the feeling that Buddhism, rather than giving me a spiritual path, simply illuminated the path I was already traveling.
For me, it came from when I was young. My parents were Osho sanyassins and I did some of my growing up in communes. That meant I listened to Osho speak on a number of religions during my childhood and teenage years. You could say that was the beginning of a spiritual path although I set it aside for a while to have a career in IT.
My interest in Buddhism came later, when I was recovering from an extremely stressful period in my life. I thought to myself, I have listened to Osho speak on the Buddha, why not go and have a look at living Buddhism in a lot more depth?
If you believe Maslow he says that the need for self actualisation is intrinsic, built in.
If he is correct it is a short leap from that to some form of spirituality..
My discovery was by accident (although is anything an accident?)
Around a decade ago when my first child was born I picked up a book about Buddhist practice. For some reason it spoke to a part of me I didn’t know existed.
I’ve been on this roller coaster ever since.
The thing I struggle with the most is seeing my practice as just another worldly task to be conquered.
Let it go...
I think that is very key. Osho once said that the reason that he spoke about so many different spiritual teachers was that they appeal to different people. What speaks to one person and resonates with them won’t appeal to everybody.
Whether you find something that appeals to you really depends on where you look. It’s about getting exposed to different streams. Luckily there are more possibilities for that these days than a hundred years ago, you now have festivals for alternative spirituality.
No accident.
I was looking for A Way. Some paths and people seemed obviously delusional, deranged or dangerous to society, themselves and others. I was not looking for magic, philosophy or modelling.
I started with what was around me, which was mainly Christianity, books and new age flim flam. I joined some groups, studying yoga, esoteric Christianity, occultism and my ineptitude. I had almost given up when ...
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I don’t think everyone does want to find a spiritual path. A lot of people seem to be perfectly content with non spiritual livelihood, just doing the things they do normally.
I agree for the most part. It seems that quite often, those who do want to find a spiritual path are those who eventually notice that doing the things they do normally doesn't really provide a true and lasting happiness and become disenchanted with the routines of daily life and the pleasures arising from them. I think this search is even more immediate in those who are experiencing a great deal of suffering, whether due to loss, pain, or illness. After exhausting things like self-medication, many begin to explore spiritual paths for help. My journey, for instance, began with a search for ways to deal with my depression and anger, which eventually led me to Buddhism.
Ah we have a great deal on suffering? Capitalist Dharma?
Tee Hee.
I like to include anarchic greens, radical ignorance and inclusive ground in my every easy breath.
Yes I am revolting. Not against or for but with ...
You’re absolutely right. A lot of the people I have come across in my search have had some kind of life-altering event, an illness or divorce, which started them searching for meaning. It makes sense that you need something to detach you from the normal course of your life, before you become open to something radically different.
I was raised as a fundamental Christian. My mother was bipolar (among other pathologies), so we were never consistent in attendance, or particular churches for that matter. But at some level the ultimate question remained with me. So I searched for the truth.
I searched everywhere; any philosophy that made sense for any length of time, it extended through narcissism, cynicism, alcoholism, and even bouts of atheism, a return to Christianity, and back to atheism.
Unfortunately, mental illness is/can be hereditary, so I have my own share of pathologies. Soon after my mother died I slipped into a breakdown of sorts. I'd lost my mother, my God (I'd recently apostasized) and I began obsessing (the object of which is irrelevant to the story). It got so bad that I couldn't function; couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, couldn't keep it together. I started missing work. It was bad. I thought for certain that I'd gotten front row center seats to my own voyage into irrevocable insanity.
At some point I'd had enough. I, like many others, thought that meditation was a process in which one stopped thinking. So I set up a candle in the hearth, sat cross legged (of course) and stared at the candle. Of course I never stopped thinking, but after a few 3-5 minute sessions doing that I did indeed feel markedly calmer.
Thinking that "Buddha" invented meditation, I looked into it. I liked what I saw for the most part. So I began a journey through a few schools of practice before I settled on one that seemed to fit me best.
I sincerely doubt if enlightenment is in the cards for me this time around, but maybe the next. Or the next. Or...
Very honest and real @Rob_V
I found what you wrote inspiring and hopeful.
Without the ups, downs, out of control, disciplined ... the complete range ... how can we recognise the useful.
I have done a lot of candle gazing. It is a yogic practice. At the moment I am doing Pureland practice.
Find happy. Stay with what works.
Calm is the new buzz
That’s not a bad place to come from. We rarely leave our roots totally behind, but searching at least keeps you mobile, somewhat open minded, and engaged in finding the answers.
I read elsewhere that around 40% of people during their lifetime have some sort of mental health issue, so you are far from alone in that. My own experience is that in recovery you tend to find a new self, it’s like a little rebirth when you come out the other side.
That’s a large part of the early experience of buddhism, learning about the different streams and schools and finding out what is right for you. It can easily take a few years. I think if you’re done with that you are no longer a beginning Buddhist!
It seems that dropping the goal is part of the process, for sure.
I have heard from sources that spirituality is a form of dying, of dying to ego/self, etc.
And how many people nowadays in modern society, want to DIE?
That is a true barometer for me, if I ever saw one....
And to quote a wise man,
"Are you afraid to die, or do you want to live forever? Tell me, which one....?"
Let us go with 'or ...'
or to put it another way ... nothing is impossible