Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Came out to myself yesterday, as a happy hetero I'd always wondered what all the fuss was about...then I realised how hard it is to admit to being something which feels alien to oneself. Well yesterday I finally decided I'm a New Ager and proud of it.
Then today, I received the coincidental confirmation that it was the right thing to do in the form of an Open University article about modern religion...recognising the New Age or New spiritual movement.
Research has shown that those drawn to the 'Path' have three things in common, in any order
Eastern Religious philosophies are favoured.
They realise the importance of taking responsibility for their own Spiritual Path.
They begin to reconnect to Earth, often through Native American Understanding or Paganism.
Since starting to teach Reiki in 1997, I've noticed this 'trend' frequently, and can bear it out from personal experience. Reiki is a whole healing, and life becomes a healing experience with people and situations teaching the 'student' about themselves...each lesson leads to an understanding of the students own attitudes being the reason for their suffering ultimately.
The eight fold path of Buddhism opens out towards the students without them needing any knowledge of it.
Native Americans and other indigenous peoples have always recognised nature as a part of the Spirit, and seeing particular animals, for instance, is seen as guidance from the Great Spirit.
Also the healing Energies of plants, trees and animals are recognised, and the thought that all living things are a movement of the Great Spirit or Universal Life-force becomes something to contemplate...in fact contemplation becomes a way of life, which, as time and lessons move on, becomes increasingly aligned, so the student is living from the heart instead of conforming to the head strong social norms.
All this may be looked on as new age and unstructured, but that's fine because bringing down structures or undoing blocks is part of healing!
So now it's official for me, I've realised new agism is a respectable path to be proud of, and the Open University has confirmed it.
Then today, I received the coincidental confirmation that it was the right thing to do in the form of an Open University article about modern religion...recognising the New Age or New spiritual movement.
Research has shown that those drawn to the 'Path' have three things in common, in any order
Eastern Religious philosophies are favoured.
They realise the importance of taking responsibility for their own Spiritual Path.
They begin to reconnect to Earth, often through Native American Understanding or Paganism.
Since starting to teach Reiki in 1997, I've noticed this 'trend' frequently, and can bear it out from personal experience. Reiki is a whole healing, and life becomes a healing experience with people and situations teaching the 'student' about themselves...each lesson leads to an understanding of the students own attitudes being the reason for their suffering ultimately.
The eight fold path of Buddhism opens out towards the students without them needing any knowledge of it.
Native Americans and other indigenous peoples have always recognised nature as a part of the Spirit, and seeing particular animals, for instance, is seen as guidance from the Great Spirit.
Also the healing Energies of plants, trees and animals are recognised, and the thought that all living things are a movement of the Great Spirit or Universal Life-force becomes something to contemplate...in fact contemplation becomes a way of life, which, as time and lessons move on, becomes increasingly aligned, so the student is living from the heart instead of conforming to the head strong social norms.
All this may be looked on as new age and unstructured, but that's fine because bringing down structures or undoing blocks is part of healing!
So now it's official for me, I've realised new agism is a respectable path to be proud of, and the Open University has confirmed it.
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Privileged to sight a Heron tonight. When on a guided path, the sight of a Heron, sitting quietly, wisely, majesticly & mysteriously, contemplating life by a stream, is a great sign...to grab opportunities when they arrive and do one's own thing. Heron's are about uniqueness and not conforming to what is expected by the 'norms'!
