Post
by CatharineTheGreat » Thu Dec 18, 2008 5:37 pm
Hello:
I haven't even purchased the program as of yet. I do own Panic to Power and am currently reading it, and my psychiatrist highly recommended this site when I ask him about it.
I am thrilled to find this thread as well. I have just sat and read the entire thread.
I tried the way of faith and the way of no faith and my position was one of profound confusion. This is a quote, actually.
I so admire people who have the courage to examine their own beliefs, and start a journey to find the shoes that fit.
Mine is a long story, and journey over a time of approx. 35 years, starting from a position of faith, losing that faith, floundering, finding a 12 Step program that really worked.
And then with some sobriety rediscovering that even the program as I knew it, was only a stepping stone to bring me back to at least a sane and sober place to begin a new search, for meaning, and substance and beliefs that are genuinely my own.
I think the most spiritual day in my life was an afternoon when i sat quietly and honestly listen to the still quiet voice. And I began to abandon old beliefs and searching and seeking for something that fit.
If someone had told me 20 years ago I would one day convert to Judaism, I would have clearly told them they were out of their mind.
I was a student at the time, actually I'm always a student, but I took some courses on the Hebrew prophetsand found I really enjoyed those courses. Many years passed, and with the internet so new and excited. One day I searched again for Jewish Studies, and up popped a whole course line of Jewish study from a site in Jerusalem. So I took all of their courses.
Years went by.....and one day a Jewish friend said to me how sad she was, it was a Jewish holiday and she missed her deceased parents, and celebrating the holidays with them.
So we actually made preparations and celebrated a Jewish holiday together.
And the big discovery was, that "practicing" brought a whole new Joy, "doing" brought a whole new light. So for the first time in my life I actually walked into a synogogue, trembling and shaking.
And even then, it took another 10 years to officially go through the process of an official conversion.
And I found my path, I found the shoes that fit, I found a whole new world.
But it was more like Judaism took me, long before it ever crossed to mind to go there. Just studying for the credits I needed.
And now I'm back in university again, like an elderly student, once again studying for credits in a Jewish studies program.
All of this over 30 years. A very long story, made as short as I could.
I love reading about your spiritual journeys. And I'm so glad this is the very first thread I happend to come across.
So as someone else said several pages back, there is much to learn in books, and from teachers but I say there is much to learn from the discipline of practice.
I look forward to sharing more with you. I esp. liked reading the Native American ways, I've only ever met a couple of people who study and practice their native religion, but those few that I have met, or just read, speak with a certain truth that I find attractive.
My username name is CathareTheGreat because somebody else is using Catharine, but please just refer to me as Catharine.
Isn't that ONE of the reasons we are here? To get better and be encouraged and empowered by others.