I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away. Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don’t know about you.
The box best labeled for my spiritual path is shamanic. I've written on my shamanic walk before (http://greensh.livejournal.com/68305.html). Instead of copying and pasting from there, I will give you the high points of my spiritual definition in bullet form. A partial list of my 'core' beliefs are:
1) The world is alive 2) The world is connected 3) I am no better or worst than anything else. I am instead different from many others things. 4) The world responds to me. 5) Some parts of the world are harmonious to me and other parts are (much) less so. 6) I am alone. Everything is with me in my aloneness. I have the opportunity and responsibility to define how I integrate the alone togetherness. 7) I am human and so are other people. Being human has built-in strengths and weaknesses. Being human means that the very best and very worst behaviors are experienced. 8) The system definitions that people use are tepid attempts to get a handle on something much larger than words. Knowledge is that attempt to build a box to put the world in. 9) Life is experienced. 10) The truest wisdom comes from the combination of knowledge AND experience.
And lastly, from my The Secrets of Life - Version 259321.2 (http://greensh.livejournal.com/57519.html)
11) Life is a game. 12) Relax.
*what other cultures and paths primarily influence your practice*
I was raised Catholic. I suppose my practice is still informed by this, especially the guilt part (smile). I've walked in the agnostic place. Much of my beliefs about energy and other-being presences were informed by my stay in the new-age community. I began my 'psychic' career here. While this information was good, it was dry and not really 'spiritual'. I returned to a spiritual place by the wonderful influences of Ram Dass and other Eastern writings. For a time I felt very Buddhist. I still carry a lot of Buddhist philosophies and beliefs. The neopagan world also influences me.
There really isn't a singular shamanic belief system. I've had exposure to several. Much of the exposure came through books. I started by reading Carlos Castaneda. My eyes opened. Other books followed. Below is a list of books that most affected me. They are not in order of importance as they all touched my heart in some way.
Michael Harner's "The Way of the Shaman" Anything by Tom Brown, such as "The Tracker" Doug Boyd's "Rolling Thunder" Anything by Alberto Villoldo and Erick Jendresen, such as "The Four Winds" Bradford Keeney's "Shaking Out the Spirits" Shirley Nicholson's "Shamanism" Stephen Larsen, ‘The Shaman’s Doorway: Opening Imagination to Power and Myth”
Nowadays my practice is informed by my interactions with a multitude of people. They are the mirrors to my soul. I am shaped in as I discover both humility and power. The resulting spiritual path is difficult to define. I am it.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2007-05-24 02:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-24 03:43 pm (UTC)The box best labeled for my spiritual path is shamanic. I've written on my shamanic walk before (http://greensh.livejournal.com/68305.html). Instead of copying and pasting from there, I will give you the high points of my spiritual definition in bullet form. A partial list of my 'core' beliefs are:
1) The world is alive
2) The world is connected
3) I am no better or worst than anything else. I am instead different from many others things.
4) The world responds to me.
5) Some parts of the world are harmonious to me and other parts are (much) less so.
6) I am alone. Everything is with me in my aloneness. I have the opportunity and responsibility to define how I integrate the alone togetherness.
7) I am human and so are other people. Being human has built-in strengths and weaknesses. Being human means that the very best and very worst behaviors are experienced.
8) The system definitions that people use are tepid attempts to get a handle on something much larger than words. Knowledge is that attempt to build a box to put the world in.
9) Life is experienced.
10) The truest wisdom comes from the combination of knowledge AND experience.
And lastly, from my The Secrets of Life - Version 259321.2 (http://greensh.livejournal.com/57519.html)
11) Life is a game.
12) Relax.
*what other cultures and paths primarily influence your practice*
I was raised Catholic. I suppose my practice is still informed by this, especially the guilt part (smile). I've walked in the agnostic place. Much of my beliefs about energy and other-being presences were informed by my stay in the new-age community. I began my 'psychic' career here. While this information was good, it was dry and not really 'spiritual'. I returned to a spiritual place by the wonderful influences of Ram Dass and other Eastern writings. For a time I felt very Buddhist. I still carry a lot of Buddhist philosophies and beliefs. The neopagan world also influences me.
There really isn't a singular shamanic belief system. I've had exposure to several. Much of the exposure came through books. I started by reading Carlos Castaneda. My eyes opened. Other books followed. Below is a list of books that most affected me. They are not in order of importance as they all touched my heart in some way.
Michael Harner's "The Way of the Shaman"
Anything by Tom Brown, such as "The Tracker"
Doug Boyd's "Rolling Thunder"
Anything by Alberto Villoldo and Erick Jendresen, such as "The Four Winds"
Bradford Keeney's "Shaking Out the Spirits"
Shirley Nicholson's "Shamanism"
Stephen Larsen, ‘The Shaman’s Doorway: Opening Imagination to Power and Myth”
Nowadays my practice is informed by my interactions with a multitude of people. They are the mirrors to my soul. I am shaped in as I discover both humility and power. The resulting spiritual path is difficult to define. I am it.