For the last 12 years, I’ve been listening to a bunch of (so-called and real) spiritual gurus, as well as their apprentices; from there, I’ve been realizing about their behavioral patterns that tell a lot about who takes them seriously to practice (or not).
They may tell you that you must stop eating meat to become more spiritual, that you must wake up by 3 AM to turn a 108-beads japa mala around 3 times with a specific and not understandable mantra to purify world from evil, or if you don’t get the right positions in the sun salutation while you are in yoga class you’re screwed…
… And guess what? NOTHING of that bunch of requirements is perfectly true. Today, we’re going to call a spade a spade, about what gives you value in your daily practice.
My experience with Pagan spirituality
I’ve always said that I wouldn’t become a full-time buddhist and I want to explain why right now. Since I was very young, I have been fascinated by Asian culture and I can’t wait to see the countries of the South Pacific and India.
Visiting countries of diametrically opposed cultures is usually very enriching. Several years and trips abroad later, life put me in Armenia, Quindio, where I met a lot of people (in the full extension of the word “a lot”) with very varied ideas of what should be spiritual and what should not.
I was vegetarian for 4 years and a bit more, arguing reasons of collective consciousness … And I have had the enormous grace of having a mother who supports me in everything, so that I myself see the results of what I do.
Before you ask, I did a lot of reading in the process of making the nutritional transition and acted on what I read. I seemed to be on a cloud all day and forgot a lot of things, on a daily basis (keep in mind that people admire my elephant-like memory).
At that time, I almost died of anemia with a job I had in a vegetarian restaurant in Armenia, as a spokesperson for Homa Therapy, the traditional fires of Hinduism.
At that time, I met many nice people (mostly Buddhist and/or open-minded Catholics) and many unconscious people (among the latter, many hare krishnas…) who had many ways of looking at life.
I had an unstoppable rhythm and a starvation salary, I slept without seeing time or place, without benefits or a fixed schedule and tied to a work group subject to the same precariousness (terrified of not having to feed their children and enduring the psychological violence of the owner who pretended to be «spiritual»).
Fortunately, I put the brakes on and resigned 4 months later. So much hypocrisy and ridiculous manners led me to meditate on what I was doing.
I am not one for protocol or reverence, much less for obeisance or huge chest-beating on a Sunday in a temple.
With this in mind, the next step was to arrive super-invited to the hare krishnas (lower case, that’s the size I fall for).
The krishnas thought that because I like Ganesha, Lakshmi, Shiva and Parvati, as well as not eating animals, I could join their combo.
Eeeeeeemmmmmm… NO.
Yes, I met their guru and was engaged, almost hypnotized by his speech. I also met another series of incoherent madmen who said that a woman has to be a virgin at marriage and do only what her husband says when he says.
In the name of krishna, you have to get up before dawn, before the sun rises, to chant in a sleepy voice the blissful mantra that cleanses everything and blah, blah, blah….
Fundamentally, I don’t believe in sacrifices made for me. They already cost me part of my health. As you will understand, I opened up from there as well.
My Buddhist-waved people are of an ineffable, precious and full sorority love (yes, most of us are empowered women). Without judgment or moral impositions.
After a couple more years, I met my current paisa weirdo group: pagan, multi-diverse and metalhead. My life partner is actually a druid; chaos magicians, sons of Lucifer, of Odin, witches of all imaginable traditions, with knowledge of symbology, herbalism, sigils, etc., all of them carnivores and magnificent people.
Then, I began to debate between what I thought it should be and what I saw. Already living in Antioquia, I started attending some Zen Buddhist meditation groups in Medellin, which always reached the same degree of fanaticism and I left them too.
Since I discovered that the dojo or place of meditation is in my heart, I’ve kept my middle ground: I listen, I read, I analyze and I decide. And obviously, I eat meat, I dress like the rainbow that I am and I wear makeup whenever I feel like it.
There is a lot to learn from everyone. It is experience that puts you where you belong; you will know how you make it work until the cycle changes again.
I am one of those who uses gems, essences, symbols and sounds to keep my magic flowing, until the cycle changes and it no longer works for me; maybe you have already been there or it is not yet time to find out.
And you, is there any path that you follow? I look forward to your comments. Namaste!