Spiritual Match Up

i am all for this swap, i am a true believer in synchronicity, i am an devotee of shir mata amritanandamayi devi, i really loved reading celestine prophecy ... to say the least........ i am in awe of the spiritual poetry of rumi... and feel connection with the goddess in all her forms. jai ma!

I draw wisdom from many traditions including native american, catholic, jewish, and a bit of sufi via the poetry of Rumi and Hafiz. Nature calls to me. I learn a lot just by watching the seasons and the life of objects and plants in my yard.

I enjoyed the movie What the Bleep Do We Know, which drew connections between quantum physics and spirituality. I just started reading a bit of Neale Donald Walsch's books and they are blowing my mind. While I can't say I believe everything he writes, I can say that he makes me think. His book, Home With God, showed up in my life just when I needed it and has helped me make some sense out of life.

Very interesting "swap" - if you can call it that - Ashley! Very courageous of you to start it, because it seems to me that it will entail quite some commitment to get it to "fly". I was directed here by Noel (I think), who posted a message on the previous spiritual beliefs-swap page(thanks, Noel).

I became a Bible-bashing born-again Christian 38 years ago, when I was 20, and an art student. Fellow-students used to cross the road to avoid my heavy-handed attempts at prosetelysing. Since then, I have mellowed a lot. I don't think I need be avoided any more!

The most helpful book I've read in the last few years is Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. I love all C. S. Lewis' writing. I am reading Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts at the moment - beautiful!

Have a look at http://www.thebigpicture.homestead.com - an interesting ezine of a now defunct group called Christian Worldview Network of which I was a member. We talked about applying the principles of the Christian faith to every area of society and our personal lives, from science to trade unions to art. That particular group had a great influence on my life, because I started trying to live what I believed, instead of talking about it.

I do not need to be matched up with a Christian - anyone who'd like to tell me about their spiritual journey, and would like to hear about mine, will be just great... and synchronicitous, no doubt!

I am Jenna a 36yo sahm of 2..Elizabeth 17 and Christian 14. I've been happily married now for 17years. WE married young and the pastor said we would NEVER make it past 5. OH WEL!!!

I am a devout Catholic. I teach Sunday School and Participate in Project Rachiel/Rachiel's Vineyard here in Oregon. My Patron saint is Dymphna....For nutty peeps and I am totally nutty with 2 teens.

I am disabled and spend a lot of time crafting. I make ATCs...Cards..scrapbook...crochet...and loom...I also write patterns as well.

Spirituality is a deep part of my life. I am Jewish but very inclusive/eclectic/mystical in my practices. Music, meditation, nature, language, vibrations, quantum physics, wholeness, creating art and crafts--these are ALL a part of my spirituality. For me, God is in the details.

What might this mean in practice? That I experience God in a nice cup of hot tea or cocoa, a moment of viewing a cloud on an exquisite day, pressing my face into the fur of one of my cats or dogs, the sheer bliss of the soft, warm glow of the candles I light at sundown on Friday to mark the beginning of Shabbat. Whether I read, create art or craft, clean my house, or prepare a nutritious meal for my dear beloved partner, God is in the details. There is nowhere I can go and nothing I can do without God there.

You see, God for me is not some person in the way up yonder, not just an experience gained by going to a religious service, not some harsh taskmaster demanding justice. God is The Source of all Life Energy flowing through every living organism, and that includes the earth. It includes this universe and other universes. It includes this life that we consciously live now, and the other lives that we have lived, will live, or are living "sequentaneously", to borrow a phrase from Donald Neale Walsch.

My spirituality is very expansive, but this brief description is my experience of it in a nutshell.

This is such an interesting idea, it really called to me. I am Dianne, a 40 yo woman, married for 16 years, two kids 13 and 6. I am Orthodox christian. In college, I decided to investigate a whole bunch of faiths and came to the conclusion that I am still Orthodox. But I found the whole process enlightening and strengthening to me. I grew up in a predominantly Roman Catholic neighborhood, my mother also was born Roman Catholic, and went to a predominantly Jewish public school. My best friends were Jewish and I had many an educational/spiritual topic with one of my friend's parents who knew the New Testament better than me. I looked into Buddhism (Zen) and Muslim, Judiasm, and am very into Rumi for his poetry - I am also a poet as well as a bead and paper artist.
My husband is a born-again Christian, attended Baptist and Methodist churches growing up and when we married we attended many different churches over the years. We are presently without a church after a falling out with a local bible church because I got sick of them putting down Catholics (both Roman and Orthodox.) I am working on getting my spiritual life back in order and am trying to read the bible more regularly and listen to a local religious station more or less every day for their programs.

I am open to anyone that is open to have really great discussions on religion and beliefs, and is not afraid to agree to disagree. Dianne

Hi...I am Jenna. I am a 37yo stay at home mom of 2 teenagers. My hubby and I have been happily married 17years. Our Daughter is 17 and a son who's almost 15. WE are a very Catholic family. I truely love my faith so much. My patron saint is st. Dymphna for crazy people LOL... I chose her because I had many family issues growing up and she totally inspired me. I am currently having a huge spiritual battle. I had pneumonia in December and then a stroke. I am currently in a rehab facility recouping and hope to return home next week. I have MS and it has now progressed to the point that I have seizures. This has been so hard on myself and my family. I also had cervic al and ovarian cancer in 1996 and 1999 had a total hyst. and have not had a re-occurance since thank God. My faith was Lutheran before and at the begining of my marriage. My husband's family was catholic. I learned about the faith and fell in love. I truely love being catholic and find it so difficult sometimes to be catholic when my father bashes my choice of faith, He doesn't uinderstand why we do not allow no catholics to the table and he constantly sais it's wrong. I would love to speak to anyone with or without a catholic faith yet has a heart to understand the joy I feel being with CHrist in my faith without putting me down for my beliefs. ALSO Someone who can be a friend to a young women as myself struggling with debilitating health issues someone to just talk to someone who will understand and let me cry when I need to. My faily is awesome but sometimes I don't think they can truely understand. Young yet no more children...young and a total burdance to my husband and family. ANYWAY I am not a sad person but hopefully looking for companionship of faith and womenhood.

While I come from a STRICT Christian (Baptist) background I now follow Wicca/Paganism. However I am very open minded and love to learn others beliefs. I am a firm believer that Faith is a journey (and not a guilt trip to finish my bumper sticker!).

I really enjoyed the movie "What the Bleep" and I have the down the rabbit whole edition but have not had time to view it yet. I love how this movie makes science and spirituality merge as I love science.

So if you are a Christian and would like to have a FRIENDLY debate, if you are Wiccan/Pagan, Buddhist, whatever I would love to chat with you. Peace, Raven

Hi my name is Cathy, I'm looking forward toward this swap. I'm very interested in learing more about how people feel about being Spiritual. I'm 48 and grow up Catholic. Not now. I'm a born again Christian. I try to be a good person and do what my heart says and sometimes what the Bible says. But no one is perfect so I don't judge anyone and I believe everyone can feel from their heart anything that they want. I feel as Raven does Faith is a Journey!!! Cathy Jewell

I had typed out a long comment and when I went to post, I was no longer logged in, so it got deleted :(

I was raised Christian and in my later teen years spent some time in something that resembled a cult. When I finally left Christianity in my younger 20's, I did so because of differences in beliefs. I had respect for the religion, still - I just didn't believe the same way.

I'm now Asatru (pre-Christian Norse Pagan religion) with inspiration from Zen Buddhism. For me, these have both been great help with dealing with bipolar 2 - especially before I was diagnosed and treated.

Things important to my spiritually is seeking wisdom, seeing myself and others with compassion, understanding the connection of all life, trying to improve myself and my view of others, remaining strong during tougher times in life, learning from every struggle, trying to live in the present, experiencing everything in the present without letting my mind drift to unrelated things, accepting things that are outside of my control, etc.

For me, my connection to my Gods, spirits, and my family gives me great joy in life. Music is also very spiritual for me. Spending time in nature - forest, ocean, etc. is also very spiritual. I also have an interest in magic, runes, and the Norse form of Shamanism.

This I wrote about my faith targeted towards Christian friends old and new, though might be useful if you want to know more about my views: http://www.allusion.net/wiki/Main/MyReligionForChristians

Hopefully this post isn't too late. Looking forward to this!

hi girls i am running late, i will have them out this upcoming week, its the story of my life, LOL thanks for understanding, noel

I just sent mine out today. I, too, was late.

hmmmmm i am wondering, it would be nice if everyone received something that we rated our partners 5 with a heart....i realize that the partners showing are not our actual partners but like i mentioned if everyone got something, then we all could do a 5 with a heart, what does everyone think???

please post here instead of contacting me,

I wish this would work, Noel, but there were 2 people -- Cathy Jewel and ravenov, who were signed up for this swap and were matched up by Swap Bot, but they never responded to my e-mails about who they wanted to be matched up with. So, they should not be rated a 5 the people who they were supposed to send to won't get a rating from them. :(

If you were matched up with someone other than Cathy Jewel and ravenov, I wouldn't mind if you want to rate the person with a 5. But since I said in the description of this swap that there would be no rating, I don't think it would be fair to rate Cathy and ravenov poorly.