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Iridescent Reflections

Astravalon

Astravalon

☯
M'kay... this'll be my Journal thread, containing whatever is on my

heart/mind at the moment: spirituality, random thoughts, humor,

maybe even a recipe or two. Or even spiritually random humor about

thought-recipes. Bet ya don't see those everyday! :D


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Astravalon

Astravalon

☯
Just by way of introduction, my spiritual background is as follows:

✿ I was raised Roman Catholic in a very Catholic family.

✿ At the age of 22 I got 'born again' and converted to fundamentalist evangelical Protestantism.

✿ Then, at the age of 40, I was broad-sided by a verse in the bible I had seen dozens of times, 1 Corinthians 15:22: "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive." Looking further into that, I became convinced that everyone is -- or will be -- saved, and became a Christian Universalist.

✿ Soon after that, I added fulfilled-eschatology (preterism) to my fulfilled-redemption beliefs, the combination of which is known as pantelism.


*takes a deep breath*


✿Then, almost a year ago, on May 21st, 2011 (the same day Harold Camping predicted a rapture, incidentally) Lord Krishna came onto the scene. Actually, it's more a case that God (who was already very much on the scene) provided me with an image to match His substance as I had come to see it at that point. I had never considered how much of an impact having a solidified idea of what God might look like would have on my spiritual walk, but it was like the final piece of a puzzle fell into place. Eventually I took to calling myself a 'Bohemian Vaishnava', because I still retain beliefs that aren't specific to strictly Krishna-centric paths. More on that later, Lord willing.

When I have a moment, I'll post my testimony on how, exactly, my May 21st 2011 epiphany came about! :D



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Foxfire

Foxfire

It's all about the Light
Well, you've already reeled me in with that enticing intro. Can't wait to hear more. Very interesting path you're on, Iridesence. Sounds wonderful.
 
Iti oj

Iti oj

Global warming is real and we need to act
Premium Member
Even though you forgot to link me found ya anyways. Sounds like you have been exploreing youself and religion well
 
Astravalon

Astravalon

☯
As promised, below deals with the "kickoff" (as well as the
period leading up to it) that began the current phase of my
spiritual life. This comes from my blog The Divine Dance,
from which I plan on sharing some items here.

═══════════════════ ೋღ ღೋ ═══════════════════​

My Rapture: Caught up in the Rain Clouds
​

This entry doesn't do the experience it relates any justice,
but I had to share. Hopefully it makes sense.

Okay, so one night a while back I was drifting in and out of
sleep and pondering what name by which to refer to God in
my post-Christian spiritual walk. I was at that point leaning
heavily towards coming up with a unique, personally-relevant
name for God, rather than borrowing a term from any
already-established religion. Drifting into sleep a brief dream
occurred, the sort that pops up in the shallower modes of
sleep, in which I was looking at the word "Taren" on a
computer screen, accompanied by a male voice saying, "My
name is Taren."

Later that day I decided to look up the meaning of the name
Taren. Evidently, it's a male name meaning "Thunder". One
mythical god of thunder, Thor, came to mind, so I ended up
dismissing that, because that doesn't speak to my
understanding of the Divine at this point (though I am a fan
of thunderstorms! ツ).

Anyway, days passed and I thought no more about it.

Then, a few days later, I was looking through a gallery of
artistic paintings of Krishna. For whatever reason, I was
mesmerized by the beauty of the imagery. If I were to
define what God looked like, this would be it. My christian
background overall seemed to discourage such things as
pictures and statues of Deity because of the fear of idolatry.
In my Catholic upbringing, there was more in the way of
such visual aids, but they lacked a certain peace and joy,
both of which are fully present in the paintings concerning
Krishna. Especially those images depicting Krishna with
Radhe... they speak to me of what our relationship with the
Lord can be like, a picture of Christ and His church (both
corporate and each individual), if you will.

What does this have to do with thunder? I didn't make the
connection right away, but one of the distinguishing features
of Krishna (whose name means "blue-black, dark-colored") is
his bluish color, which is likened to the color of rain clouds
... or even thunder clouds. ;) So, in a way, my mini-dream
from days before could have been something of a heads-up.
Taren=thunder=thunder clouds = Krishna = W000T!! ツ

And what does this have to do with a rapture? Well, while it
turns out there wasn't an actual rapture on May 21st, maybe
it could be said that there was, if private raptures-as-in-
spiritual-ecstatic-experiences, count. The day before, I was
totally absorbed in God as Krishna. I had even submitted a
hold-request at my local library for a book dealing with
Hinduism, intending to get the story behind all the Krishna
artwork I had seen. I was feeling a connection with God that
I had not felt before, and it was downright exhilarating. I
was literally a bawling (though joyful) mess at 2AM! I guess
you could say I was, in a sense, "caught up in the (rain)
clouds".

Yes, the imagery was instrumental in re-establishing a
connection with the Lord -- it conveys so much of He who is
both Love and Lovely -- but it was a breath of fresh air, as
my walk with Him had been stagnating from disillusionment
with regards to Christianity and what I had thought was an
inerrant bible at that point. I am ready to relate to the
Divine in a context other than Christian, and it would seem
that this ... epiphany? ... came in just the nick of time.

I don't know that I'll ever call myself "Hindu" (though,
interestingly enough, I did rank as "95% Hindu" on a
spirituality test I took over at Beliefnet), but from what I
have seen and read thus far, Krishna more accurately
represents what I have come to believe constitutes God,
which is less like a stern-looking judge planning on sending
most of mankind to hell, and more like a blissful, victorious,
and yes... rapture-inducing Lord of All.

From The Divine Dance: How this phase of the journey began



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Astravalon

Astravalon

☯
1-1.png


I had a eureka-moment the other day, when it occurred to
me that the reason why I was having such a hard time
defining my relationship with Krishna in religious terms, is
because what I've got going on here was never a "religion"
in the first place.

It's a Relationship!

It was apples and oranges ... I was foolishly trying to
describe an orange using terminology exclusive to apples! No
wonder I was wracking my head, trying to determine what to
call my "religion", tipping sacred cows and up-ending
cherished apple-carts in the process.

This also partly explains why such things as chanting and
other rituals didn't seem appropriate, because I see the Lord
as a Person. I would no sooner ritualize my dealings with
Him than I would any other loved one. What husband would
wish for his wife to stand there and repeat his name over
and over and over and over and over and over and over ....
well, you get the idea. :D

As it turned out, I'm religion-free and immersed in a
love-relationship with Love Himself. The realization of this was
like having a dislocated shoulder suddenly pop back into place.
The need to know where I was supposed to fit in some
religious spectrum vanished. What I have here is not supposed
to look like Hinduism, or Christianity, or Buddhism, or even
Pastafarianism. :) It's a different thing entirely.

 In a way, I feel as though I had been insulting this blessed
gift of relationship with the Divine by reducing it to simply a
matter of religion. My Lord isn't some ticket out of "samsara"
or "hell" (two concepts in which I don't believe anyway). As the
Song of Songs 2:16 puts it, He's my Beloved... and I am His. :hearts:
End of story.

Religion never had anything to do with it. :no:

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Foxfire

Foxfire

It's all about the Light
Rumi is another idol of mine.:hearts:

This is one of my favorites:

"Out beyond the ideas of right and wrong doing there is a field; I will meet you there."

Click to expand...
 
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