What started your spiritual path?

[The Sum of Awe]

What got you into religion/spirituality? Whether it's merely an interest in the topic or a devotion to a particular faith.

I'd say for me, I've had an interest in the topic since I was a kid. I remember asking my parents where everything came from when I was in my single digits, and even coming to the conclusion before I was 10 that "God is to adults like Santa is to kids, a story to keep us in line".

There are many things throughout my life that kept the interest in play. I used to frequent the "Mythology & Folklore" subcategory on Yahoo! Answers when I was about 11-12 years old, and "Religion & Spirituality" was right beneath it on the list, I went to that one day and it took my interest in it. I joined a chatroom that started up and was advertised in the R&S category, and it was full of people who were also interested in the topic (most of them atheist or agnostic). And eventually I found this forum through Google. So it's just been a major interest of mine my whole life, something I find fun and interesting to discuss.

I'm not devoted to any belief system, but I've held onto many beliefs I've picked up from my spiritual journey over the years.

 

[Spice]

My interest sprouted from the combination of required Sunday School and the number of deaths in my immediate family all before I started school. The Sunday School continued for my entire childhood, but I learned to question, listen, and observe and have never stopped. I had a wonderful minister in my adolescent years -- very liberal for the times -- and he took the questions of my peers and I seriously. That gave me the courage to forever question.

In high school I was in a drama and debate class. We explored A LOT, and my thinking expanded. In sophomore lit we read The Crucible, Inherit the Wind, Siddhartha, and Paradise Lost, with much discussion, and my questions grew.

As a young adult I became close friends with what we refer to today as a fundamentalist and my mind was blown! But I gave it a shot, a serious go, and learned SO much! Including that I couldn't accept that POV.

Then life got in the way and I pretty much let it all go. The hill was a slippery slope and when I finally crash landed and started pulling myself together certain ideas and thoughts just seemed automatic and natural. Contemplation in nature became very important to me. I eventually began reading the Bible with a fresh perspective and it started clicking. It still clicks as I've branched out to other spiritual texts, essays, and philosophies. And I still must have my quiet time to talk with the birds and listen to the trees.

 

[SalixIncendium]

What got you into religion/spirituality?

Indoctrination. I was born into it.

I was raised in a Catholic household and was expected to believe what the family and Church did. As I learned more about the religion, I began to realize that the shoes didn't fit, so I kicked them off and went exploring on my own.

 

[Twilight Hue]

What got you into religion/spirituality? Whether it's merely an interest in the topic or a devotion to a particular faith.

I'd say for me, I've had an interest in the topic since I was a kid. I remember asking my parents where everything came from when I was in my single digits, and even coming to the conclusion before I was 10 that "God is to adults like Santa is to kids, a story to keep us in line".

There are many things throughout my life that kept the interest in play. I used to frequent the "Mythology & Folklore" subcategory on Yahoo! Answers when I was about 11-12 years old, and "Religion & Spirituality" was right beneath it on the list, I went to that one day and it took my interest in it. I joined a chatroom that started up and was advertised in the R&S category, and it was full of people who were also interested in the topic (most of them atheist or agnostic). And eventually I found this forum through Google. So it's just been a major interest of mine my whole life, something I find fun and interesting to discuss.

I'm not devoted to any belief system, but I've held onto many beliefs I've picked up from my spiritual journey over the years.

My case was depression and I was attracted to things like a loving god and loving people until things bottomed out , and reality sunk in effectively shattering the stained glass and rose colored glasses over the years.

So I went towards religions that were reality based with a boots on the ground approach and found a common practice that served well holistically.

 

[mangalavara]

I'd say for me, I've had an interest in the topic since I was a kid.

That’s pretty good. When I was in the single digits, all I cared about was Power Rangers, ninjas, and Mortal Kombat.

I used to frequent the "Mythology & Folklore" subcategory on Yahoo! Answers when I was about 11-12 years old, and "Religion & Spirituality" was right beneath it on the list, I went to that one day and it took my interest in it.

I remember both of those categories on Yahoo! Answers. My favorite thing was the 13–16-year-old users who thought they were becoming vampires and wanted help ‘awakening.’

Contemplation in nature became very important to me. I eventually began reading the Bible with a fresh perspective and it started clicking. It still clicks as I've branched out to other spiritual texts, essays, and philosophies.

Would you say that reading the other texts has helped you attain a better understanding of the Bible?

to talk with the birds and listen to the trees.

Your spirituality sounds very nice.

I was raised in a Catholic household and was expected to believe what the family and Church did. As I learned more about the religion, I began to realize that the shoes didn't fit, so I kicked them off and went exploring on my own.

The way this might sound to somebody who does not understand English figurative language…

So I went towards religions that were reality based with a boots on the ground approach and found a common practice that served well holistically.

Would you say that belief or doctrine plays a very small role in your spiritual life?

 

[Colt]

What got you into religion/spirituality? Whether it's merely an interest in the topic or a devotion to a particular faith.

I'd say for me, I've had an interest in the topic since I was a kid. I remember asking my parents where everything came from when I was in my single digits, and even coming to the conclusion before I was 10 that "God is to adults like Santa is to kids, a story to keep us in line".

There are many things throughout my life that kept the interest in play. I used to frequent the "Mythology & Folklore" subcategory on Yahoo! Answers when I was about 11-12 years old, and "Religion & Spirituality" was right beneath it on the list, I went to that one day and it took my interest in it. I joined a chatroom that started up and was advertised in the R&S category, and it was full of people who were also interested in the topic (most of them atheist or agnostic). And eventually I found this forum through Google. So it's just been a major interest of mine my whole life, something I find fun and interesting to discuss.

I'm not devoted to any belief system, but I've held onto many beliefs I've picked up from my spiritual journey over the years.

Alcoholism and drug addiction! Complete defeat! Returned to the God I had always known but ignored.

 

[mangalavara]

What got you into religion/spirituality?

Meeting an ‘evangelist’ got me into religion and spirituality when I was 12. My interest in heavy metal prompted him to get me to question whether or not I was really saved. His high standards for being a Christian led me to develop an interest in Satanism, Wicca, and Neopaganism, with the former two being religions that he was busy exposing. So, when I was in my teens, I was always either a Satanist or a Neopagan of some kind. Later, when I was 18, I developed an interest in world religions thanks to a nice little book about the use of prayer beads in different traditions. The book came with a mālā of 108 beads that smelled like sandalwood. I bought it at Borders.

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

The abridged version: As I explained in a previous post here, my initial interest in Wicca, polytheism, and Druidry stemmed from reading some posts by pagan members on RF. During this time, my mentor and close friend inspired me to become a spiritualist. Prior to this, I became a Christian at the age of seventeen, following years of indoctrination as a child. I disavowed my Christian beliefs thirty years later and embarked on a new spiritual path.

 

[Vinayaka]

I can't remember precise dates, but one was a glimpse from Siva, and the other was pondering why seemingly smart people got interested in Hinduism. Prior to that I thought it (all religions I had seen to that point) was for dummies only.

 

[Spice]

Would you say that reading the other texts has helped you attain a better understanding of the Bible?

Absolutely. I never could reason why a good "Father" would restrict giving hope, love, and instruction to only some of His children. Being an only girl, and seeing very different personality strengths and weakness in my brothers, and noticing how we were all loved and encouraged equally by our father, though certainly in different personal relationships that changed as we grew, it made perfect sense that our Creator Father would engage differently with different cultures, while still offering to and expecting from the same with each.
It was also beneficial to see how others interpreted those gifts and expectations.

Your spirituality sounds very nice.

It's usually quite peaceful, so yes, I've found my spiritual niche, and everyday I can awake with complete gratitude and comfortably say, as the Norse prayed to Odin before battle, "Today is a good day to die."

 

[Aupmanyav]

I scrutinized my belief in Gods/Goddesses and found nothing to support the idea. I became an atheist. However, I remain a Hindu because Hinduism is not against atheists and view that existence of Gods is imaginary is not a new thought with us. It has been around for 2,000 years or more.

 

[Quintessence]

What got you into religion/spirituality?

It's complicated.

To keep it short, I had absolutely no interest in (and often significant disdain for) both of these things during my formative years. I believed religion was a bunch of outdated nonsense that had no purpose or use in the modern world and that God was a bunch of outdated nonsense that was logically incoherent and irrational rubbish. I believed all these things because I didn't know any better.

It wasn't until college that I started to get schooled. Not because I took a course on religion (though that did come later), but because I'm an insufferable nerd who looks things up and does research when they encounter something unfamiliar. I was doing some assignment for a course and the word "pagan" kept coming up and in spite of having seen that word many times I realized I didn't actually know what it meant. So I looked it up on the internet of the 2000s. Which meant I also got pages about things like Wicca. That in turn sparked a memory of this really awesome person I met in high school who had said she was Wiccan and realizing I didn't have any idea what that meant either. So I looked up Wicca.

From there, all the ignorant prejudices and bigotry I had against "religion" and "spirituality" more or less came crashing down, as did foolish assumptions about theology and what the word "god" meant. No more being an angstheist twat. Begin operation "question all the things and stop being an idiot about theology and religion." Result? Finding my religion and my gods. Which were there the entire time, but I was socially conditioned (indoctrinated?) to be blind to them.

There's more to it than that, but the gist is it happened because I'm an insufferable nerd who researches things. Also, it happened because religion itself is monstrously complicated, monstrously diverse, and inherently part of being human.

 

[Viker]

I've been fascinated with religion and spirituality since I was a little child. My childhood experience with Christian fundamentalism nearly drove me straight into full metal jacket atheism/anti-theism/anti-religion. Needless to say, conventional or traditional religion of my culture did become a major turn off. At some point I took a dive into things like modern Satanism, theistic Satanism, Luciferianism, Buddhism and Wicca. Now I am at In Diabolica, my own but slightly shared little encampment on my path.

 

[sun rise]

What got you into religion/spirituality?

My parents were atheists but we went to Jewish Temple for relatives weddings. But I used to look up at the stars at night and wonder. I adamantly refused a Bar Mitzvah when the time came and that was it until the 60's. During that time my interest in the meaning and purpose and the existence of God awakened and I started a search which resulted in me acknowledging that Meher Baba is the Avatar of the Age come to bring an end to the Kaliyuga (iron/dark) age and usher in the Satyuga (Golden age) Check out my interview here for more details.

 

[Rival]

I was the opposite of many people on here.

When I was a child we were taught Christianity even if fairly lightly (didn't go to an institutionally religious school, wasn't a regular churchgoing family etc.) and I just found it all made a lot of sense. I had no issues with God or with the concept of religion itself. I prayed a lot, enjoyed visiting the church, the hymns at school and so on.

I just went from there, really.

 

[Quintessence]

To add, there are different ways one can tell the story of one's past. I usually tell it in a way that is more authentic to how I would have understood things at the time rather than in the present.

For example, when I was a kid one of my folks made the observation that I was "deeply religious" and when they said that it was like they slapped me with an insult haha. But here's the thing - they were absolutely right and I understand what they meant now as a deeply religious adult. What they meant is that they noticed that I started more or less building my own religion/philosophy after they stopped making me go to mass and Sunday school. I wanted to do my own thing - make something modern and relevant to today that made sense to me - so I did. The metaphysical foundations of my religion of now were built when I was a kid. But that's not how I saw it at the time. What I was doing was "better" than religion because it was rational, science-based, blah, blah, blah (you know the angstheist drill).

Turns out I was still doing religion, actually... lol.

 

[Eddi]

What got you into religion/spirituality?

Mental ill-health

I'm still into it though

 

[osgart]

I wanted to breakaway from popular culture and from Christian fundamentalism when I turned 30. The themes I find in spirituality, language, and somewhat from religion never left me, but I've always felt there was a better way of those things than what I found from any resources out there. So I made myself an independent spiritual path built on my personal sense of truth, and virtues. The primary question I always ask myself is what kind of person do I truly desire to become, and what moral principles do I consider to be axiomatically self evident. When I realized there was no God early on in my life their was a void in my life. Absorbing as much pleasure, and control in my life was not fulfilling me. I refused to live a life where I have to be so inward and selfish, and try to accumulate any kind of worldly standards.

Mainstream humanity I felt lacked wisdom, and could never see the forest from the trees in regards to living a good life. The results of my spirituality is that I feel vastly alone in who I am and desire to be, but I'm glad to know myself better.

I'd rather be alone than in the company of many hungry wolves.