Twenty-one years ago, I was feeling a bit sick much of the time, and so I decided to find a doctor who was interested in a more alternative approach to health, as I had just gotten interested in a more healthy lifestyle. Fortunately for me, C. Norman Shealy, founder of the American Holistic Medical Association, had his offices nearby, so I scheduled an appointment with him.
After a thorough examination that lasted over an hour, Norm and I sat down to chat. As we neared the end of our time together, he looked at me and said, “What do you believe in?” I had to ask him to repeat the question because, well, no doctor had ever asked me such a thing. I said, “Well, you’re born, you live, you die. Nothing before or after. No soul, no God, nothing. I guess you could say I’m an atheist.”
Norm looked at me with a kindly smile, and said, “About 5% of the population believes as you do. And that’s okay. But statistically, people who believe in something beyond themselves tend to be healthier and happier. The research is pretty clear on that score.”
Then, he absolutely floored me with what he said next: “I’ve examined you thoroughly, and as far as I can tell, there isn’t anything physically wrong with you. You are quite healthy. Yet, you feel lousy. If I were you, I’d get a spiritual life.”
I’ll never forget the next words out of my mouth: “How the hell do I do get a spiritual life?!”
Norm smiled at me, patiently explained that he didn’t mean go to church or anything like that, and suggested a few books that I should read. He seemed to know, somehow, that once he pointed me in the right direction, I’d be okay. And he was right. After reading his few book suggestions, I discovered the local new age bookstore, Renaissance Books, and went crazy, reading everything under the sun.
After reading dozens of books in the space of nine months, a set of 3 blue books kept catching my eye. I would pick-up one, read it a bit in the store, and then put it away, somewhat disgusted, because the books had all this Christian sounding lingo in them. After doing this little drill 4 or 5 times, I finally broke down and bought them. Within a week, I was hooked. A Course in Miracles became my spiritual path for 12 years as a result.
Strange how these things get started.
I’d love to hear your story of how you got started on the spiritual journey. I’ve turned the comments on for you to share.
Happy Holidays. Namaste.
When I was about 12-13 Christianity caught my interest. During my teenage years I also learned a bit about Taoism, Buddhism and other stuff and thought meditation would be cool to practice someday (an interest that I could not share with my peers
).
I started to look into other material when I became 20-21, starting with Think & Grow Rich, onto the Master Key System, some Law of Attraction material, then I found the Sedona Method plus a number of other self-help techniques. There was a peiod of Kriya Yoga and later Advaita/Non-duality. The S.M. and non-duality had a profound impact and changed things dramatically I must say. Now I have to add Michael Brown’s The Presence Process to that list, and maybe Matrix Energetics.
I don’t feel like I have to search further than that
If I need something in my life it will show up anyhow, it seems..
Mine started about seven years ago, also in a response to a general malaise, with “Zen For Dummies”, followed by the laundry list of books by the usual suspects.
The three blue books that pushed my buttons were by Jed McKenna. The starkness worked for me.
Interesting to reflect on, Tom. 35 years ago this month, I saw a poster for a lecture on TM. I had no idea why I was even interested. But I went, I learned, and I loved it. Read voraciously on brain research, consciousness, meditation, Ouspensky, Bucky Fuller, etc. Spent some time in the “stacks” of the university library, trying to make sense of old eastern texts. (translations were much poorer then)
It was the beginning of a long and unexpected journey to a place I’d never heard of. Sure glad I started though. Although I’d have to say, picked up where I left off.
Holy sh*t Tom!
When I read your post, the hair on my neck rose straight up and a strange shiver ran through my body.
I’ve read a bazillion spiritual books too and in the last year I’ve stumbled upon multiple (serendipitous?) references to a “course in miracles” too. After skimming through a free Kindle sample of ACIM, I declined to buy it for the same exact reason as you – all the talk referring to a “point-source” God. I’m gonna have to re-visit that decision now. Thanks!
When I came to the States 15 years ago, the only place I could find the folks from my own country was a local Christian church. I didn’t get to know many people there, but I was fascinated by the pastor’s sermons and Jesus’s messages in New Testament. That was how my fanatic spiritual search got started. Since then, I went through several major religion and spiritual traditions over the years. I didn’t find a peaceful state of mind until I read Jed McKenna’s triology recommended by Tom and subsequently Adyashanti’s books. No more search for yet another teacher is needed for me.
Davidya,
Wow, I didn’t know people were talking about me all of those years ago. I was only one year old!
Tom,
I can’t really say I had a beginning. I can remember a few times throughout my life when others would introduce me to certain faiths, or push me toward some system. But for some reason; and even now I cannot tell you why; I could never take it. I can’t even say that I was actively against any of it, either. It was just something I always lost interest in, very quickly.
In my mind I think of it as the snow ball rolling down the hill and gaining momentum, except in my case, it would melt before it ever had the chance to move.
But I am not the best person to ask about my own history, haha. Whatever happened, it could not have occurred in any other way.
I was raised a protestant and had 7 years perfect attendance in Sunday School. In spite of that, I had lots of unanswered questions and the hypocracy of my parents’ generation caused me to conclude that there wasn’t much there for me.
As a teenager, I became a Beatles fan and still am. About 2 years after they all learned TM with Maharishi, I saw a poster at my college for it and decided immediately to learn it. It was great. My health improved (allergies) and so did my grades (graduated cum laude). Became a TM teacher my junior year in college and after graduation and a fellowship year abroad, came to work for the international folks as a “Governor”, looking for academy sites around Washington, DC.
Later on, I joined the work-a-day world of corporate America to support my new habit of progressing through a panoply of spiritual pursuits, literature and seminars. All had their unique value and I got a benefit from all. I usually moved on when I discovered that the people running the organization were lacking in the very spiritual values they were espousing and decided I didn’t want to become like them. Some practices didn’t seem to work quickly enough or have broad-reaching, positive results in my life. Some wanted to dominate your public and private life and some were prohibitively priced.
I had pretty much given up on it all when a business associate suggested The Sedona Method, which I’d never heard of at all in 35 years of looking. I went to their web site, heard Lester tell part of his story and on a lark, ordered the home audio course and some ancillary CD sets.
I was amazed at how easy it was, releasing strong anger on my very first try and at how well it worked. Serendipity and synchonicity seemed to be my regular pals, things you won’t read about in the book. I took my first retreat in Sedona in 2005 when I became a facilitator, now called a coach. I bought 1 of everything they had for sale, listened to Lester CDs night after night and lined up course participants to buddy release with after the course. I had a ball.
I continue to be amazed at how easy and powerful The Method is when I hear that said back to me, in so many ways, by the people I now coach in over 35 countries. While we all enjoy the myriad of practical benefits in the usual areas, I marvel at the range and depth of spiritual experiences my clients and I are starting to experience. These too, are not in the book but they’re hinted at. I never cease to feel priviledged when a client of mine can’t report back to me over the phone, what’s happening to them because they’re in awe of something marvelous they don’t recognize and don’t even have words for. I try to write down what they say because what they’re finally able to utter is so innocent, fresh and vital. I sometimes post these gems on Facebook.
I wish I had found this when I was 18 and I’d like to live to be a thousand years old, and healthy, just to see all the wonderful things that are to come all around the world.
I was born into a strict religious family – dad was a southern Baptist minister when I was young. He did not stay a preacher though but that is how the ‘story’ began. So my interest in God and matters of that nature came very young for me. At some point – perhaps teenage years, I moved away from all things religious. But even then, I would read books that other girls my age seemed to have no interest in.. books like “Where is God when it hurts” and so forth. So early on I seemed to have a desire, even a need to understand the spiritual world.
In college I joined Campus Crusade for Christ and didn’t feel ‘at home’ there either. I realize now I’ve been seeking for quite a long time! But most things ‘religious’ I turned away from and with quite the attitude actually! The ‘God’ stuff really bothered me for some reason.
Post college brought a nice job and a good amount of money. Everything seemed to be going ‘my way’. However, I grew increasingly unhappy and dissatisfied – a longing in the soul. That longing I attempted to fill with more things – and with more things and money came excessive use of alcohol. The job and money were my ‘God’. THAT would do it – make me happy – fill me up. Well, not so much. At some point the excessive use of alcohol became addictive – I was drinking alcoholically. Taking xanax too often and depressed and feeling VERY sorry for myself. I was full of resentment and I had totally lost my way. Luckily a friend intervened. I SAW what was happening but I did not see it, if that makes sense. I had been what I now call ‘The Walking Dead’. Walking around this earth but by all accounts – dead. I was a MESS.
At the urging of a physician, I joined a 12-step program and was stunned at how this alcohol thing could happen to the great ‘me’. ha! Baffling! Alcoholism seems to take a person by surprise really – it happened completely without my permission that’s for sure. In the program there was talk of a Higher Power and in the program’s main book, there was a lot of talk about Spiritual Awakening. I recovered nicely and stepped away from the program when introduced to Eckhart Tolle’s teaching where I finally felt ‘at home’. A buffet of teachers, teachings, books, retreats followed over the last few years. The Work of Byron Katie has transformed my life and I am grateful for all the many blessings that have come along since that night my friend sat me down and said ‘I’m concerned about your drinking’. That in itself was an awakening of sorts. And so there ya have it – the long and short of it
Not sure where to next. Glad you are with us Tom on the journey though – I do know that! Bless you and Happy Holidays.
Greetings everyone…. Thanks for the tales of spiritual initiation. Interesting how varied the paths were but yet, how similar they all seemed, too. I felt like I was reading my own story over and over again. How cool!
And Tony, be careful! The Course can be addictive. I rarely suggest that someone really dive into it, but if it calls to you, then by all means. It is Advaita in Christian clothing.
tom . . . am getting a lot out of your posts . . . especially the latest series on half-awake/half-asleep . . .
i got into the spiritual stuff in my late teens, about 25 years ago, really because i believed that enlightenment meant that i’d end up with cash, a soulmate, perfect health, and round the clock bliss
for over 20 years, i studied and apprenticed and ashramed and read and did practices. and then, a few years ago, i began to give up. things started getting very very bad. then i found the jed mckenna books. and things got much worse, though more humorous, which was great.
now i sit on the other side of something. not enlightened, but definitely done with something huge. it’s as if somehow my life is over, and yet i’m enjoying things more, am unwinding things inside of my head and heart in a way that isn’t about effort, but some sort of surrender, trust. probably why i’ve been enjoying your posts of late.
ps – i’m attempting to post this as kitten malcolm lays on the keyboard and keeps erasing what i write. fair enough
he probably would like me to tell you that his spiritual trip is about surrender to the lovins, and the joy of all things toasty . . .
I had two decades of anxiety and depression and life now working and I was looking for a solution. I went to Vipassana meditation, a ten day rigorous retreat. I had read the Power of Now. None of it made any sense to me. Two years later, I was reeling from another broken relationship, and in disproportionate pain, and I re-read the Power of Now, and it made complete sense.
Since then there have been periods of ecstasies and agonies, as I meander through half-awakeness.
Thanks for your writings.
k
It started 30 years ago in my living room. There was this sudden loss of a sense of me and my story. All that was left was a vast and unlimited consciousness looking out the window, at the trees and the mountains. Nothing was separate from anything else. This “shift” occured a few more times in my 20′s, but the mind had no frame of reference for it beyond some words in a few dusty, old books at the local library. There was no one in my life to relate this to. Besides, it was (and is) so hard to put into words.
I returned to life asleep and went to college.
Three years ago, I discovered the new writers: Tolle, Gangaji, Adyashanti, etc. They appeared to be pointing toward the same thing, and I became a “seeker”.
But the urge to seek is dropping these days, seeing that I’m just seeking the vastness which I already am. This aliveness was apparent last night as I laughed in delight at the sound of popping pop corn.
Although raised in a traditional church, the wake up call came for me in the form of alcohol and addiction. Many growth years in a Twelvth Step Group followed. Then SLAP “One Seminar”, followed by A Course in Miracles studies. The teachers along the path kept changing. Byron Katie, Jed McKenna and UG Krisnamurti, Adyashanti…there was certainly a fervored seach. Now there is just some curiousity, interest and exploration. I am not awake at all times but have certainly had opportunity to crack open an eye or two along the way. It all seems to lead back to the idea learned early in the search—my thinking is problem.
When I was 5 years old, I was staring at the window and a sudden wave of peace and sweetness took me over.It was the best feeling I’ve ever had until today (I’m 36 now). And I notice that there was someone behind me, but also inside me. Someone happy and wise that began talking to me. That lasted for a while, until I was “taught” it was only my imagination, an “imaginary friend”, so it stopped.
Fast forward to 1999. I read Lester’s story and his experience was like mine when I was 5, so I bought the Sedona Method. It was too mental and didn’t do anything for me. In 2000 I bought The Abundance Course. Didn’t do anything either, until Larry Crane called me at home (I live in Brazil) to say I could return the course, but as there was still 2 months to do it, if he could help me through it. That was a very expensive call for him, so I said yes.
After many years on-and-off, seeing no results after doing the Sedona Method and Abundance Course 5 times each, I had a physical problem that looked like Parkinson, except that there was nothing wrong. I came back to the Abundance Course and it healed. In 2007 I attended my first 7 days retreat with Larry, The Final Step, healed all my life-long allergies, and on the 3rd Final Step I “popped”, and realized what I am. Bought a lot of non-duality books (recommended by you when your website was about releasing) and I keep going. I try to attend at least 2 7-days retreats with Larry each year, getting better and clearer.
After my father died in 1970, I went on a “philosophy” kick and read all kinds of stuff. None of it touching me. After a workshop in 1976 and meeting a man who just shattered my frameworks(would give you his name, but I doubt it is the right one) and then one day, as I was walking down the street, the fog lifted and I “saw” the oneness and nothing has been the same since. Krishnamurti’s books have come closest to what I now see and write about. Nice to see fellow travelers.
Thank you all, for leaving your stories of your spiritual beginnings. They were all most enjoyable to read. While they are in fact “stories” they do help all of us to see the incredible variety in the journeys we take. Namaste.
I could have written Susan’s comment. Thanks Susan!