Hi,
My name is David and I live in the North East of England. I'm 40ish and currently in the middle of a Religious Studies degree with the Open University (studying at full time pace).
My religious / spiritual journey goes something like this; I was 'dragged' along to Church and Sunday school (United Reformed Church), aged 4-15 and escaped at the earliest opportunity. I had no interest in anything religious or spiritual for the next 10 years. When I was 25 I became interested in Buddhism, joined a local FWBO (now called Triratna Order) Meditation Centre and practiced for 2 years. I fell out of love with Buddhism due to finding myself leaning more towards Hindu philosophies and sub-branches; particularly Advaita Vedanta. The Buddhist Centre I was attending pushed something of a 'secular western' Buddhism and I found myself, and my own experiences, not agreeing with everything I was being 'taught' there. Although in Buddhism we're encouraged to use experience to form our beliefs, rather than dogma or even textual sources and teachings, I ultimately ended up an outsider to this organisation, so moved on. Although I still held interests in religion and spirituality, I did not practice, or belong to any religion or group between the ages of 27 and 39.
At the start of this year, I somehow started reading about the Quakers here in Britain and I was fascinated with what I found. In Feb I walked in to my local Quaker Meeting for the first time, and I've been back every week since. I'm currently going through the membership process and mentoring.
I consider myself a Universalist; I believe the truth does not conveniently lie in one humanly-created religious path or tradition, but that many religions contain elements that point to the truth.
I'm still very interested in Advaita Vedanta, but I undertake spiritual practices from many paths, including Buddhism (Samatha, Zen and Pureland) Hinduism, and Christian Mysticism.
All of the practices I undertake as a Universalist, are consistant with Quakerism; the light of goodness within us, that is available to us (call it what you will), the spirituality of quietness and stillness, and ethical values in ones life.
Anyway, that's FAR more than anyone probably wanted to know about me, so if you're still reading and still awake, WELL DONE YOU!
It's great to be here, and look forward to reading other people's take on life and the universe, and joining the odd discussion.
David
My name is David and I live in the North East of England. I'm 40ish and currently in the middle of a Religious Studies degree with the Open University (studying at full time pace).
My religious / spiritual journey goes something like this; I was 'dragged' along to Church and Sunday school (United Reformed Church), aged 4-15 and escaped at the earliest opportunity. I had no interest in anything religious or spiritual for the next 10 years. When I was 25 I became interested in Buddhism, joined a local FWBO (now called Triratna Order) Meditation Centre and practiced for 2 years. I fell out of love with Buddhism due to finding myself leaning more towards Hindu philosophies and sub-branches; particularly Advaita Vedanta. The Buddhist Centre I was attending pushed something of a 'secular western' Buddhism and I found myself, and my own experiences, not agreeing with everything I was being 'taught' there. Although in Buddhism we're encouraged to use experience to form our beliefs, rather than dogma or even textual sources and teachings, I ultimately ended up an outsider to this organisation, so moved on. Although I still held interests in religion and spirituality, I did not practice, or belong to any religion or group between the ages of 27 and 39.
At the start of this year, I somehow started reading about the Quakers here in Britain and I was fascinated with what I found. In Feb I walked in to my local Quaker Meeting for the first time, and I've been back every week since. I'm currently going through the membership process and mentoring.
I consider myself a Universalist; I believe the truth does not conveniently lie in one humanly-created religious path or tradition, but that many religions contain elements that point to the truth.
I'm still very interested in Advaita Vedanta, but I undertake spiritual practices from many paths, including Buddhism (Samatha, Zen and Pureland) Hinduism, and Christian Mysticism.
All of the practices I undertake as a Universalist, are consistant with Quakerism; the light of goodness within us, that is available to us (call it what you will), the spirituality of quietness and stillness, and ethical values in ones life.
Anyway, that's FAR more than anyone probably wanted to know about me, so if you're still reading and still awake, WELL DONE YOU!
It's great to be here, and look forward to reading other people's take on life and the universe, and joining the odd discussion.
David
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