Mail me comments, suggestions, warnings, flames, whatever
Greetings friend.
Words cannot describe how happy I am to have come across your wonderful
website! To be fully honest, I believe it's fate.
I'll tell you why.
I'm a 23 year old man who has been engaging in deep struggle during the
past several months to find his purpose in life. I got my degree in
1994 from Dartmouth College, majored in English, concentrated in
Anthropology/Religion, and explored various other subjects, such as
Music and Women's Studies. Outside of classroom I explored spirituality
with a small circle of very close friends. One of the things we
delighted in was discussing the connections between all the wonderful
religious traditions of the world - Sufism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism,
Christianity, Native American religions, you name it. For us, it always
came back to the word ONE. We also loved reconnecting with the Earth.
During our last year at Dartmouth, we lived in a farmhouse in the
backcountry of Vermont about 20 miles from campus, and spent many days
and nights exploring the beauty of our surroundings.
When I graduated I stayed in the area, living in a log cabin, working
locally, and spending a great deal of time playing music, writing
poetry, contemplating. Eventually I moved back out to California (where
I'm from), and worked with the national political lobby Peace Action
(formerly Sane/Freeze) for a time. Financial pressures among other
personal crises brought me back home to Los Angeles, where I am now,
where I've been living with my parents once again, working in a lawfirm
for the time being and searching for my purpose.
Just a few days ago at work I tuned in the radio to KPFK Public Radio,
and I heard a beautiful, energetic and inspired voice articulating
wonderful ideas. He was full of Spirit, and made my heart shine.
Though I pretended to be working I was really transfixed. After a while
some music came on and then the announcer said, "that was the wonderful
Matthew Fox speaking. . . ."
I had never heard of the man before. I had also never heard of the
Creation Spirituality movement, at least in those terms, although I had
read various feminist theologians. I had thought through many of the
ideas that he was speaking of, but his HEART communicated with such
strength! It actually sparked a thought in me - one which I've had on a
number of occasions, but didn't take too seriously for one reason or
another - the thought of going back to school for theology and
eventually entering ministry. Right now, it's between that, going to
Music school, or trying to get into graduate programs for Eastern
Religions. Anyway, tonight I was in my room meditating quietly,
witnessing the thoughts come and go, allowing myself to tune in to the
peace which is God. After I finished I continued I followed this idea
of ministry. I thought to myself, "could I really do that? the Church
has been so oppressive!" But I followed that with, "the teachings
themselves, wherever they are, are so beautiful." Then I said to
myself, "might as well do a little exploring of Christianity on the
Internet."
I went directly to "What is a Christian". The first page I clicked on
was yours. And here you are speaking these wonderful thoughts about
Creation Spirituality, the unity of faiths, the Cosmic Christ. So now
I'm thinking, this may be fate. . . And so I decided to E-mail you,
introduce myself, tell you my story, thank you heartily for being a
presence on this web. I've just never met anyone like you who is
engaged in Christian ministry yet very aware and open to other
traditions. My experience of most practitioners have been those who view
Christianity as THE WAY and THE ONLY WAY to the exclusion of all other
religions, and it's so good to see people like you and Matthew Fox with
such healthy new (old?) ideas.
Do you have any advice for someone who wants to become more involved in
the Creation Spirituality movement and possibly move into ministry
himself? I've just begun to explore your links, so I'm sure there's a
lot to check out, but I would appreciate any word you could share with
me. Thank you! I'm glad yours was the first Christian
page I came to.
In peace,
Jason
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