Me: I re-read some of my Buddhism books and I’m now re-reading Tao Te Ching. You know, I identify as a Native American Buddhist Taoist Universalist. The Husband: I’m an Oceanist.
And there you have it, Zen Friends, plain and simple, my husband, the Oceanist. Lover of waves and water. Could it be more simple? I think not.
I’m a spiritual amalgam. Twenty years ago, I decided that I had been brainwashed by a religious cult for long enough and this Zen girl was not going to have any more of that crazy bullshit. So I deserted my entire life, cut all ties and I ran. I ran so far away. I couldn’t get away from “organized religion” fast enough. For six years, my newfound liberation and spiritual freedom took me on a soul-searching, enlightening trek of discovery and eventually I landed in a world religions night class. It started around September 11, 2001. A student, an Islamic woman, courageously entered the classroom and took a seat next to me. She was not met with hostility or hatred by anyone, but sadness and tension gripped the air surrounding us. Insightfully, the professor let the class flow with tentative interaction and our Islamic classmate eventually shattered her silence and spoke. I remember she repeatedly expressed that the attack was not rooted in the Islam of 25 years that she knew and loved. She could not understand the destruction of the day. And at that point in my life, I did not know if I should believe her. I knew nothing about this woman or her religion to form a personal conclusion. Today, I am thankful for that semester of world religions and the people I met. It broadened my knowledge and understanding beyond anything I could have imagined.
After six years of searching, I was able to finally identify as a, well, mishmash. A fusion, not a confusion, of spiritual, sacred beliefs and principles. I am a Native American Buddhist Taoist Universalist. That’s me. A whole new world of spiritual possibilities opened up and I was like a little girl in a candy store gathering a little bit of everything and forming a spirituality that connected all the dots. My spiritual journey was no longer perilous. And guess what, I’m still forming and evolving.
And, fourteen years later, thanks to The Husband, I’m adding Oceanist to the mix.
Zenitude for today:
Honor one another and may your beliefs be rooted in love.
As Ziggy Marley sings, “love is my religion.”