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I’d rather write than talk. Nobody interrupts! Posting monthly or less now--see below. |
My original purpose for this blog, which I started in August of 2019, was to see if I could maintain consistency, to discover what I want to write about, and to find my writing voice. In January, I started a "niche-less" blog at Wordpress.com where I've published weekly. -- Kit’s Kontemplations  . -- I'm preparing to start a Catholic blog on Wordpress.com where I'll post weekly, and another site to put the rest of my writing. I also want to spend more time reading other blogs and offering thoughtful comments, both here on WDC and elsewhere. At most, I will publish once a month at no set time in this blog starting in September of 2020. Thank you to those who have read and rated any posts on this blog. I really appreciate it. I did NOT want to write “about” me on this blog. I wanted to share my interests, discoveries and maybe a few useful insights. If anything I've written helps even one person, whether or not they respond to the post, then this blog has been successful. |
| There is so much talk of being “spiritual” and not being “religious”, as if the two were mutually exclusive. Most people whom I know that speak this way have an aversion to religious practices, fixed belief systems and codes of behaviour. I wonder how many of these people have been wounded by “religious” people, by church authorities or by someone in their childhood who “represented” God to them. I believe that being spiritual means being connected to God in an intimate and personal way. To be a spiritual being is to experience and live out of a sense of connection with the presence of God. As a Christian, I have an inner awareness and conviction that Jesus lives in the center of my being. When I pray, I am being “present to Him”, choosing to spend some quality time with the One whom I know loves me. Being “spiritual” also involves having an awareness of and a connection with one’s own soul, not the false ego-self but the true self. For Christians, our soul was placed in us at the moment of our conception. Each of us was created by God to love Him eternally and to experience a daily loving union with Him through His gift of the Holy Spirit. The root of the word “religion” means to bind oneself to something. It is the tangible external expression of an intangible internal reality. Being religious does involve holding a specific set of beliefs about the nature of God. It includes engaging in specific activities and rituals to express love and allegiance to God. It is often a way to seek an experience of God’s presence, either alone or as part of a group. Religion lived apart from genuine interior spirituality is empty and often toxic. Many religions, both current and obsolete, have one or more practices with the goal of appeasing and or communicating with the supernatural powers in which they believe and from whom they seek protection and power. As a charismatic Catholic on a mystic path, I consider myself to be both religious and spiritual. The practices by which I express my devotion to Jesus are the evidence of my commitment to Him. These daily external practices include: attending Mass, prayerful Scripture meditation, spiritual reading, praying the Liturgy of the Hours and other forms of prayer. These activities neither earn nor increase His love for me. The more diligently I engage in these practices, the better prepared my soul is to more deeply experience the love He has had for me since before I was conceived. These practices bring me to a deeply quiet contemplative “space” and interior silence which is when God works deep transformation in me so as to conform my soul more closely to His original intention for me. It is comparable to being anesthetized before surgery. At times when this experience is less absorbing, it is like being in the car on a long trip with my husband where neither of us speaks and we deeply enjoy each other’s peaceful, loving presence. Reflection:  What does “being spiritual” mean to you? What activities, if any, do you engage in regularly that you consider “spiritual” practices? What does “being religious” mean to you? If the word “religion” evokes negative emotions in you, what is their root? |
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Yes, I know some people do that but I'm a creative writer not a journalist. Poetry sells ... but it's a money-maker for only a few. I write A LOT. Almost 180 pieces since Spring equinox. My goal is 300-400 per year. One year I went over 1,000. I need to do more editing, polishing, sharing, submitting. Writer's block? Who has time for that? I don't.