I'm on a bit of a 'yes, and' spiritual path. I am working with shamanic practices, reiki, hinduism, and some with tao and qigong. At first I was frustrated with myself for not focusing on one tradition, but ultimately it's sort of a Joseph Campbel 'follow your bliss' sort of unveiling of parallel worlds. Chanting to Shiva and then calling in the natural spirits of the East for vision and clarity. It's a fun journey to connect with spirit through reiki and prana, or just feel the warm creative energy of the Sun beaming through the window on a late winter morning.

I feel like I'm living on the fringe of the fringe. Here in NY there's a bit of everything, so quite the journey I've had here the past 10 years. Some pretty unsupportive guys out there that I wish I had known better how to navigate around, and those brutal lessons learned or wrinkle earned.

I recently joined a NY gay shamanic circle which has been restorative and inspired my vision again.

March days here now, Divine Mother Earth nurtures us now into Spring.

Interestingly enough, I have always hated the word and notion of spirituality. Recently, I found that reason. I blamed God for my father leaving my family. It sounds almost to simplistic even to my ears at this point, but it has been immensely freeing. It's caused a shift in many areas of my mental life. Zen has been very helpful in learning to be more present. I look forward to more expansion.

My practices are my own. I use sound, discovered it on my own. Use it in the form of tones and ancient chanting of prayers I used to chant in other lives I have lived. I also use Light energy to evolve my matrix, which is in a high state of evolution at present. Many of the techniques I use are often refered to in other cultures. For example when I meditate I have had many people tell me different things about my process. Some say I use rhaiki (bad spelling Im sure!), some say I use tai chi or chi gong, some say I speak in tongues, some say I have hindu meditation activities going on...But really im just doing my own thing. I use tchniques that come to me naturally, as I am my own teacher and student.

I find that these names we use to express these things are just a part of our consumer culture, just be this or that, buy this truth or that one. But in the end there is only one truth and that is my own. I dont follow gurus for they are so busy telling everyone how to be that they are lost and lose out on what the moment brings and offers us, a guru to me is just a business tag for followers to use and obey. I dont follow religions because thier purpose is to devide, seperate and put your soul in a box of identity, to me true spiritualism is beyond identity, it is naked and free in form and duty.

I work at making sure I dont just walk the walk. I used to be in the entertainment industry, now I work as an artist in private, using only a website to share what I know. I also now work in forest-reforestation, I do this because I feel and know that working with the Earth and learning how to be an honest loving steward of Earth is a part of my original blue print as a human being. I also have learnt how to grow food and hunting is also something I have an interest in.

I use my relationships as mirrors of my soul, there to teach me to grow. This is the only guru element in my life. I am not affraid to look at myself and deal with change. My spirit is my guide and best friend, it is the part of me that is God/Love/Spirit and I trust it fully. I live my life by following what I feel, for God/Love/Spirit speaks through the heart. i look at life as a big canvas that is always talking back to me in multiple ways and forms. I had a channel offer years ago from the Pleidians, but I turned it down as I was in a learning that had to come from within, something the Pleidians encourage us to do. Years ago when I read Bringers of the Dawn by Barbara Marciniak (which was a Pleidian channeling as well) i got a very clear message out of it that I have since taken to heart. That is that everything we need is INSIDE of ourselves (so why more books Barbara!?), this I know is true, Ive been evolving like this consciously since 1992, it is quite a process and way to live. I love my life! I hope you love yours too!

I agree with you that serious spiritual practicioners are fairly hidden in the gay commmunity. It does seem very hard to meet other gay/ queer people who are really serious on their spiritual path. I believe that this is partly beacause so many spiritual communities reject queers that queers end up rejecting spirituality.

My own path has been a long and winding one. I have spent a long time looking for communities and practices in which I as a spiritual being in the midst of a gay existence was neither a "no" nor an "OK, but." I've been all over the "New Age" spectrum. For most of my adult life, I was a practicing Wicca. I learned much on that path. It has left deep and wonderful traces in my spirit. However, I eventually got fed up with the Pagan community and the hetero bias that is inherent in the faith. (Discalaimer: Just sharing my experience, not meant as a general critique.)

I am now a practicing Zen Buddhist. I live on the grounds of a Zen Center and am very active in the community here. When I first came, I was the only gay person but that has changed over time. I love the steadiness, simplicity and structure of Zen practice (meditation, chanting, etc.) Since our center is primarily a Soto temple, there is a great emphasis on practicing as a community. That is an aspect I value. I also love that my teacher, Seisen Roshi, puts a great emphasis on interfaith work. We use practices from many traditions (yoga, paganism, Christianity, Islam, breathwork, shamanistic traditions, etc) and try to draw from their wisdom teachings while maintaining Zen a our primary practice. I am amazed at the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) power of consitent zazen.

That's the long way of saying that I am a Zen Buddhist with eclectic tendencies.

I thought this would have been easy to respond to but I find myself sitting here contemplating my past and how it reflects my spirituality. I've been a fire keeper for a sweat lodge for a year and due to time constraints mostly, have been unable to attend a sweat in some time. I'm a practicing yogi in the sense of the physical practice of asana which has been a huge guide for me. Through a men's sensual massage workshop I've been provided with awareness of the "body electric" which has also been a very big influence on my direction and I've again returned to morning meditation before starting my day. As a result of a combination of these things, I had quit my job of 17 years with an insurance company, sold all my possessions and took off to Asia for over 9 months to practice yoga and detach myself from all that was. I returned a year ago and am now attending college studying massage therapy. The basis of my spirituality comes from many sources that seem to ring true to me, but the foundation would have to be quantum physics and string theory such as epxressed in films/doc's "The Secret" and " What the Bleep; Down the Rabbit Hole". I've yet to find another homo who I can connect with on this level but haven't given up. Living in my neck of the woods (Vancouver and the Islands) seems to draw people of a spiritual inclination. I guess another big part of my spirituality is to just try and live mindfully in the present. You see a lot of beautiful things and the air smells better (usually, lol).

My "spirituality" is constantly being shaped and directed by the passing of time and I do not understand the use of any "spiritual paths"; that to me is just lazy - to me asceticism is just unnatural. I prefer a more muscular spirituality like that of Nietzsche. A philosophical science of spirtual elementalism. That might rule out most religions and might rule out even "paths" like Buddhism or Taoism. I don`t generally enjoy discussing deep spiritual isseus because they always sound pretentious and embarrassing. Since you might object to that I would add that "spirituality" is just as much about entertainment and "tasting" than it is about finding one`s true self. It may well cheapen it some degree.
You see for me spirituality might involve running out into the street naked and graffitying any wall I can possibly find; it might involve doing something totally "unenlightening".

<<<So what is everyone's spirituality that is here?>>>

I am a monk ordained in a Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the Drikung Kagyu, and have been for some 13 years. It's a nice lineage, not too well known in the US, with 20+ centers in North America. We probably have more Tibetan teachers in the US than do other organizations, and there is quite a bit of interaction between Western students going to Asia and Asians coming here than, perhaps more than other Western groups.

Among Westerners, I have never encountered homophobia, in fact there are quite a few openly gay folks involved. Of course the Tibetans have their own perspective on gayness---or rather lack of it. As in most Asian cultures, there isn't a construct of gay as status. It was invented by 19th century Europeans, remember.

For the past 7 years I've practiced the Buddhadharma and I feel like I've finally found my true home. I discovered this path as a result of having more or less walked away from the gay "community." I was so discouraged by the lack of open-heartedness, humility or commitment to ethics among the mainstream of gay folk, despite the seemingly transformative experience of coming out (which I've come to see as something close to enlightenment). The solidarity and heroism I saw during the worst of the AIDS epidemic might as well have happened on another planet -- obviously it left no lasting mark, least of all on younger people.

I'm one of the few gay people in my spiritual community and sometimes that feels a little lonely, although I also understand the Buddhist teachings about the suffering that comes from trying to maintain a fixed identity (in this case, as a gay man). Interactions with my spiritual friends are generally more heartfelt and true than what I experienced in the gay world. And on the rare occasions when I encounter fellow homos in this realm, the sense of connection is strong, knowing we share the intention to be present, kind and compassionate.

I appreciate your efforts.

jim

I have had five major influences
(1) Upbringing in Eastern (~Orthodox) Xtianity. Keep the mystical, discard the sexism & patriarchy.
(2) Education in Science (Ph.D. relativity and cosmology)
(3) Psychedelic experience (San Francisco 1979) sex brought into the picture, fundamentally.
(4) Radical Faeries (free form, pagan ritual as lingua franca)
(5) Buddha Dharma, sitting practice

I am still most resonance with the physical universe, and see spirituality
as emergent epiphenomena, though no less profound for being emergent.

After having a unitive experience of ego death, I don't take sectarian divisive
aspects of religion seriously.

I don't believe in conventional religious cosmologies (heaven, reincarnation, bodiless spooks)
except as
metaphor, and I avoid "newage" like an STD.

more under www.eskimo.com/~davidk/personal.html see "spirit"

Born a half breed Native American Father and a Catholic Mother, My exploration into spirituality started at a very young age. My Native Grandparents and relatives taught me natvive ways while my Mother had me sent to Catholic school for 12 years. Boy did I give those nuns a hard time ..they taught me gad knows everything past present and future..so I said"sister if God Knows everything, past present and future why did he make the devil?" this was in 1st grade..I started questioning. as I grew older I studied all books on spirituality especially after an out of body experience, Astal travel. I was born to on both sides of the family psychic abilities. telepathy to some extent great with some people and not so great with others. I read every book I could get my hands on starting at about 16 years old...there wasn't a new age movement or book store then.I also got more int my native American heritage and spirituality...finding great peace in nature and paddleing down the river with my canoe. It was the 70's and like everyone then I experimented withpsychodelics and then my native Payote..bringing my spiritual awaking ahead. Since it was the 70's the flower children nuns and priests taught us how to meditate..have been meditating off and on ever since.
I went into the art field and much of my art is spiritually based. kalonasahaniwaya.bogspot.com
I met a tarot reader at about the same age 16 or 17 and she ha loads of books which I read....candle burning and colors of the candles was one of my first undertakings..it invoved angels or so the book said and so with a ctholic portion of me I felt safe...then I took to reading all books on many subjects. Futher study at the University only drove me deeper into finding out more. I worked at a Metaphysical book store and recieved a past life regression and read the books there while leading a meditation group I met many spiritual people frm many a different belief system..I tried many things...still holding to my native beliefs as I still do. later I taught comparative religious studies under the class Title of world cultures and taught and read the bible the koran and all the sacred texts of the major world religions. The point of the class was for young students to see the similarities in different beliefs rather than the differences. I even joined a wiccan group for a while just to be part of a group..I met Selena Fox who rus circle gathering in Wisconson..a large pagan place. I journied to reservations and learned what i could from holy men or medicine men and elders (Never call them shamen). and i also had a frind from India so I learned from him about hinduism and chanting. another friend went to the Mahareshi(sp?) University..and I learned alittle more.
So to answer your question I have taken part in many a spiritual disapline in order to seek and find. Hearing the Dahli Lama speak..I can honestly say he has the right answers as do many of my other teachers in various practices.
For a while I was gifted with the ability to heal spiritually broken people...Now oddly enough I amin need of prays and healing.
Unfortunately I have not had another man in my life who has ben as spiritual as I..I have had some that practiced, tried, but fell short.
I am still a believer in much in common with verious disaplines but am strong into my Native spirituality and spirit guides.
Meeting a spiritual parner ...lol..I have to laugh as it is hard enough to meet a companion or partner..who is of any religion ..but there you have it..thanks for asking Erichel

Greetings, Friends :-)

I'm your basic Eco-Pagan with alchemical tendencies.

I see The Divine as immanent within nature (including humanity).

I am a musician, and my music is a strong part of my spiritual practice. I enjoy hiking and camping as a way of connecting with nature in an immediate way.

My ritual practice focuses on sacred fire circles - celebrating, encouraging, and transforming our everyday "lead" into the alchemical "gold" of creativity, flow, and connection with The Divine. At the moment, I'm all fired up from just having spent three consecutive nights in the desert; dancing, drumming, singing, and praying until dawn with a group of like-minded people. If anyone thinks that it sounds lightweight, I invite you to come join us :-)

Oh - and I'm 41, Single, and A heck of a good guy :-)
Drop me a line.

Peace
Jay

started with gray witchcraft and celtic studies, then incorporated Native American/shamanic practices and beliefs, and to the male mysteries. kind of a hodge-podge...but not religious.

Blessings to you all!

I'm new to the group!

If you want to naturally vibrate at a higher level I highly recommend the Living Foods Vegan diet. It's been 6 months for me now, and I'm positively vibrating peace and happiness from the inside out!

I am finding that "being in the present moment" comes much more natural to me now.

My spiritual practice is merely breathing deeply and being present without the internal dialogue. The Raw Food is definitely a spiritual practice which I spend a lot of time cultivating. I'm also having acupuncture done and am getting into Essential Oils- the concentrated prana life-force of botanicals. I've also just started doing EFT, which I feel is having deeply positive results.

Namasté!

Dominic in LA