sharing my good vibes, as it were ;)
Dec. 5th, 2011 10:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
floatingleafI received a beautiful gift today. Viggo's latest poetry/photography book Canciones de Invierno/Winter Songs. From a dear LJ friend who had originally purchased the book for herself, but after reading it (multiple times, I suspect, even though it is in very good condition) decided to "pass it along" and share with me. If you happen to remember ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
romi, the long-lost legend of the A/L fandom (*giggle*), then you will know that she hasn't been around for a while. Real Life snatched her away from these shores - but what a delight to know that she still treasures our friendship enough to actually come up with the idea of sending me this book. Yes, she mailed it from Sweden. So the book has come quite a long way - there and back again, as it were. Traversing the path of friendship, shared fascinations and beautiful memories. Which reminds me, yet again, of the incredible wealth that discovering LJ and the LOTR fandom has brought into my life. It's a gift that keeps on giving - to use a popular corny cliche...:P
Why yes, I am feeling very emotional these days. My period is about to start any minute, which probably ranks pretty high on the list of contributing factors - but there has been other stuff, including the movie I mentioned in the previous post and various Things Seen On The Internet. Sadly, I lack the time to mention them all. I probably shouldn't even get started, because I feel tired and want to go to bed early tonight... but. I often have this wild craving to post when there is nothing of import to talk about - and then, ironically, when my brain is BURSTING with stuff to talk about, I don't have the time/energy to do it. *sigh* But the main reason I am keeping this journal is to write about things that keep my brainwheels running - not about the daily trivia that somehow occupy the majority of its pages. The trivia are simply easier to manage and squeeze into a post that takes less than five hours to compose... *sigh*
But anyway. I popped onto Sinead O'Connor's blog last weekend, and there was a video of this woman called Shelley Yates. I just clicked on it out of curiosity, since I didn't know who she was, but I thought the name rang a bell, and I read the numbers wrong, thinking the video lasted only a minute and 45 seconds. In fact, it lasted an hour and 45 minutes. And I sat through the whole thing with my jaw hanging open, unable to stop watching - not even for a bathroom break, LOL. Why? Because this woman talked about spirituality (not religion; I don't like the word "religion", and I don't think it's quite appropriate in this context) in a way that made more sense to me than any other "spiritual leader" I have ever heard talk about it (not that I have heard a great many, mind you - I should probably point that out just in case, LOL). Now, you're probably going to think I have lost my marbles, because she talks about communicating with "angel-like beings" who started to appear to her after she nearly died (or actually did die, for a few minutes anyway) in a traumatic accident. So, of course, it's very easy to say that she's gone insane as a result of the trauma, and there is no credibility whatsoever to any of her revelations. But the thing is, she doesn't sound kooky or "out there" at all; she's not preaching, or patronising, or babbling about salvation and the fires of hell. She doesn't say that there is only ONE RIGHT WAY to achieve spiritual bliss (her way, presumably, as any right-wing Christian pastor would tell you - if they even had female ones, that is). She says it doesn't matter what particular religion you practice - if any. She says: "if you're not comfortable with the word 'God', don't use it - I use Brilliant Infinity". Because, she says, "God is not a 'he' or a 'she' - God is simply a pool of light". To which we are all attached by invisible threads, by the way. In other words, it's a form of energy that holds the universe together. "Eenergy" is also another good word for what some of us call a "soul". It is one and the same thing, and there is no point in arguing over terminology. And the reason why some people see Jesus, or angels, during a near-death experience, and others simply see vague shapes filled with brilliance, is that everyone experiences this other plane of existence in the way their brain is prepared to deal with it. In other words, "heaven" will look different to everyone, according to their particular beliefs - but the reality behind all those various manifestations is one and the same. And that, dear reader, is what I have instinctively known to be true (or wanted to be true, anyway) since elementary school. I remember wondering why my Catholic friends were so adamant everyone else was going to hell - what about other religions?... Are some of them equally adamant that it's the Catholics who "got it wrong" and are all going to hell?... Even to my childish mind, that was a bunch of nonsense. Which sort of "put me off" religion for good (not to mention being bullied/pitied etc. for not attending Catechism, and then learning about the crusades, the Inquisition and all that crap). But the fact is, deep down inside I am a very spiritual person. I just can't stand the trappings of institutionalized religion. All the emotional baggage, child abuse, witch hunts, stonings etc.... it makes me sick to the bone. I don't want anything to do with that, ever. Jesus was probably a cool guy, if he existed - but what they did with his ideas later has completely ruined the poor fellow for me, I'm afraid. I don't want to be affiliated with any "church", and none of the religious labels I know about quite fit me. So I have been calling myself an agnostic. But as I listened to that woman talk about energy frequencies and reincarnation, I had an overwhelming sense of the RIGHTNESS of it all. Do I really believe she was brought back from the dead by radiant beings who "watch over" us?... I don't know. But I know I WANT to believe it. Even while the sceptic in me keeps snickering in the background. She sounded very down-to-earth (despite what you might think), very sincere, and what she was saying cannot possibly cause any harm to anyone. She made me feel like I finally "connected the dots". She also made me feel incredible amount of goodwill towards the entire universe. Or maybe I'm just a hormonal, confused, aging female tired of the apparent pointlessness and chaos of today's world. What do you think? ;)
(I won't be offended if you tell me Shelley Yates is off her rocker, and so am I. It is, in my case anyway, entirely possible. But then sanity is overrated, non?... *shifty eyes*)
That's it for today. Must go to bed now. *yawn*
romi, the long-lost legend of the A/L fandom (*giggle*), then you will know that she hasn't been around for a while. Real Life snatched her away from these shores - but what a delight to know that she still treasures our friendship enough to actually come up with the idea of sending me this book. Yes, she mailed it from Sweden. So the book has come quite a long way - there and back again, as it were. Traversing the path of friendship, shared fascinations and beautiful memories. Which reminds me, yet again, of the incredible wealth that discovering LJ and the LOTR fandom has brought into my life. It's a gift that keeps on giving - to use a popular corny cliche...:P Why yes, I am feeling very emotional these days. My period is about to start any minute, which probably ranks pretty high on the list of contributing factors - but there has been other stuff, including the movie I mentioned in the previous post and various Things Seen On The Internet. Sadly, I lack the time to mention them all. I probably shouldn't even get started, because I feel tired and want to go to bed early tonight... but. I often have this wild craving to post when there is nothing of import to talk about - and then, ironically, when my brain is BURSTING with stuff to talk about, I don't have the time/energy to do it. *sigh* But the main reason I am keeping this journal is to write about things that keep my brainwheels running - not about the daily trivia that somehow occupy the majority of its pages. The trivia are simply easier to manage and squeeze into a post that takes less than five hours to compose... *sigh*
But anyway. I popped onto Sinead O'Connor's blog last weekend, and there was a video of this woman called Shelley Yates. I just clicked on it out of curiosity, since I didn't know who she was, but I thought the name rang a bell, and I read the numbers wrong, thinking the video lasted only a minute and 45 seconds. In fact, it lasted an hour and 45 minutes. And I sat through the whole thing with my jaw hanging open, unable to stop watching - not even for a bathroom break, LOL. Why? Because this woman talked about spirituality (not religion; I don't like the word "religion", and I don't think it's quite appropriate in this context) in a way that made more sense to me than any other "spiritual leader" I have ever heard talk about it (not that I have heard a great many, mind you - I should probably point that out just in case, LOL). Now, you're probably going to think I have lost my marbles, because she talks about communicating with "angel-like beings" who started to appear to her after she nearly died (or actually did die, for a few minutes anyway) in a traumatic accident. So, of course, it's very easy to say that she's gone insane as a result of the trauma, and there is no credibility whatsoever to any of her revelations. But the thing is, she doesn't sound kooky or "out there" at all; she's not preaching, or patronising, or babbling about salvation and the fires of hell. She doesn't say that there is only ONE RIGHT WAY to achieve spiritual bliss (her way, presumably, as any right-wing Christian pastor would tell you - if they even had female ones, that is). She says it doesn't matter what particular religion you practice - if any. She says: "if you're not comfortable with the word 'God', don't use it - I use Brilliant Infinity". Because, she says, "God is not a 'he' or a 'she' - God is simply a pool of light". To which we are all attached by invisible threads, by the way. In other words, it's a form of energy that holds the universe together. "Eenergy" is also another good word for what some of us call a "soul". It is one and the same thing, and there is no point in arguing over terminology. And the reason why some people see Jesus, or angels, during a near-death experience, and others simply see vague shapes filled with brilliance, is that everyone experiences this other plane of existence in the way their brain is prepared to deal with it. In other words, "heaven" will look different to everyone, according to their particular beliefs - but the reality behind all those various manifestations is one and the same. And that, dear reader, is what I have instinctively known to be true (or wanted to be true, anyway) since elementary school. I remember wondering why my Catholic friends were so adamant everyone else was going to hell - what about other religions?... Are some of them equally adamant that it's the Catholics who "got it wrong" and are all going to hell?... Even to my childish mind, that was a bunch of nonsense. Which sort of "put me off" religion for good (not to mention being bullied/pitied etc. for not attending Catechism, and then learning about the crusades, the Inquisition and all that crap). But the fact is, deep down inside I am a very spiritual person. I just can't stand the trappings of institutionalized religion. All the emotional baggage, child abuse, witch hunts, stonings etc.... it makes me sick to the bone. I don't want anything to do with that, ever. Jesus was probably a cool guy, if he existed - but what they did with his ideas later has completely ruined the poor fellow for me, I'm afraid. I don't want to be affiliated with any "church", and none of the religious labels I know about quite fit me. So I have been calling myself an agnostic. But as I listened to that woman talk about energy frequencies and reincarnation, I had an overwhelming sense of the RIGHTNESS of it all. Do I really believe she was brought back from the dead by radiant beings who "watch over" us?... I don't know. But I know I WANT to believe it. Even while the sceptic in me keeps snickering in the background. She sounded very down-to-earth (despite what you might think), very sincere, and what she was saying cannot possibly cause any harm to anyone. She made me feel like I finally "connected the dots". She also made me feel incredible amount of goodwill towards the entire universe. Or maybe I'm just a hormonal, confused, aging female tired of the apparent pointlessness and chaos of today's world. What do you think? ;)
(I won't be offended if you tell me Shelley Yates is off her rocker, and so am I. It is, in my case anyway, entirely possible. But then sanity is overrated, non?... *shifty eyes*)
That's it for today. Must go to bed now. *yawn*
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-06 08:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-08 12:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-09 10:14 am (UTC)However, here in PL it's not so easy to follow your own path. Everyone will look down on you and consider a black sheep in the family. I already had issues with not getting married in a church...now the battle will be waged on the grounds of not christening our child. It seems everyone here can preach you on how to live and they don't feel at all that this is just not appropriate/wanted/expected.
My mum tried to awake in me feelings of guilt - "what kind of mother you are by not christening the girl? How will she be treated at school, with other children going to the first Communion? It's your shitty duty to guarantee your child religious education..." Pfff.
Would you mind sharing the link to this spiritual talk?
(no subject)
Date: 2011-12-10 02:33 am (UTC)That is exactly what Shelley Yates was talking about in that video. The link is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5hZO8swjYkM
here in PL it's not so easy to follow your own path. Everyone will look down on you and consider a black sheep
I know all about that. Both my parents stopped attending the church long before they met, so they never sent me to catechism or to mass. You have no idea how many people tried to "rescue" me from this "Godless" existence.:/ Whispering behind my back, slipping anonymous notes into my schoolbag, giving me religious books to read (that was the local priest) etc. I felt very isolated because of this. When I met new people, I was literally afraid to tell them that I didn't go to church. For some kids, that fact just by itself was enough to consider me a "communist"... *headshake*