How do you do it? you make it seem effortless

[Anchoresque]

How do you stay connected to the earth and in touch with your spirituality in this painfully logical and oh so modern world? When I look out my window from school I can see a nuclear power plant manufacturing a cloud. My friends all think that God is baloney. With negativity like this swirling about, I feel at times so shut away from the beauty that I know is here. Or was here. My vision is clouded with the idea that everything I have ever known is in its decline and I feel that it is blinded to see only things that prove this theory. What can I say, I like to be right. I think that it is very possible that a variety of laws of attraction may bring things to us according to what we want to see.

It doesn't help that if my friends knew about my spiritual life, they would be likely to
:rotfl:

Do you think the hierarchy of human needs comes into play with spirituality? As in... if one is miserable with oneself, or too unstable they will most definitely feel undeserving to find enjoyment in earthly delights or a connection with the gods?

Over the past year it seems nature and I have been at odds, I've put disgusting substances into my body and gotten in line with the industrial to escape a repugnant loneliness, what reason would She have to take me back?

But! I did hear somewhere that the brick walls are only there to weed out those who really want it.

Does anyone else have such complications in following their heart?

[Heart of All]

Over the past year it seems nature and I have been at odds, I've put disgusting substances into my body and gotten in line with the industrial to escape a repugnant loneliness, what reason would She have to take me back?


I think this part that I quoted is the crux of your problem. For one thing, I think the whole guilt thing you have isn't getting you anywhere. Don't worry about whether or not you deserve Her attention or whether or not She would need a reason to take you back. It's likely that negativity is what is putting the wall between you and Her.

Stop with the "disgusting substances" and try to find the nature in your industrial area. Notice the ways that the grass is stronger than the concrete, things like that. It isn't effortless, not for anyone.

But you can't protect yourself from the negativity swirling around you until you handle the negativity that you are producing yourself. Once you understand your own merits and get to know yourself better, stop doing things you know make you feel bad, other people's opinions on God won't matter. The nuclear power plant will probably still be depressing, but it will be easier for you to see the nature that must be all around you. If there are no trees and birds, there are still rainfalls and sunsets.

[Amanda Mitchell]

Does anyone else have such complications in following their heart? Oh ALL the time... welcome to the club :hugz:

[LostSheep]

. The nuclear power plant will probably still be depressing, but it will be easier for you to see the nature that must be all around you. If there are no trees and birds, there are still rainfalls and sunsets.

A nuclear power plant is actually much less harmful to the environment that a coal fired one (as long as it's run properly) See,you can try to turn it round to positive thinking.

[cheddarsox]

How do you stay connected to the earth and in touch with your spirituality in this painfully logical and oh so modern world? When I look out my window from school I can see a nuclear power plant manufacturing a cloud. My friends all think that God is baloney. With negativity like this swirling about, I feel at times so shut away from the beauty that I know is here. Or was here. My vision is clouded with the idea that everything I have ever known is in its decline and I feel that it is blinded to see only things that prove this theory. What can I say, I like to be right. I think that it is very possible that a variety of laws of attraction may bring things to us according to what we want to see.

It doesn't help that if my friends knew about my spiritual life, they would be likely to
:rotfl:

Do you think the hierarchy of human needs comes into play with spirituality? As in... if one is miserable with oneself, or too unstable they will most definitely feel undeserving to find enjoyment in earthly delights or a connection with the gods?

Over the past year it seems nature and I have been at odds, I've put disgusting substances into my body and gotten in line with the industrial to escape a repugnant loneliness, what reason would She have to take me back?

But! I did hear somewhere that the brick walls are only there to weed out those who really want it.

Does anyone else have such complications in following their heart?

First, welcome to the club..on soooo many levels. What a beautiful honest post.

Here is what came to my mind as I read. Nuclear power plant? how is that not natural? Humans didn't invent nuclear power, nature did. One way to stay in touch with nature/the earth is to stop drawing arbitrary boundaries between human/everything else. We are a part of nature, we can do nothing that is outside of how the Universe operates. I stay in touch, by realizing that I am never out of touch. Any wall is one constructed by my imagination, it is not reality.

Friends don't respect spirituality? Get some who do, no need to dump the old ones, just expand your circle. You are doing that by posting here, so you are off to a good start. If you keep your heart open, you will encounter spiritually turned on people in real time as well. I have some friends I discuss my faith with, and others that it is just not part of our relationship.

I am bi-polar, and yes, it affects my spirituality, but over time, cycles, seasons and years...I realize that changes, ebb and flow, highs and lows in my spiritual cycle are not signs of disintegration, but just the way of things. There is nothing in my life that I am totally turned on about all the time. Everything cycles. Experience helps me not freak out so much anymore about it, I've been through it enough times to recognize the cycles as normal, not disaster. And even when I am all doom and gloom, good things still come to me. I may have a hard time enjoying them, but on a intellectual level I am able to recognize them.

Lonliness, pain, doing things to stop or mask the pain are all natural as well. Hopefully we learn better ways of doing that, safer, saner ways, ways that address the situation, not just the pain. We recognize what doesn't work and what makes things worse and move onto something else.

She doesn't have to "take you back" because you never really left. You got distracted by other demands, fears and situations. We all do. It is part of the process, the journey, the path...not separate from it.

You are looking at things in a very black and white, dualistic way. That is common in my culture, and maybe yours as well. There is a compulsive thrust to catagorize everything. And an assumption that material and spiritual are at odds. That spiritual people don't "feel" things mere mortals do, and that if we are in touch with our spiritual side, we will be "together" in every other area of our lives as well. But life and the Universe aren't like that. It is not either or...but both/and.

A volcano seems like a huge destructive force. It rips open the earth, kills and buries all living things around it, belches smoke and "poison" gases into the air. But without volcanoes...we would have no land above ocean level, our atmosphere would be very different, and the ash from volcanoes is very fertile for things to grow in.

Nothing is just one thing, just good or just bad. You don't have to punish yourself, go back to start, or disavow the past year of your life. Embrace it, start from right where you are, and know that you have friends here that understand what you are going through, have gone through and will go through again.

cheddar

[erika]

I agree wholeheartedly with cheddar :)

I've found for myself over the years that as your spirituality, and understanding and faith in the divine grows, it doesn't matter if at times you are too distracted by other aspects of your life to practice your beliefs as you'd like to. I personally, at these times, still feel connected to that higher power as I'm a part of it and nothing I do can take that away. If I'm busy I'll still make the time to respect and honour that, even if it's just for a few minutes and even if all I'm doing is sitting and thinking about it.

I think when you follow a solitary spirituality, such as many of the paths in Paganism, you have to find that faith in yourself - no one is going to do that for you. But when you do it's not going to go anywhere.

I live in a big and one of the most industrialized cities in Canada, but as cheddar said, I can no longer seperate what's man-made and what's nature because everything is connected. Everything is part of nature or the divine, not a seperate entity devoid of spirit. Or at least that's my belief :)

As for you friends, maybe give them a chance, or at least the people you're closest too. The people who really care will realize your spirituality is important to you and not be disrespectful towards that. My closest friends and my family accept my beliefs as part of who I am and all I had to do was tell them :)

[Xander67]

well, it is simple alchemy, As above so below. As above, meaning from heaven / the cosmos/ the quantum field/ etc

and below as in Earth , Grounded and Centered.

above is like the road ahead of you, and to travel it you will need your map, below is like actually traveling the road grounded, centered, fully focused on where you are going..
so I spose the answer would be to keep one eye on the road and the other on the light at the end of the tunnel. If that helps any, it is how I relate to it at this stage in my own journey.

[novimarra]

If you think nothing about your world is sacred or special, look again. It takes a certain perspective to see the forest for the trees, even if you don't literally have any of those... :)

Especially since Spring is here by me, I listen to the birds chirping in the early morning and the sun shining, trees budding with little pink flowers, and so on. These small things are important, and if you pay close enough attention you can learn to appreciate them and be grateful for them every day.

[Druchii]

How do you stay connected to the earth and in touch with your spirituality in this painfully logical and oh so modern world? When I look out my window from school I can see a nuclear power plant manufacturing a cloud. My friends all think that God is baloney. With negativity like this swirling about, I feel at times so shut away from the beauty that I know is here. Or was here. My vision is clouded with the idea that everything I have ever known is in its decline and I feel that it is blinded to see only things that prove this theory. What can I say, I like to be right. I think that it is very possible that a variety of laws of attraction may bring things to us according to what we want to see.

It doesn't help that if my friends knew about my spiritual life, they would be likely to
:rotfl:

Do you think the hierarchy of human needs comes into play with spirituality? As in... if one is miserable with oneself, or too unstable they will most definitely feel undeserving to find enjoyment in earthly delights or a connection with the gods?

Over the past year it seems nature and I have been at odds, I've put disgusting substances into my body and gotten in line with the industrial to escape a repugnant loneliness, what reason would She have to take me back?

But! I did hear somewhere that the brick walls are only there to weed out those who really want it.

Does anyone else have such complications in following their heart?

FIRST, this is probably the most thought provoking post I've read on here in a loooong time.

Second, welcome to the community.

Third, this is a post I have to get back to because I have no simple answer to it. :)

[Anchoresque]

Your replies fill me with a simple form of inspiration and hope, i am smiling and goosebumply that time has been taken to consider my ideas and my pessimism wasn't too jading... But I am off to work on my senior project, (one month left of high school!) with much more to say, later.

[aluokaloo]

it's a balancing act I suppose, I don't see why you can't enjoy both after all we do live in a very technological age, you can enjoy nature walks, even if it is walking arounf a park or watching a bunch of pigeons crowding around a carton of spilt french fries.

[Crysiira]

It's definitely not as easy as some of us on this board may make it seem. When I lived in a bigger city, I had a lot of problems connecting to nature. I really wanted to, but it was very hard when there was no nature around me. So I went seeking out nature. I grew plants in my apartment, and I went to different parks in the city until I found one that I really connected with. Trees, grass, flowers, wild growth, and hiking trails; that was the UW-Madison Arboretum. Beautiful place. Now that I'm in a smaller town, I really miss that place, because it was how I connected and grounded myself. Yes, there are more trees and more grass overall here, but no one place I feel like I can really call my own. So I have to start over again, basically, in finding a place to connect.

I recently bought a house, and my backyard is small and rather pathetic. I will carve a haven into that place. Believe me, this is not an effortless thing.

As others said, look for the small things to find your connection with nature. Don't get rid of your old friends, but do make some new ones. Personally, I don't have any pagan friends in real life, just basically on here. It does get frusterating sometimes, but in my small area here, it's something I've come to accept. I've always followed a solitary path, and never had a problem doing so. If I really feel the need to talk to someone about spirituall things, well, that's when I pop on here. Finding MysticWicks has actually been one of the best things I've done for my spirituality. Talking to people on here, even just reading the threads, has really opened up my mind to new ideas from all over. I've changed my beliefs not once but several times, due to someone here inspiring a new line of thought in me!

I hope we're able to help you. I felt just like you once. Sometimes I still do. :hahugh:

[Shaman7]

Nature is everywhere, even in the brick walls dividing people's properties. There are many aspects to nature that people would call "good" or "bad", but in fact it is all part of nature. Human nature may be corrupted in some sense, I agree. This is only because many have limited their beliefs to seeing only the physical surroundings. People often try to own and control instead of communing with other people, property, energy, or whatever. Being at peace with your surroundings often involves appreciating the beauty and the flaws. Remember, there are no perfect trees, unless they all are. There are two sides to the coin, so to speak. Negativity abounds, if you choose to focus on it... but there is another side to every coin.

Believe me, I get frustrated by people that are incredibly materialistic. This is human nature for some individuals though. I can appreciate their happiness in such gains, even if I don't always agree with it.

[Garnet Heart]

From your first post, I would never have guessed you're in high school. You're so eloquent!

I do think that a person's general outlook and feelings of self-worth can color their ability to develop spiritually. I went through a rough time as a teenager. I'm sure some of it was hormonal, typical angst, but my life had been hard in some ways and I had gotten so used to feeling victimized that I basically had no self-worth and I was angry a lot. It took some kind of...soul shaking events to make me even realize that I wanted to be different, but changing my outlook and working on caring for myself made all the difference in being able to connect spiritually to anyone or anything.

I agree with what others have said about finding somewhere that you like to go to be in "nature." It doesn't have to be some vast wilderness. There's beauty in the most urban of parks. Look at things really closely. Beauty can be found in weird places... in the procession of ants marching on pavement, in the pattern of a tree's bark, in the tangle of grass on a lawn....

[David19]

Nature is everywhere, even in the brick walls dividing people's properties. There are many aspects to nature that people would call "good" or "bad", but in fact it is all part of nature. Human nature may be corrupted in some sense, I agree. This is only because many have limited their beliefs to seeing only the physical surroundings. People often try to own and control instead of communing with other people, property, energy, or whatever. Being at peace with your surroundings often involves appreciating the beauty and the flaws. Remember, there are no perfect trees, unless they all are. There are two sides to the coin, so to speak. Negativity abounds, if you choose to focus on it... but there is another side to every coin.

I agree, nature is everywhere, even in things people might not think as "nature", skycrapers, cities, bricks, etc are all nature, it's all part of the earth, even nuclear power stations are part of nature.

To the OP, just try and get that awareness that nature is all around you, even in things you may not think of as "natural", see the bricks, and see the earth, etc.


Believe me, I get frustrated by people that are incredibly materialistic. This is human nature for some individuals though. I can appreciate their happiness in such gains, even if I don't always agree with it.

I would say I'm materialistic, as I love shopping, my iPod, laptop, mobile/cell phone, etc, I know there might other more important things, but materialism is a part of me.

[BlackLili]

How do you stay connected to the earth and in touch with your spirituality in this painfully logical and oh so modern world? When I look out my window from school I can see a nuclear power plant manufacturing a cloud. My friends all think that God is baloney. With negativity like this swirling about, I feel at times so shut away from the beauty that I know is here. Or was here. My vision is clouded with the idea that everything I have ever known is in its decline and I feel that it is blinded to see only things that prove this theory. What can I say, I like to be right. I think that it is very possible that a variety of laws of attraction may bring things to us according to what we want to see.

It doesn't help that if my friends knew about my spiritual life, they would be likely to
:rotfl:

Do you think the hierarchy of human needs comes into play with spirituality? As in... if one is miserable with oneself, or too unstable they will most definitely feel undeserving to find enjoyment in earthly delights or a connection with the gods?

Over the past year it seems nature and I have been at odds, I've put disgusting substances into my body and gotten in line with the industrial to escape a repugnant loneliness, what reason would She have to take me back?

But! I did hear somewhere that the brick walls are only there to weed out those who really want it.

Does anyone else have such complications in following their heart?

Everyone has to find their own way. It took me longer than some folks to learn this lesson. What you find that will work for you; inspire you, inflame your passion, spark your imagination, all of these things will work for you and you only.

To decide that you feel that connection to Something, and then to seek that Something for yourself is a beautiful and noble goal. By your own desires you have placed yourself among some of the wisest old philosophers and the most guileless young fools, all at once.

In short, Welcome to the Club. :devil:

[coyoger]

It is easy to get swept away with the monder world. It's like everyting else. You just have to find what works for you. I had a stone that I took to work for the longest time. I was surrounded by man-made crap, and people, and had the stone to ground me. I don't need it as much anymore. I moved to a place closer to nature, and my job is on a wild life compond.

Do what you can until you can do what you want....

[LadyCelt]

How do people stay so out of touch with divinity and what is there? To me, that may be the harder question.

Everyday is not always "connected," but I think seeing the beauty and spirituality in the small things helps.

[aluokaloo]

How do people stay so out of touch with divinity and what is there? To me, that may be the harder question.

Everyday is not always "connected," but I think seeing the beauty and spirituality in the small things helps.

good point Ladyc! You may not feel connected everyday if your studying for an exam, or worrying about paying the bills, life does happen after all. Your not neccesarily an unattentive person. I mean even nature gets caught up in it's own life.

[tribalesque]

I think when you follow a solitary spirituality, such as many of the paths in Paganism, you have to find that faith in yourself - no one is going to do that for you. But when you do it's not going to go anywhere.

I agree with this completely. 10 years ago I came to paganism, longing to connect to something. I felt drawn to earth based spirituality because of my affinity with herbs and healing and "that pull" you get, which I can later describe as likely a push from some certain Gods to look for something that was older that what I knew.

These past 10 years have been hell. As is adolescence for everyone, I assume. Bullying, heavy depression, weight gain, eating disorder, parents not wanting to share the same space yet refusing to divorce, parents dealing with massive health problems and their own depression leaving me and my younger sister devoid of any parental guidance or attention. Abusing boyfriend... a bit of self abuse... you know. The usual. I was going through really rough times and trying so hard to connect with something bigger than myself. Praying for a bit of help, or guidance. I felt completely disconnected.

It wasn't until I connected with myself and decided to flip off the crap that had happened, how my parents, school mates and adolescent life had shaped me and take responsibility for my future and reverse the damage those years had done to me. I'm still a work in progress and I don't feel connected all the time, but I do always have a feeling like I have "people" I can turn to when I have to. I can feel a presence of the Gods there when I take a second to calm my mind and be open to it. I find prayer/meditation a way for me to come back and re-connect as well as build up bonds with deity. I also leave libations/offerings as they way of the Norse Gods is a gift for a gift. Exchanging gifts is also a way to create bonds. All I have to do is go outside, or spend time with my house plants or kitchen herbs to feel bonded to nature. If I need a big pick me up, I go to a park, or visit my parents in the country. Even just the fresh air (though, it's not so fresh in some areas I've lived in) makes me feel connected. The sky. Cooking. Nature can be found in a lot of places.

As HeartOfMoon said (and this is one of my favourite things to see here in the city), look at how the grass breaks through the concrete, and grow around the cracks... a tiny blade or two of grass in the vast see of concrete is a really inspiring site. You can't stop nature. Even if you destroy it, it's reborn again, eventually. It's really marvelous.

Wow, that turned into a longer reply than I anticipated. Oops :bigblue: