Can spiritual awakening be gained from a writing web site?

Enlightenment from a Writing Site

by Kim-Marie Ward

December 21, 2012 The Day Everything Changes What Will Happen to You? Download Survival Guide!

Can spiritual awakening be gained from something so simple as a writing site?

I believe it is possible, even if that isn't the intention when joining.

When I signed up with my favorite writing site and had the opportunity to interact with others like me, I reveled in the joy of that simple act. It increased my writing skills, my editing skills, and brought me to a point of not only discovering new dreams, but fulfilling them.

And then, I realized, my spiritual connection to God had grown as well.

I am completely enamored, and speak highly of the site to any who will listen. We (members on the site) all laugh over its addictive quality and tell others about it, hope that they'll join too, even encourage them to do so. We inspire one another and cheer each other on to enter contests, submit stories to magazines, and novels to publishers. And we're there for each other when not only our writing gets us down, but life itself. Not only do we give and take constructive criticism and honest assessments of our work, the atmosphere of the site also makes it easy for us to offer one another friendship, understanding, forgiveness and comfort. It is a community - one where all are made to feel welcome.

One day I was talking to a friend (offline) and, of course, my online friends came up in conversation. They are a big part of my life even if we are divided by hundreds or thousands of miles. I praise them. I praise the site. I praise my joy over being a part of it all. I realized that I spoke of the site the same way converts to Christianity speak of their religion; the salvation of it, the epiphanies discovered there, and the way I've grown, not only as a writer, but as a person.

I came to the conclusion that it was the communion with others that led to the increased spiritualism.

When we are lost on a spiritual level - when we know we've hit the wall, so to speak, it is natural then to seek a better way to live, a better way to view the world. It doesn't matter if you wake up one day from a long drug-induced sleep of a wild biker life, or if you wake up from the fear-induced sleep of not living to your full potential. The point is, we as humans, need balance in all areas of our life. When it's severely out of balance and we can no longer pretend otherwise, we turn outside ourselves for help. We search for something external, with the intention of internalizing it 

This happens because whether we are willing to admit it or not, the balance needs to come from within. We either know this consciously or unconsciously but it is an undeniable fact that all the things we learn outside of ourselves, we incorporate within and it becomes a part of our world view.

Often, when people reach a low point of spirituality, they turn to those elements we've been taught are 'supposed' to have that cleansing, clarifying effect. We turn to Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism, Hinduism, Wicca, et cetera -- established icons of spirituality.

What then happens is that we find what we are seeking there; or we don't, and move on in our quest for wholeness. However, what we learned there becomes part of our internal belief system. We either reject or accept the teaching of a particular school of thought and it then affects how we will respond to the next spiritual lesson that comes along.

We intrinsically know what works and does not work for us as individuals. We are different in how we view the world, the experiences we've had that helped to shape us, even the way we look, act, dress, and where we live. How then, can one religion, one way of thinking of God, one path be right for us all?

I realized that it was not the site alone that actually saved me, or for Christian converts, it is possible that the church or even the Bible were not what saved them.

What changes us, is the finding of that which we sought: acceptance, wholeness, awareness, peace of mind, tranquility, love and balance. When we find the one method for attaining these that resonates with us, we are filled with joy.

Christians would call it being filled with the Holy Spirit. I have to agree that is exactly the term for it whether we arrive there through their methods or not. Our spirits know when they have found home. That is what makes us joyful -- the recognition and awareness of having discovered our connection to God on a spiritual, rather than an intellectual level.

It stands to reason then that we loudly and joyfully proclaim our allegiance to that which brought us back in balance with the energy of the Godhead. We then proclaim to others that we know just the way for them to achieve this same joy -- though our ways to God may be entirely different.

God is not an elusive, out there somewhere thing for me that has the power to destroy or uplift me -- God is the part of my spirit that I revere and recognize as part of me. However I came to that recognition is between God and me, and however much we may praise that which brought us back to wholeness, we need to remember that it was the resonation within the soul occurring and not the method itself that is praiseworthy. A particular church, religion, website, book, or glorious spot on a mountain top are the vehicles to finding our soul - none of them can lay claim to being the One True Way to God.

Of course, there will be people who claim that what I'm saying is practically blasphemous; however, I am certain that anything we focus our lives on that moves us away from our spiritual balance is a false idol. If my spirituality was suffering because of my love of being on that website, then one could easily say I was honoring a false idol. But it actually helped me to grow as a person, be more accepting of myself, of others, and helped to strengthen my spiritual life and my faith in God.

I'll tell people about the site -- for its primary purpose of encouraging writers to grow in their craft, and maybe they'll make, on their own, the same spiritual discovery I did. If they don't, that's fine by me. They must have to connect with their spirit by some other means.

I think it's important that people be aware of this and not fault one another for not finding spirit the same way they did. Acceptance of self and of one another is a cornerstone to spiritual balance.

I don't have a particular affiliation, and I don't treat the writing site as a church. It is, first and foremost, a writing site.

I learned much from Judeo-Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism and Wicca before joining the site, and I call myself a Spiritualist. I have taken some important lessons from all of them, from friends, family, and life itself and incorporated these into my own belief system. The site I adore enhanced all of that. It works for me, has me feeling more spiritually fulfilled than one of those elements alone could do and I know that within, I am spiritually balanced and fulfilled.

That doesn't mean I view everything from a calm, Buddha-like perspective. I am human too. Events and emotions being what they are -- extensive variety in all things human -- I still cry, still laugh, still feel anger. I am not some highly evolved being who is above the human experience. I revel in all of them. I know that no matter how good or bad things may be, however much I may adore or despise certain elements of life (and state my views on them), it's all part of the human experience and I'm here to live it all. I'm fortunate to have found the way home that works best for me, and I hope everyone can find their path home.

By the way, there's this really great writing site . . .

Kim-Marie Ward is a freelance editor of both non-fiction books and fiction novels, a ghostwriter, and has written several articles for various ezines and newsletters (online and in print). She's an active member on http://www.Writing.Com, an online community for Writers. Stop by and visit her portfolio at:Kim-Marie on Writing.Com.

December 21, 2012
The Day Everything Changes
What Will Happen to You?
Download Survival Guide!