The Development Of My Spirituality

        Let me begin by saying that the opinions and viewpoints expressed herin are are held solely by this author and may not reflect the opinions and viewpoints of Suite 101 or any of it's many contributing editors.
        For many years now I have focused on developing my spirituality for the purpose of self healing. In the early years, in my late teens and early twenties, I became involved in every movement that came along. Some of the things that I learned from all of my adventures made an enormous impression on the structure of my personal cosmology.
        In my early teens I became enmeshed in the Christian church. On the outside I belonged to the Methodist church, sang in the youth choir, belonged to the Methodist Youth Fellowship, and participated on a daily basis in every program offered to youth. I joined the hand bell choir, I went to camp and I took a few voice lessons from the director of the youth choir.
        I also went to meetings around the valley, that were part of an "underground movement" within the Methodist church and other main line Christian churches called the Glossolalia movement. These were individuals who believed strongly in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as the main experience in the Christian's life. Most of the leaders of organized religion didn't agree, hence the underground quality of the meetings. For me, it was exciting to be a member of something so clandestine.
        Some might call them a group of Holy Rollers. In truth, I was probably the only one that ever rolled on the floor, and they didn't take kindly to my so called theatrics. Later I learned that I had a form of epilepsy.
        One of the main things that drove me out of this underground Pentecostal movement was the constant need of my fellow participants to cast the demons out of me when I went into these seizures. I didn't feel possessed, I felt a hunger for attention, consideration and validation. Therefore, I experienced periods of lack of control that were triggered by my need for these things. I guess you might call them emotional fits. More people have these then you think. But in this staunch group of closet metaphysicians, my illness was a distraction that they wouldn't tolerate.
        Later I joined a Pentecostal church and saw a lot of people falling on the floor or swooning into someone's arms, caught up in some rapture that was beyond me. They were experiencing something, but most of it came out in confused bits and pieces and dealt

The copyright of the article The Development Of My Spirituality in Multiple Personalities is owned by Kerry Dennis. Permission to republish The Development Of My Spirituality in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Go To Page: 1 2 3 4 5

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic