Home » Mind & Soul » Pagan Resources » Contest Winner Entry Spiritual Fast Food

Contest Winner Entry Spiritual Fast Food

© Salvatore Manzi

It wasnt easy deciding the winner of this contest. I agonized over it while My hubby watched the Superbowl knowing that if I put it off for several days I would only be less sure of the winner. There were many good entries. I am including links to them at the bottom of this entry because I believe they all should be read. May the path to enlightement of these few wonderful people help brighten your path as well. ------------------------------------

I devoured religions like a box of chocolates. I had become a skilled religious generalist with chants, rituals, crafts, or affirmations for every possible situation, but still felt conflicted. Many practices brought shattered beliefs.

At the time, I was working as a massage therapist, Feng Shui consultant, and yoga instructor exploring metaphysical healing and yogic philosophies while regularly participating in pagan rituals with my partner, a Druid Priest. I was swimming in the sea of New Age Los Angeles drifting along with whatever ideology surfed by in hopes of reaching Avalon, Nirvana, Heaven or never-never land.

My spiritual path took 22 detours from fundamental Christianity through philosophy, humanism, chemicals, pranayama, all the way to Hinduism and Buddhism. I read every self-help, mystic and new age book there was, and yet no matter how effective various practices were, none held my interest long enough to bring fulfillment. I either lacked the discipline or the faith to continue.

Departing from Christian dogma, I sought answers from Western Civilization¹s intellectuals, mentally masturbating on philosophies without end. Intellect gave way to flesh and I relentlessly consumed life through my senses resulting in a gypsy lifestyle of countless jobs, homes and relationships. Dulled, saturated senses sought new thrills, which led to chemicals. Pot¹s ability to release creativity gave way to paranoia and acid¹s ability to unleash innate psychic abilities left me on a dangerously self-ambitious journeying into the supernatural.

Burning the candle at both ends, I bottomed out. I turned to metaphysics to realign my energies, practicing Chakra meditations, herbal magick and Feng Shui hoping to find the answer within the connection to the physical plane. Aligning myself with my environment, life took on a peaceful external harmony, but remained internally chaotic.

Through yoga training, came the practice of ³pratyahara² or the withdrawal of the senses. Shocked at how the thirst of the senses had ruled my life, I began to quiet the mind, seeking peace rather than the temporal satisfaction of such things as sex, drugs, or the approval of others.

Mind and body slightly balanced, definitive knowledge of the spirit remained absent. I believed instinctually in the forces of nature and had developed a

The copyright of the article Contest Winner Entry Spiritual Fast Food in Pagan Resources is owned by J. Rebecca Cougill. Permission to republish Contest Winner Entry Spiritual Fast Food in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.