Sedona

I recently attended a 3 day Seminar in beautiful Sedona.  I am so thankful to spirit and to my family for allowing me the time to go.  I went with 3 friends and met 44 new friends!   The seminar was shamanic in nature and was meant to awaken, cultivate and transform our internal power.  Upon returning home, I was walking with a dear friend.  She is so beautifully devout in her religion, she asked, “Where was religion included in your journey”?    I became a little frozen emotionally.  I didn’t want to hurt her in any way with my words. I hesitated because I am no longer of the same mind set as she is.  I no longer resonate with organized religion.    Bless her, she is accepting of me and my beliefs.  She just wanted to dialogue and was genuinely interested in my experience.

    I told her God was everywhere.  Organized religion was not part of the retreat.  Everyone is accepted, no matter what their background is, religious or cultural.   As a matter of fact, upon showing up at the meditations or learning sessions, everyone was just so joyous to be together, investigative questions didn’t even arise.  You see, in the spiritual community, what comes first is God/spirit/universe.  The way one is physically defined in this society doesn’t matter.   

    I have found that in this county the first question we ask upon meeting someone is “What do you do?”  We identify a person by their employment.   That is a very limited view of a person.    What a person does in their job daily is only a small fraction of who they are.  What matters is how they live their life, how they treat others and how they incorporate love into all they do.    While the other 44 people were “strangers”, it certainly didn’t feel that way.  There was immediate acceptance of everyone.  A feeling of unity and God’s presence was everywhere.  There was Oneness.   That feeling still fills my heart to this day.  I don’t think I have ever had the same feeling when I practiced in an organized religion.  Conversations with the other attendees eventually got around to employment, where one lived, etc. but that was only in the few social settings we had.  These topics did not influence the retreat.    All that mattered to each attendee was their own personal connection to God.

Making 44 new friends was just a Big bonus!!