Spirit And The City: A Look Back At My Spiritual Journey

So, I don't know if you've heard but there's this movie coming out today, called Sex And The City, and it's, like, about four women, but really just one, and her name is Carrie and she writes about sex. Well, for the 5 people out there who don't actually care about this movie, I wanted to offer you an alternative, or alternately, if you do care about this movie, so much so that you'll read anything remotely SATC-related, well, then this is also for you. (It's a win-win situation!)

So, I don't know if you heard about me, but I'm kind of a big deal, and see, I write this column here, on the Huffington Post that's about spirituality. (Damn. I thought putting it in italics would give it the same scandalous feel as sex, but nope. It didn't work.) Anyway, in honor of Carrie and of everything that she's had "to wonder" about, I thought I'd take you back through everything I had to wonder about.

It all started on a cold and rainy night back in October, when I met a man named Eckhart Tolle, who had "smiling eyes and a mellifluous German accent." Studly, right? Anyway, I wrote about Mr. Eckhart Tolle and how he managed to almost, just almost, spiritually transform me.

And as it turns out, some people liked what I wrote (though, to be fair, a whole lot more people did not like what I wrote) and it was decided that I was to embark on a Spiritual Journey. And not just any spiritual journey because, for one, My Spiritual Journey is capitalized. Also, it's not really so spiritual. It's more of an urban meander through spirituality, and well, whatever it is that I had to wonder about. You might, for clarification, call it something along the lines of "Spirit In The City." (Get it? See where I'm going with this?)

And we were off. I had an inspirational chat with an adorable woman named Sister Wendy, who metaphorically patted me on the head, gave me her blessing, and told me to get started. I dubbed her My Spiritual Guide, she told me to be honest, and I was off.

I took a Belief-O-Matic test and found out:

I'm 98% compatible with Secular Humanists, who believe that deities and their incarnations don't exist/are unimportant, that there is no afterlife, and that salvation can be found in good deeds. Oh, and also - they love the gays! And the poors! And divorce is a-ok! So basically, they're your average Huff Post readers. (Zing!)

I'm also 82% Neo-Pagan, 47% Scientologist (Hollywood, here I come!), and 31% Mormon. But don't worry, I'm only 18% Jehovah's Witness, so I'll totally leave you and your godlessness alone.

But really, what I discovered was that my beliefs and I could not be placed in a box and defined by someone else, which was a realization that would define the rest of my Journey. At the beginning, I thought, perhaps, that this Journey of mine was going to take me to a specific endpoint. Like, after arduous travails, I would wake up one morning and - BAM! - I'd be spiritual. Instead, I've decided that what's important about my Journey is the discussion. That at the very least I'm getting my own spiritual brain working and maybe, just maybe, in the process I got some of your spiritual brains working as well.

It wasn't always fun. One time I made what I thought was mild assertion that a drug-induced hallucination did not count as a Spiritual Transformation. (I also might have called those who disagree "Bongo-playing hippies", but that's neither here nor there.) And apparently that pissed a lot of people off. So, in the interest of beating a totally dead horse, let me just clarify by saying that I don't have a problem with drugs (my enormous disclaimer at the beginning was really just a defensive maneuver) and if you want to trip your way to heaven, go on and have at it. Far be it from me to judge (except that judging, really, is what I do best.)

With that out of the way, I went on to try and fail at meditation, after which I discovered yoga I could actually afford, though, to be honest, I never actually went.

The closest I got to a real spiritual awakening (twice!) involved Taoism -- both the Tao of Pooh and the Dao of my dog. So, really, what it told me was that I loved animals. Besides that, and like Carrie, I just wondered about things. A lot of things. I wondered about Scientology, I wondered about the Pope and what on earth he does, and I wondered who on earth would pay to drink Spiritual Water.

So, I guess the point is that though I haven't necessarily become more spiritual, at least I've thought about it. And in thinking about it, I learned that thinking about spirituality is, in and of itself, spiritual. Because, while there are those of you out there who spend every waking moment being a better person than I, at least I dedicate a solid hour a week (and sometimes even two!) to thinking about my Inner Life. And that's more than I did before I started! Also, if I have one thing to say for myself, it's that I did it without judging and with an open mind. OK, that's a total lie, but we're going to go ahead and skip to the part you have all been waiting for with bated breath...

SEX.

Yes, this column did involve sex. A little bit. Namely, the Top 5 Sexiest Spiritual Icons and, of course, my personal favorite, the aptly titled: OMFG - Let's Talk About Sex. An excerpt, if I may. It begins:

Somewhere between the immaculate conception and Pope Benedict XVI's US tour, God has worked his way into the bedroom.
I, for one, did not see it coming, nor did I see it happen. But that's the way it is with God, I suppose. One day he's frowning down upon you for thinking naughty thoughts about your catechism teacher, and the next he's pressed up against the back of "Oh-My-Fucking". Lord almighty.

If that's not a lead in, then I don't know what is. And on that note -- just go ahead and check out the rest of my journey thus far. You can find all the posts (and then some) here.

Or, if I haven't managed to convert you and you're eyes just glazed over the moment I tried to italicize "spirituality," well, then, at least I gave Sex And The City some free advertising. Go see the movie. Just not the Sunday afternoon showing at Kips Bay Theater. Or, if you do, at least say hi! I'll be the girl by herself with the mega-bucket of popcorn and a magnum of Diet Coke. Just don't expect me to share. I'm not that spiritual.

Comments

[wonderingstar]

Verena, if I may, I’d like to mention a few books that have been meaningful to my spiritual journey:

Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki//Man's_Search_for_Meaning)

Ed Lavin, Life’s Meditations:
http://www.alibris.com/booksearch.detail?invid=9452753052&author=Lavin%2C+Edward&browse=1&qwork=3934282&qsort=&page=1

Brian McLaren, Finding Faith
http://www.amazon.com//Finding-Faith-Self-Discovery-Guide-Spiritual/dp/0310238382)

Karen Armstrong, the Battle for God http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=62-0345391691-00)

Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing about Grace?
http://www.amazon.com//Whats-So-Amazing-About-Grace/dp/0310213274)

Chris Lowney, Heroic Leadership http://www.loyolabooks.com/productdetail.asp?id=702200)

The Way of a Pilgrim http://www.amazon.com//Way-Pilgrim-Continues-His/dp/0060630175)

Henri Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/catholic_christianity/17422/11)

Laozi (Laotzu), Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching)
http://www.chinapage.com/gnl.htmll)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao_Te_Ching#Interpretation_and_themes)

Christ the Eternal Tao
http://www.amazon.com/Christ-Eternal-Tao-Hieromonk-Damascene/dp/0938635859

Perhaps you may find one of these helpful on your spiritual journey.

[wonderingstar]

Verena - I love your name so much I just had to look it up to see what it means. There seems to be some uncertainty as to its meaning. One babynames site said it has to do with a 3rd century saint, another called it a traditional Swiss name of indeterminate derivation, and finally I found a site that said it means "Spiritual Wisdom". So it appears your name has been oddly deterministic of your path in life (or maybe its the other way around).

I'm probably one of the 0.1% of the English-speaking world that is not hooked on SATC, although I did watch enough episodes while on the treadmill at the gym to guess that you're writing this column in the Carrie Bradshaw column style?

I clicked on to your Eckhart Tolle link. Sorry, but the image of you at the Beacon Theatre listening to Eckhart Tolle speaking on "The Power of Now" reminded me of the SATC episode where Charlotte and Carrie attend an Affirmation event. Don't mean to make light of your experience but it made a connection for me. I wonder if that episode was also filmed at the Beacon? Weird, huh?
http://www.hbo.com/city/episode/season5/episode68.shtml

Please keep blogging about spirituality!

[Pacific231]

OMG. Obviously no coffee in me yet:

CORRECTION:

Organized religion, particularly fundamentalist cults of Islam and Christianity, may well be the death of us all, but I doubt SATC's "SHOE THERAPY" will lead to inner peace either.

[Pacific231]

I will be brief:

Organized religion, particularly fundamentalist cults of Islam and Christianity, may well be the death of us all, but I doubt SATC "show therapy" will lead to inner peace either.

[Riverwolf]

Oh my dear, you are so funny and so wise, even though you may not know it. I've been on my own journey quite a while, and you'd think I'd have reached the destination by now. Either I'm lousy with directions, or maybe, there really isn't a destination. Which totally irritates us Type A ambitious types, doesn't it? But that's the trick with "spirituality" (and maybe even sex, too). I'm undertaking a whole new leg of my journey right now, and I find myself waiting, like you, to wake up one day and feel "it." Except that hasn't happened yet, and I don't think it ever will. When we can let go of that, that's when the really cool stuff starts happening (or at least I think so), and maybe, we actually start to become "better people," whatever that means.

[sageon]

"I wonder who on earth would pay to drink spiritual water?"

My grandmother, with cancer, flew from Los Angeles to Lourdes, France to bathe in holy water. She believed in this holy water more than chemotherapy. Go Nana! She also took care of herself the homeopathic way refusing treatment from the hospital. She survived five years after the doctors told her she had less than a year to live. The doctors called her the "miracle lady" because her tumor stopped growing, and they didn't know why. She was fearless before she died, because she believed it was just her time.

I'm not mad at you for being a cynic. We all have our role to play. Take care. Best of luck.

[recless]

Good for your grandmother. However, please don't fall into the trap and believe that this one exception to what the doctors predicted in any way proves they are always wrong. Homeopathic medicine has a lot to offer, but it becomes dangerous when it isn't held to the same standards of medical science that western medicine is.

[sageon]

reckless, I never said this story proves that medical doctors are always wrong, but I believe that this story in many ways proves that that doctor was wrong, but more importantly that prayer with good intention is right. And this isn't just one exception. Trap, or no trap, this story is enough to convince me that I'll stay on a homeopathic path. Thanks for your concern.

[JamesRiddle]

This was a funny column. I love to see organized religion and "New Age" isms poked fun at. But I have been reading Ekhart Tolles book and can tell you that his assertions about our egos running amuck and destroying our selves, and our planet ,resonated strongly with me. If you can silence your interior monologue for even 5 minutes a day using any type of meditative practice you will be shocked at the peace and clarity of mind you feel for the rest of the day. Whatever it is it works! James

[WilliePilgrim]

I'm startin' to care a LOT more now. I can't explain the compelling attraction to dithering confusion about spiritual reality but it's like a dream state where I'm not sure if I or anyone is actually wearing clothes and whether those clothes are themselves alluring. OK..back to bed...it's still early enough.

[ga4ry]

I'm with you jam jam, I too am a "scientist" and I work at a "big school" and read and sometimes write books with very few pictures.
To make fun of things that people hold dear and unchallengeable is contrary to what we "scientists" do in our science place that we work.
as a "scientist" I tell you it is bad to make fun of people who hold beliefs in things like jewish zombies who are thier own fathers, or rib women who usher misery into the human race by haveing a chit chat with a talking snake. I tell you in my "scientist " way, these people are intregal to society.

[OtayPanky]

Spirit And The City: A Look Back At My Spiritual Journey

===

Thank you so much for this retrospective of your work.

[Fernando]

Funny as usual Verena. However, it is not "five people" who don't care about this movie. More like five billion, nine hundred thousand and 300 hundred people who will give it a pass. :D

Then again, as much as I consider Sex and the City a rehearsal of hell, I can't see it being worse than Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. So long a wait for such a bad, bad movie.

[gaspi]

Parishioner: "Father, is it okay to kiss a nun?"

Priest: "Yes, my son; just don't into the habit."

[jamjam]

Very good one :P

[DaddyKevin]

Wow, am I glad I clicked on your headline. Love the writing! Love the...um..­.HEALTHY DISRESPECT for all things traditionally sacrasanct (ooh, is that the word? I wanted to sound intelligent). Went back and read your naughty writing about sex and God. All I can say is that I often moan an ecstatic "Oh My God" at deliciously acrobatic meetings of moisture, warmth, and nether regions, so I SO get it!
Keep up with the good writing, and I'll invest in a really good lightning rod to protect me from the Almighty while I read and giggle along. Here's to spiritual journies! May we all flop along in our own "out of the water" path!

[Marlyn]

sacrosanct

[Tyrus]

If you like Sister Wendy, you'll love Sister Beatrice..­.

http://current.com/watch/23648680?list=newVidsByProducer&filterone=23642506&filtertwo=-1&sid=23648680&fr=0

[Meah]

that you must be