Well, I suppose if I had to give it a label, I would say I have always been some sort of Pagan. Throughout my life I have been in awe of the seasons and my natural environment. When I was a child I used to pray to the moon to protect me, I don't know where I got that from, I just did it. That carried on into my teens when walking home late at night and I do it now too, with a very warm feeling in my heart like I'm talking to a trusted old friend. It makes me feel very connected to hen as a child, hen as a teenager and I can almost get the sense of an unbroken chain where we are all looking at the same moon, praying, at the same time.
All of my adult years were spent searching for a Pagan community that I felt comfortable with. Unfortunately I never have found one. Finally I settled on the practices and wisdom of Buddhism. However I mostly use the iconography of my environment instead of Eastern iconography. So perhaps I'm a buddhist pagan. The wisdom is all the same to me. As long as it is conducive to spiritual awakening then I'm in.
As I am deeply passionate about happiness my practice has to reflect that. Buddhism is a philosophy and practice that's final aim is for all beings to 'exist' beyond happiness. That's good enough for me. I am very interested to practice within the Shambhala community and will be exploring that in the near future. At the moment though I am finding myself consistantly practicing within the FWBO.
Choosing one path is hard but I think it is vital for true spiritual progress. So I am very mindful of not picking a bit of this and picking a bit of that to suit my tastes. I practice Buddhism, I go for refuge to the Three Jewels and I use my environment and culture to express and explore that.
So, there we have it. A bit of background.
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