Spirituality

I am not a big believer in organized religions. I was raised very religious, even more so than my parents. I was the youngest of five boys born in a very rural part of Wisconsin. My parents were also raised in rural settings where religion was common but churches were rare and most people would read from the bible and sing hymns at home, at least on the holidays. While they were both raised Christian, neither was raised with a particular denomination. As adults, as they each searched for the right church for them, it was usually based on the rapport with a particular preacher. Somehow the ended up being Wisconsin Synod Lutherans, which is a particularly conservative branch, women couldn’t be full members of the church, vote, but were expected to donate money and time in support of the church.

When I was approaching 3^rd grade, the church opened up a grade school in the church basement. A literal one room school with grades 1-5, my parents helped start the school so of course I was enrolled; my brothers were all too old. I believe there was a total of 20 students that first year and just one teacher. The school grades were extended each year until it taught Kindergarten through 8^th grade and eventually had three teachers.

We started each day with an hour of devotion, a bible story, sing a hymn, go over some memorization, and ask some questions. You see, being a Lutheran grade school, we were taught about how this man Martin Luther had the courage to question his own religion. So we were free to ask a lot of questions of this poor sweet man, our teacher, who tried his best to answer. I heard that about 10 years later he left the church; I would like to think that our questions had something to do with that.

Anyway, my having some sort of religion 6 out of 7 days each week (our family was very good about attending Sunday services), was making me just a bit holier than thou. I knew more about religion than just about anyone I knew, especially my family. By the time I was in the 6^th grade, my teacher was talking to me about a life in the service of god, either as a preacher or as a teacher. I was all for it and was gathering information about the closest Lutheran high school that was far enough away that I would have to be boarded there. This is when my parents stepped in to save me; I did not go to 7^th grade in my one room school. They took me out and sent me to public school. In hindsight, it was the best thing they ever did for me, at the time; I was bitter and a complete social outcast. No one should be overly religious in a public junior high. It wasn’t until I got to high school that I was no longer the biggest freak in the place. I was still not popular and I was quite overweight, but, there were people worse off than I was and I was learning to fit in. My preacher spent the next several years still trying to convince me to go to the seminary. I left the church instead, questioning my religion.

Over the years, I have never joined another organized religion, but I have looked at several and read about many. I like to think that I definitely have a spiritual side, but the answers are not going to be found here. We are more than the sum of our parts. We are all connected to each other. The Dali Lama says that we are on this planet to be happy. We are at our happiest when we give to others.

There is a lot of talk among most massage therapists about the seven chakra points on the body and bringing them into alignment. I end each session connecting the chakras with my hands in a 4 step move. As I do this, a benediction I heard each Sunday as I was growing up in my church goes through my mind: may the good lord bless you and keep you, may the lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you, may the lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.