Friday, February 02, 2007

Some "Me" Time

I am off for my yoga and hiking weekend in the Brecon Beacons in Wales, later on this afternoon. I am very much looking forward to it, and it seems like the weather may be in a mood to cooperate. I'm packing my rain jacket just in case though, it will be Wales after all!

I was on the verge of booking the Costa Rica package for me and Viv last night, when I suddenly realized I'm thinking about Peru and Machu Picchu all the time....specifically thinking it will be "Holy Week" while we are there, and although I'm not very religious, I am very spiritual. And I guess I'm thinking the 4-day trek (camping) to Machu Picchu will be more meaningful in that sense. Hmmm.

Back online Sunday or Monday.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm curious. What is the difference between religious and spiritual?

Allison said...

Hi Aunt Sue,

Good question, and I'm sure this is a distinction I've made in my own head on my own spiritual journey, because I'm sure for others they are the same thing, or so inter-related as to be inseparable. Although I am very grateful for being brought up within the community of a Methodist church, and all the mores and values that were instilled in me as a result, I have not attended church in many years. (Although I may again one day if I have kids of my own, for the reasons I've just named.) And I tend to think of religion as any one of a number of established faiths (Catholicism, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Rastafarianism, etc), and associate being religious with the regular practice of such faith or attendance to an institution of that faith. I don't believe in God in the traditional sense, and I don't attend church. However, I do believe in harmony and balance on a spiritual level, I do believe in karma in a sense, I do believe in human morality and altruism, and I find a sense of self that is larger than myself and somehow in tune with a collective connectedness in things like my practice of yoga and most definitely in nature. I don't know if that makes any sense...

Love
Allison

Anonymous said...

Ok. I see. When you write "religion," you mean either (a)organized religion, or (b)a particular ideology (though that isn't the right word because their are ideological strands within Christianity, for example), so maybe a particular "brand" of religion, though the word "brand" doesn't do it for me.

At any rate, if you go back to the church to raise those children, you should read a book or two by Marcus Borg. Or you might want to do that now!

Love, Aunt Sue