Coming out of the spiritual closet?
 

One thing that is stopping me from connecting with people is the fact that a huge part of who I am is my spirituality, and I keep that to myself.

Im afraid of telling people about my beliefs and the spiritual work I do. And it keeps me at a distance from people. I want to change this,

At the same time I guess im afraid to come out of the spiritual closet. Coming out as a gay is a 100x easier then this for some reason.

Does anyone have any stories they have about, well how they shared there spiritual side and spiritual work with people?

This is the case with me but I don't keep it that way. Where is the problem exactly?

How can it keep you at a distance?

Are you confusing 'magical' with spiritual here ?

Well, if one is spiritual then it emanates from each word ( unless some technical matter is being discussed). I have no problem sharing my views.

Sorry for so many questions - But I need to understand where exactly is the problem?

I think you have some low self-esteem regarding the work you do. You tend to judge it from other peoples perspective. Right?

I keep mine to myself - and it is not about rejection even though that is a huge issue for me - it is about protection. I keep my spiritual work and development to myself to protect it from attack and criticism.

Seth, what are you afraid of?

I don't hide it. It is my life, so if people know me, they know my spirituality as well, because it is part of my life. I also know that I have something to offer people, so just a deep spiritual conversation with someone often turns into a healing session to discuss their issues in their life. This happened to me just last week.

But really, if they don't know my spirituality, they really don't know me. Sure I'm more than just that, but it is the underlying factor in everything I do in life. Someone will have a hard time understanding my motives in my actions if they don't know my spirituality.

When people ask what I do, I mention Christ's Light Ministries, and the healing and spiritual counseling I do, because that is what I do.

ChildOfNone, I mean this in love, but why defend your spirituality against attack? Does god need defense?

My personal thought would be that if you need to protect your beliefs, you are not really quite stable in them: you don't know if you totally believe them yourself, or are afraid that they might be wrong.

I'm not telling you that you are wrong for doing so, but just seeing if there might be another possibility that might allow you to be more authentic with others and causing you less stress. It's pretty stressful to defend your beliefs against attack. :)

piano performer - I don't defend them. I use them and believe them but I don't lay them out in the open - pearls before swine.

You said that you need to "protect" your beliefs. Defense isn't just actively defending them in the open, but not allowing anyone else to see your beliefs, lest they attack or criticize them.

Who are the "swine"?

I dont really confuse magical with spiritual. As someone whose experienced both perspectives I can make 100s of correlations between the two paradigms.

Magick, even though can seem shallow once fully involved in becomes an intensely spiritual journey. I couldn't imagine having one without the other.

My magical work is what I do, really. I am afraid to share that with people. Im very aware of this.

At the same time, I understand that I can't keep hiding it forever. I was looking for stories or advice from people about how they showed there spiritual side with people.

But thank you for your reply.

Hmm.

Im the same, but i dont want to be living in that kind of fear. I know deep down this is something that needs to be overcome.

Maybe i just have to face the fact that i will be rejected by some people.

I guess it comes down to an even deeper fear of being alone.

I think on this path, we're all rejected at one point or another. It isn't the "norm" in society, and abnormality is looked down upon.

Trust me that I know how it is. I go to a Catholic university, and I mean as Catholic as they come. But I still talk about my work, and surprisingly many people are open to it.

no need to share stuff (pearls) with people that aren't interested (swine).

otherwise you are shoving pearls into their mouth(?)

find people that are interested, or connect with other topics.

There's only a spiritual closet to come out of if you think spirituality is somehow separate from everything else going on.

Thats the way. What you are describing sounds like a minor hiccup along the way. I imagine the consideration that you need to verballize your spirituality to others in order to connect will manifest itself to be a mind created paper tiger before too long.

Seth, I feel exactly same way. It's obviously an insecurity we're experiencing here that is in turns causing us to feel and be alianated from other people, not being able to express such a big aspect of our self openly. So I can understand how you feel and why you feel this way. Spirituality has such a wrong concept nowadays since humanity has forgotten where it's sprung from.

Personally though I feel that it is wise not simply roaming around spreading the word of your spiritual life to anyone. If someone isn't ready to hear or accept it there isn't any deeper meaning in expressing that side of yourself anyhow. Use your intuition to let you know to whom you must open up yourself to and to what level you open yourself up to. Some people really want to hear and are interested.

With the earth's energies shifting people are becoming more and more open to spirituality now anyway. The more people begin to awaken the easier it is for us with insecurities to come out the closet.

Just make sure the people you "come out to" aren't the types that will totally jump on your bandwagon without actually considering and pondering it for themselves. Then you'll get a bunch of followers and will have to resolve to start a cult. ;)

I've got a story for you, but it ended badly, so I'd rather not share it publicly. But others who have talked to me about the nature of reality have embraced me and my beliefs, although there is always one that I don't completely believe, but see as a definite possibility, and it comes from David Icke...and that's the Reptillians or whatever you want to call them. I freaked a couple of people out when I brought that up. But I don't necessarily open with that...:)

Maybe society rejects you because you reject society? Society is a concept only anyway. There are only individuals. You will experience your own distortions. ;)

You are right, reefs. I could have been clearer.

There was a time when I felt like the outcast of society. This was the time when I was the most intolerant of other's beliefs, and so I created that in my life.

Now, I embrace any belief system, because I know that they are all essentially flawed and limited—mere concepts that point to the Divine, but cannot embrace it entirely. My path recently has been to drop all concepts but in so doing I recognize the usefulness of concepts to others on the path, no matter if that concept is Catholicism, Protestant Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, or even new-age philosophy.

Now that I am more open, I find that I am seldom rejected for my beliefs; in fact I can't remember the last time it happened. If I tell someone, they are generally intrigued or even rather interested to learn more and to even let me help them.

So I guess the first advice to anyone who fears rejection is to say to stop rejecting yourself and stop rejecting others on the same basis.

I only discuss my beliefs with thoes I know are of a like mind. Lets say you liked to fix up old cars , discussing fixing old cars is pointless with some one that has no mec. knowledge. desert rat

YES

Many of my friends are artists and tend to tolerate a wide variety of quirks and oddities and I'm not even comfortable coming out of the "broom closet" with THEM.

But outside of my own community, i find it hard to come out about huge parts of myself. I agree that coming out as gay is 100x easier and among my
friends, it's been no big deal. Whereas I know people who, if they knew that I in any way practice anything mystical, they would cease taking seriousy anything I said.

I find that either I'm out at the outset with people, or end up never coming out at all because there's never a natural way to bring it up in a conversation if the other person has no interest in the topic.

This was actually a major issue in my last relationship-attempt. She was hardcore atheist/skeptic and accepted mystical beliefs as long as one could explain them away, and i just never felt there was the opening to even admit I had these beliefs. I more or less stopped seeing her, and I feel strongly that I'm more likely to meet a potential partner in healing, yoga, PD or art circles, because I am not in the least going to be in the broom closet with a partner. I need to free to tell them about a trippy experience or 30 day trial.

Look for a new age book store that is close to you . Most of the people that work and shop there are more open minded. desert rat

I understand that the public would make fun of me or mock me I can handle that but my kids and husband think this is a lot of blarney so I can't even come out at home.
They think all spiritual stuff is nonexistant even though we have 'wierd stuff' ( as they call it) happen in our house all the time.
It is frustrating for me even if I try to explain some spiritual stuff casually with my daughters when they ask or make a comment.
I would love to read my cards out in the open.

I think one day when my guides tell me so I am just going to do it and come out and I won't really care what the family thinks.

Understood. Been there. At the moment I am single and that's one of the blessings I count, that at least I can be fully myself (and have been much more fully myself alone, than I've ever been able to be in a relationship) because nobody is around to think I'm being "silly".

My ideal partner would be one with whom i could connect spiritually.

I keep my specific spiritual beliefs to myself.

The main reason is because they are constantly evolving. Ultimately, the answers to most spiritual questions are unknowable (at least within my limited human experience), so I see my "beliefs" as more like "my latest guess." They are constantly subject to change, given new information and experiences.

While my beliefs might not change in big ways all at once, over time the small tweaks and changes do add up--so if I told someone what I believed today, it would likely be very different two years from now. And many people aren't comfortable with that--even if they don't demand you follow a specific religion, they still expect consistency of belief.

So I rarely talk about my spiritual beliefs unless it's with someone else who understands that they are fluid and changeable, and why. There are a few core beliefs that have stayed stable over a long time (that we are all ultimately one, that we can choose our experience of reality, and that death is nothing to fear). But instead of talking about these beliefs, I've found it easier to simply act from them--to conduct my life accordingly. And if someone is interested in how and why I conduct my life as I do I'll discuss my beliefs, but only to a degree that is relevant to that situation and the person's understanding.

I can stare at clouds and make them dissapear . I have asked a friend of mine to watch , he says that is a lot of b.s. I first knew I could this while hiking on saddle mountain around 20 years ago . I could move this cloud around , and thought how wild . desert rat

I need the authenticity with people. Otherwise i feel like im living two lives, have two identities. Theres two me's. The accepted by society (just about) me and the actual me.

Thank you all for the replies, its given me much to think about.

What I realized is that most people I come across have exactly the same fears. To talk about what they believe.

So when I stopped being afraid and started sharing, others felt like they could open up to me as well. And they did.

I have had people have different believes of course, but I have never come across someone who rediculed me for what I believed or who didn't accept me because of that.

I'm kind of in this boat, right now, where I feel like I'm living in two worlds.

Do you feel the need to tell people about your beliefs?

If you are feelings nervous than share someone you trust first. Start in baby steps before you open up to people you are extremely nervous with sharing.