Appropriation Conversation
context
my hometown: maui, hawai’i
i was born into families heavily influenced by catholic/christian belief systems. at a young age i felt out of place because I did not have the same relationship with god as my friends and family. my spiritual journey started with the perception that I was a “spiritual atheist” when I was just about 7 or 8 years old. growing up i began to blindly and unconsciously consume content on the internet. i grew infatuated with eastern religions and was eagerly self identifying as a buddhist when I was around 14. trust me this didn’t last for long, the more interested i grew in my own beliefs the more i sought to learn. the more i learned, the more i began to realize how fooled i had been… while i was busy buying crystals, and tapestries, and doing yoga just to prove i too had something to believe in, i was neglecting to acknowledge the part of me that was still broken, the part of me that shut down when god never “responded” to my prayers… i bought out my love for god with western spirituality. since then i have set out on a conscious spiritual journey that has led me to places i could have never imagined. the work is never done and for me, there really isnt a word for it… but now, its not about a spirituality or a religion, its about me being me, loving me, loving you. thank you for taking the time.