Joseph MacDonald, 48
mac1sail@shaw.ca
My journey as a New Ager began as far back as I can remember. At fourty eight years of age, I have worn many hats in my life time and some of them not so spiritual or kind in fact. In my youth , as early as 8 or 9, I recall feeling old. I remember thoughts at Sunday school that did not seem to fit with what I was being taught. I recall feeling and knowing that a higher power existed but even then I knew somehow that the power came from within not from a deity.
As I grew older I guess you could have called me a troubled youth for I spent many of my early years in reformatories. But not once did I or would I allow any of my activities to harm or take from an individuals sense of self. I spent many years in my teens and early twenties experimenting with drugs and alcohol and never once conceived an answer to life’s mysteries. Yet! Through all the self indulgence I all ways felt a need to help those in hardship or those weaker than myself.
My New age experience really took on meaning when I first looked into my newborn son's eyes. And I thought,” Now I need to be more. Now someone really needs me to be there no matter what. There is so much to teach him .Yet there is so little that I know for sure myself.“
As the years rolled on I spent much time contemplating where I have been and where I was going spirituality. I read the bible cover to cover and was amazed at the hypocrisies of the old testament and recognized the ability of the new testament to be manipulated for the churches ends. (However if you take only the words of Jesus (an ascended master) without the churches interpretations, you will find a simple and lasting beauty to them.)
The more I searched for spirituality the stronger became my sense of self or spirit.
I recall my mother telling me a story of when her and my father, in their early twenties, left New Brunswick to head to Ontario. She told me that ,as they drove west just outside of Ottawa, she look to her right at an old dilapidated farm house and felt a wave of sadness and destitution wash over her like a physical wave. I laughed and told her that she was probably tired and over emotional.
Ten years after she had told me this I happened to also be traveling just west of Ottawa in the early morning when I looked to my right at an old farm house. The sense of grief that washed over me was like no other I had ever felt, and I knew that this was the very same house that my mother had spoken of ten years previously. Had I been thinking of my mom at the time I may have attributed this to grief due to her passing a few years prior. But I was not. My point is that , what I felt that day, left me with the lasting impression that spirit is real and can also be very tangible.
I have since experienced many other moments that leave me with no doubt of our eternal soul’s existence.
I have been witness to the departure of my wife’s grandmother who stood at the foot of our bed 2 hours after her death and 3 thousand miles away. All of this may sound rather hokey to some, yet these experiences have led me to understand that it is the love and compassion that we share with our fellow sojourners that allow them to say their good byes. For this life at least.
As I grew older I have been fortunate and blessed with 4 more sons. I raised them to be kind and considerate to all and although I never preach to them I believe that they all hold within them a gentleness and spirituality which will bring them much love in their lifetimes.
With all of my searching through out my life, it all seemed to come together when I was introduced to a series of books by a very dear friend and soul mate. I was gifted with a 6 book set by Baird T Spalding called “Life and Teachings of The Masters Of The Far East“.
As I read into the first of these books I instantly realized that this is what I have felt my whole life. Every thought and every description is exactly the way I had imagined religion should be. Truth and Love. This is God. Truthful to ourselves and truthful to one another. And how could a Universal Love not grow? (See my writings.)
Anyways! That’s my ramblings for you all
Love be with you
Joseph MacDonald
