Losing Our Religion – The Tricycle Community
Week 9 – Losing Our Religion – The Tricycle Community.
I have really been thinking about this a lot recently. In an effort to find peaceful ground last year, I attended ONE sit, with the local Buddhist Sitting Group. It was an wonderful experience and I treasure the peace I felt during and afterward. I, however, have been suspended in a religious rut, and have found that in addition to the stress I already live with, learning Buddhism meant learning and practicing and following even more rules or (i know i know, “rules”, is the wrong word)…. how do I say this….. I felt that if I were going to attend and follow the Sits and meditations, etc, that I ought to do it according to all the truths/dharmas/sanskrits (see, I don’t even have the vocabulary down), otherwise, it wouldn’t be true to Buddhism.
And yet, where does this contemporary movement of meditation/mindfulness/consciousness fit in? There are yoga centers in almost every city and folks flock to yoga for the physical results and the mental rewards of being relaxed. But how many of us are following the Sanskrit of yoga? Is it okay to practice some of a religion but not all of it?
Does this mean that really, the only religion is organized religion or is fragmented practice of religious traditions/ceremonies still worthy of being acknowledged and having validity?
I don’t want to be thought of as just a “new-ager”. I only want to be me, and I’d like to think that maybe I just sit on the hem of Buddhism. Why this crud about “new-ager”? Because I don’t like to be pinned with the rest of the herd. And also, to me referencing “new-age” meditation, takes away some of its validity in bringing the practicing person into the present.
Does any of this make sense, cause I am really blogging stream of consciousness here…. ooooooohhhh, the irony. Speaking of ironic, I need to run cause I want to go to a 5:30 yoga class. 
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