I started writing because I needed an outlet.
Three years ago I tried psilocybin for the first time and it rocked my world. Nothing could be the same after, it shattered my world view. For months I was aloof to the rest of the world, to the "normal" interactions. I was fascinated with life and how everything was working and it distracted me. It caused me to lose some of my relationships because I couldn't connect on the same level.
But there was no stopping me, I had had glimpses of what I can only describe as the divine in all of life. Single days where I felt like I understood everything and where life was more beautiful than could be imagined. After seeing that how could I not pursue it? How could I not try to figure out how to get back to that place?
Me and my crew visiting the Pacific NW
I explored everything, books, videos, spirituality, neuroscience, psychedelics, ancient cultures. I wandered down the youtube rabbit hole, I spent hours and days reading and devouring everything that seemed like a piece of the puzzle.
At first I had a number of outlets, I had friends with similar experiences and able to talk to me on the subject. And I had a search, I was looking into everything, I was consuming information and experiences. I was driven to figure things out, and that journey culminated with a trip to Peru to visit the shamans and try Huachuma and Vilca.
When I got back it was time for a new journey.
The girl I was seeing for just two weeks got pregnant, and we were in for a new ride. There were ups and downs, a lot of fighting, some good times, I bought a house, and eventually our baby girl was born.
We ended up moving in together, and around the same time almost all of my friends moved away. Where I used to talk to them at nights and discuss spiritual progress, now there was no one. Karen was busy with school and raising our daughter, and everyone else was moving on in their own lives.
So I picked up the computer and started writing on google drive.
Every night I would write, sometimes whatever was on my mind, sometimes I'd do a meditation right in front of the keyboard and write out my experience and ponderings. It was a way for me to talk to myself, to work through things, and to get my ideas of life on paper.
It was a way to express in a world that didn't seem like it wanted my expressions. Spirituality is generally an individual practice, no one can do it for us, and sometimes words just get in the way, it's challenging to write clearly about our experience in life and most people don't want to hear someone else's ideas on it in conversation. Despite this I decided to write on spirituality, philosophy, and consciousness, because those are the topics I'm immersed in, those are the topics I have knowledge and value to add.
I used google drive for a long time, just like a journal. I'd looked into Medium and was about to start posting there when I stumbled onto steemit. That's when things really started accelerating.
I started out just commenting when I got here, I had one or two posts. A few weeks in @taskmaster4450 spotted me from some of the quality comments I was posting. He took me under his wing, offering upvotes as long as I could post everyday, hopefully twice a day. Boy was I in for it, what started out as rambling to myself on google drive took on a new shape. I was formatting content, creating direction with content, and coming up with new content everyday. It really pushed me and made me a better writer. It also showed me how much work it takes to write consistently and to write on new topics.
My writing had to have purpose, it had to be interesting and provide value. And it had to make sense, be applicable to life. My purpose for writing was easy: I wanted to share what I'd learned, to put some of these difficult to understand spiritual concepts into contemporary language, to start discussions to see other people's views and learn from them. I feel like I succeeded at times, getting a lot of people commenting and resonating with my words. Other times I struggled...
Especially lately I've been finding it challenging to write. To put what I'm feeling and what I've learned very recently into words. I don't worry about it, I feel like it's part of the process. We learn, we assimilate, and we grow. We take what we experience and find a way to share it that makes sense. That's the beautiful thing about the internet and steemit in general, we can share and be rewarded for our experience.
It's my feeling that there is a spiritual renaissance happening right now, people are starting to wake up in a number of ways, one of them being consciousness. We are finding out we are far more capable than we once thought. We are finding out that we can evolve not only physically, but mentally, spiritually, and emotionally in ways we only dreamed. It's my feeling that this shift in consciousness will change the world, will allow us to transform it into one of love instead of fear. My reason for writing is to be a part of that change, to help others and work with others along the way, and to add my own individual take on it in case others resonate with my words.
I want to be part of @sndbox because the group seems to be filled with people wanting to make a positive difference. People who I can talk to, bounce ideas off, learn from, and collaborate with. As a member of @sndbox I will be adding as much content as I can, being an inspiration for other creators and people who are on the fence about taking their ideas and making them happen. I feel each of us have gifts to share, it's the sharing that challenges many of us. I want to boost people into believing they can achieve their dreams by being an example and writing about it, creating videos, and developing projects.
I will be writing on philosophy, my style is one of personal experience. I will be discussing various cultures and religions and how they relate to eachother, real world application of spirituality, and even dabble in new age ideas. I also write about life, nature, health, and family, some of our most important tools for learning and growing.
I think of spirituality as self help on steroids, it causes us to see the world in a new light, a clearer view. It's the one thing that affects all other aspects of life, and I want to promote, discuss, and develop it in my own life and the community. I feel like we learn best by working together, and this is something I want to keep learning about more than anything.
I truly hope the @sndbox crew considers me for Summer Camp, I'm dedicated, hard working, and have a unique take on many aspects of life. While my posts have at times been slapped together, I plan on slowing down my rate of posting from 1-2 times per day to one major article every other day in order to create higher quality posts. I feel I could be a major contributor and part of the community if given the opportunity.
Thanks for your consideration,
This article was written for the Sndbox Summer Camp, more info HERE
