How old were you when you began to seek spiritual truth?

Question

Was there an event that led up to it?

Just to be fair here is my story:
I was in college when going to a Catholic Church began to feel "wrong" to me. I read a little about Wicca but never really began practicing it. I was young and in college and I wasn't that interested in spirituality at the time.

Fast forward about 7 years to when I met my husband who was a former Presbytarian and a practicing pagan. I got reinterested in pagan beliefs. We had discussed raising our children in the UU church so they could decide their own religion when they got old enough. We had a daughter and before she turned 1 yrs. old, my husband died suddenly. Shortly after his death, I began going to the UU church and seeking my true path which seems to be nature based but doesnt quite fit into anything defined. I hang with the pagans at church. I think my husband's death is what set me on my spiritual quest.
So what's your story?

Answer 1

I"m the daughter of two pastors. I was "saved' at the age of 5, and truly believed well into my early twenties. I began to become interested in learning about other spiritual paths when I was about 24. I met a girl who was reading all kinds of books, and I love to learn, so we would talk and read and learn. I studied Buddhism, Wicca, Hunduism (a little) and read as much as I could. But still went to an Evangelical Christian Church.
When I was 29, I was drugged in a bar and brutally raped. I can't (to this day) remember what he looked like. I wouldn't know him if he were sitting next to me. So, I didn't like being in a crowd with people I didn't know. My church had about 300 people in attendance on Sundays. I didn't know them all.
It took me a couple of months before I was ready to go to church. I took the kids to Sunday School, and walked into the Sanctuary. I made it through about the first hymn and realized I really wasn't ready. I walked quietly out into the foyer, where I could listen to the service on speakers, but not be in the crowd.
About 5 minutes later, one of the pastors walked over and asked why I wasn't in the service. I told him what had happened to me, though not in any detail. I was reaching out for the comfort and support the church is said to offer. His response to me?
"What were you doing in a bar where that could happen in the first place?"!!!!!!!
Astonished, and completely speechless, I simply cried. He suggested I talk to the church secretary - she might have some information I could use. My heart was broken. I got my children and left - never looked back.
I can now look back and be thankful that he acted as the launching board for my spiritual quest. I've found my path, and I'm raising my children in a UU church as well. They know that they are welcome to study, to ask, and to learn - and to believe what they are most comfortable with believing.
May All That Is Bless You!

Answer 2

I was 12 or so when I decided that the Bible made no sense to me at all, and I began to think that God couldn't be real, because if he were real, he'd surely have written a coherent Bible.

I wondered if I was an atheist for a long time but decided eventually that I must be an agnostic, because I really didn't know if there was a God or not.

Gradually, though, I refound faith--I figured, I pray to _something,_ so I must believe. Also, I read Zenna Henderson's SF stories about The People, and their deity, the Presence. That deity seemed completely right to me, but there was no religion that worshipped anything like the Presence, that I knew of.

In college I looked at two religions--Bahai'ism and Wicca. I liked both of them, but neither truly satisfied me. Bahai'ism had too Muslim a flavor for my taste, and the deities of Wicca just didn't seem 'real' to me; they always seemed more like legends or mythis.

At last, I found a copy of a book called 'The Cloud of Unknowing.' I read it, and it was like coming home. God in 'The Cloud' was exactly like the Presence.

I have considered myself a Catholic on the mystic path, ever since.

Answer 3

I was baptized Catholic...changed to Lutheran when I was 9...by 20, I wasn't sure there was unsure what I believed. I liked to question people about their spirituality...test their resolve...for about 10 years. I was married to an agnostic for awhile. Then there was about 6 years that I didn't do much more than consider various possibilities...not really 'seeking', but studying various faiths, more academic. Then, mid-way through my 40th year, I was attuned to Reiki...then everything began shifting. By the end of the year, I had embraced metaphysics as a spiritual philosophy and accepted my ministry as an ordained metaphysical minister. Over the last eight years, that's grown to a full understanding and faith in the Divine presence as part of each of us...regardless of your particular belief system. I've experienced 'strange and mysterious' things which cannot be readily explained through conventional wisdom and understanding. Once you've 'found' the source of your faith, you are no longer a 'seeker'...the 'quest' is over..:)

Answer 4

I think I was about 11 or 12... I was raised strict atheist, and began to question why it was that my father seemed so faith driven in his atheistic beliefs he seemed to talk the same way that all of the Christian fundamentalists did about their beliefs. So I started questioning science in general, (the more I did this the more it became clear that pure theoretical science is absolutely faith based and it seems to work in the same cluster concepts that organized religion does, so one person has a theory, eventually lots of other people base their theories on that theory, and eventually the progenating theory is seen as fact, if you start getting deep into physics the writings become more like philosophical writings then any attempt to explain the empirical, etc.), and then started consuming as much spiritual and religious information as I could, for several years, finally I came to the conclusion that I could not know what was right or wrong that all beliefs were based upon someone else's revelations, their interpretations of them, and then further interpretations of that by others, (in most cases over 1000's of years), kind of like a cosmic game of telephone, (the further you get from the actual initial experience the further you get from the truth)... So I've just been in a kind of spiritual agnostic limbo since then, hoping for some kind of personal revelation or personal relationship with the divine not clouded by the middle men, and I'm honestly very happy for anyone who believes they really know what is going on in the universe.

Answer 5

I was baptized and raised a Roman Catholic, even went to parochial school. When I decided get married at 24 the Church would not marry us because my husband to be had been divorced and they required an annulment we couldn't afford. So we married Presbyterian, and went to church for a few years then just drifted away. At age 51 I started studying Wicca...until I learn more I just call myself pagan for now.
As to what led me there...I can't really say, something was missing and I feel now that I found have found it.
Blessed Be!

Answer 6

11 I went to Church my Mom was not active in Church then
I had been raised in Church and stopped going
then around 11 I just started reading Revelations over and over
it was fascinating, the Nazarene Church was having a revial and I went every night for a couple of weeks I found many friends not like the Church I had gone to Church of God
they were young and I enjoyed going I gave my life to Jesus the last night, I held onto the pew I thought it would keep me from running down the isle then all of a sudden I just flew down there
got on my knees and stayed, until I felt a release on the inside like a heavy weight go straight up to what I thought was Heaven
I had so much Joy I seem to stay in the clouds for weeks
then I went to a Baptist Church with my aunt for a few years
visited a Lutheran Church with my best friend she liked it there so did I
then I went to a revial with some friends it was a Holiness Convention and a friend of mine was preaching there, when they clapped their hands it seemed they quivers as they went out that was scary, I didn't understand a lot of things
something kept drawing me back there
Later I moved to Florida, out of Church for many years
when I was there I visited non-denonminal Churches and the Church of God
moved to Ohio
God knew right where I was, and I went back to church
I said I was an Atheist I was so cold inside
I found that God was the only way and his son Jesus
I had known all my life no matter what church I was in
Been serving Jesus since that time
now more than 50 years
hope I didn't bore you
Prayers for you
and Gods Best Blessings
:)

Answer 7

I would have to say about 6 or so. I wanted to go to church...even though my parents didn't. I wanted to learn. I wanted to know more about God. So if anyone invited me to church...no matter the denomination...I went. I was loosely raised Lutheran...but I went everywhere. Dabbled in some pagan as well as other things like astrology, numerology (which I really liked by the way) and a few other "new age" things. But finally found my place...I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Took all the other paths and discarding them, to help me find this one. I know this is exactly where I'm meant to be.

Answer 8

I guess I was always searching. Grew up loosely knowing about Christianity. My Grandparents were Christian. My mom is Christian, but didn't force it on her kids.
Sometimes I resented that I didn't grow up in a "religious" house. It made the search seem harder for what I believed in.
Around 18 I started seriously reading anything about spirituality.
At 24, I was at work one day, (I worked at a very small metaphysical/religious bookstore), and picked up a Christian Bible, read the entire book of Luke. It was like a light went on in my soul, and the words were speaking directly to me.
At 28-ish I started really being pulled towards worshipping in a Messianic way. Now I feel settled and truly locked into my belief. No questions asked, No doubts. :) Just happiness, contentment and complete faith in G-d and Yeshua.

Answer 9

14

Answer 10

Four years old. I wanted to die and go live with Jesus instead of my uncle. (I heard that Jesus loved little children)

Nuff said about that.

But my spiritual journey has been very diverse. Like your story, there has been Pagan and Wiccan influence, which makes a bit more sense than the "mythical sky Daddy."

Now, I really don't know if I'm an Atheist or just a really suspicious Agnostic.

All "God" is to me is LOVE. A power greater than myself. Available to all who seek and it is everywhere. (sound familar)

All the "bad" in the world is teaching us the ultimate lesson. Unconditional love. For when you can forgive the most heinous of acts, whether it be on your person or on your financial district, you can LOVE. What you put out is returned to you. A Wiccan told me that 25 years ago You wouldn't BELIEVE what I put myself through to learn it.

Peace.

Good question. Good story. I am sorry for your loss though.