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Bennington Group Discusses Spirituality
by Elvis LaCoste
On
Saturday, July 22, through the Bennington Pride Coalition, individuals
with a loving curiosity about spirituality met and held a discussion.
The topic: As lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, and queer folk, when
did we ask ourselves, “What role does spirit play in my life?”
The group was composed of individuals
from various backgrounds: from Catholicism and Judaism to Protestant and
Quaker. Our guest speaker was Robert Patton, a practicing Shaman affiliated
with Spirit Hollow in Shaftsbury. Patton helped facilitate July’s
discussion with opening remarks and by presenting the group with four
questions to consider: “Who am I really?”, “Who is God;
what is my personal definition of my Creator and the Divine?”, “How
do I relate to that Being and how does It relate to me?” and “How
does my relationship with my God affect, inform or dictate my relationship
to my fellow beings on this Earth?”
We spoke about the differences between
religion and spirituality, growing up in a religious family and the heartache
it takes to find one’s self. We spoke about our individual fears,
experiences and thoughts that we had not shared with others before. We
also talked about the moment we realized the true meaning of the divine
in our personal life, as well as the journey we have undertaken to try
to find fulfillment with and within the divine. The session was held in
a storytelling format, people openly putting out their unspoken thoughts
to this group of strangers who, in turn, held a safe and loving space
in which each could do so.
What is the difference between religion
and spirituality? Religion could be interpreted as a teaching from or
of a spiritual leader who has divine inspiration; and spirituality could
be seen as devotion based on the metaphysical thoughts that arise from
personal experience.
Every civilization in the known world
has built community near or around sacred spaces to allow one to commune
with the divine either collectively in the form of religion or individually
in the form of personal and private spiritual practice. The one thing
a lot of people are not aware of is that, as humans, we are built for
spirituality - just like we are built for love, fear, and empathy - and
that our sexuality cannot be divorced from spirituality because both are
part of the “hardwiring” of our being.
Within any healthy community, we have
to talk about those things we feel are not big issues; those things that
have been pushed in to the closet.
The more we talk about those things
we do not understand, the less fear we put in them and give no room for
feelings of abhorrence. We all are on our personal journeys, and at times
we need respite to make sure the path we are on is truly ours.
These discussions are not meant to
change the world, but to help us have a better understanding of our place
in it. They are geared to look at religion, spirituality, reincarnation,
the true meaning of gay marriage and the role of the presence or lack
of God in one’s life.
Hopefully this one discussion will
be the beginning of future discussions which will look at the meaning
of Spirit and spirituality for individuals, at the role of the presence
or lack of God in one’s life, at religion; the true meaning of gay
marriage within a spiritual context, and at reincarnation, and a variety
of other metaphysical questions that arise in the daily lives of lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender and queer folk with no venue for expression.
We hope you will join us.
Robert Patton facilitated the first Queer Spiritual Discussion Group
in Bennington, and Elvis LaCoste is scheduled to lead the next one, to
be held this fall.