> I experienced a euphoria that I cannot render into words ...
You don't think this euphoria was simply a 12 year old going from a social outcast at an isolated camp to being accepted as part of the group? In other words, was religion a factor or just along for the ride. Meditation is rather a solo thing compared to being accepted as a peer in a high pressure group. In any case, at that age I definitely would have done the same thing.
So here's my conversion story. When I was about that same age I went on a church hay ride at a friends church because at that age hay rides were a lot of fun. A few weeks later a couple guys from the church show up at the front door asking to speak to me. My folks were out somewhere at the time and I was trusted enough to look after myself. The two guys said that they had talked with me at the hay ride and I had expressed an interest in their church. They wanted to chat some more about it. I had no idea what they were talking about, but I had talked to a bunch of people that day. So they came in and we sat down at the kitchen table. We talked for about a half hour, I said yes when expected, and we read some passages from the bible. Next thing I know they're saying they are glad I joined their church and would see me at services on the upcoming Sunday.
Oops!
I didn't go back to the church. But here's the funny thing. Turns out the priests (or whatever) had the wrong person. There really was someone else who had wanted to join that church and they'd just gotten the names mixed up. I was an accidental conversion because I had no idea what was going on and was too polite to "grown-ups" to tell them so.
No euphoria though. Just a general weirdness to the whole thing. Guess meditation would have been better.
> I experienced a euphoria that I cannot render into words ...
ReplyDeleteYou don't think this euphoria was simply a 12 year old going from a social outcast at an isolated camp to being accepted as part of the group? In other words, was religion a factor or just along for the ride. Meditation is rather a solo thing compared to being accepted as a peer in a high pressure group. In any case, at that age I definitely would have done the same thing.
> You don't think this euphoria was simply a 12 year old going from a social outcast at an isolated camp to being accepted as part of the group?
ReplyDeleteYes, of course that's what it was. But I didn't realize that *at the time*.
So here's my conversion story. When I was about that same age I went on a church hay ride at a friends church because at that age hay rides were a lot of fun. A few weeks later a couple guys from the church show up at the front door asking to speak to me. My folks were out somewhere at the time and I was trusted enough to look after myself. The two guys said that they had talked with me at the hay ride and I had expressed an interest in their church. They wanted to chat some more about it. I had no idea what they were talking about, but I had talked to a bunch of people that day. So they came in and we sat down at the kitchen table. We talked for about a half hour, I said yes when expected, and we read some passages from the bible. Next thing I know they're saying they are glad I joined their church and would see me at services on the upcoming Sunday.
ReplyDeleteOops!
I didn't go back to the church. But here's the funny thing. Turns out the priests (or whatever) had the wrong person. There really was someone else who had wanted to join that church and they'd just gotten the names mixed up. I was an accidental conversion because I had no idea what was going on and was too polite to "grown-ups" to tell them so.
No euphoria though. Just a general weirdness to the whole thing. Guess meditation would have been better.