WOW, we are actually doing this...I am not sure exactly where to start, so I shall wing-it. My name is Dan Plumlee I am a 30 something family man with your normal job, normal car, normal house, etc...I grew up in central Indiana smack in the middle of the Bible-belt. My mother introduced me to Christian church/beliefs at a young age, though we were never regulars we always attended on the important occasions, I especially remember Easters. As I grew up I was fortunate to have a mother who allowed me to explore religion(s), and I can remember attending various churches alone as young as 13.
I can say from ages 13-18 I attended just about every church/faith you could think of...at one time even doing a bible study with the Jehovah's witnesses. I read about: Shamanism, Islam, Hinduism, Taoism...you name it, I read about it. I remember easily identifying the commonalities in all the beliefs, seeing the central theme of "be a good person." but all of them seemed to say there way was the only way to achieve that goal of being a good person. All this and I still never found what I was looking for...I could never connect. From 18ish to my mid 20's I kind of let belief take a back-seat to life, love, all the normal day-to-day things, but as you have heard so many people say I felt like I was missing something. I cannot recall the exact day or reason but I remember picking up a book by Lama Surya Das and I couldn't put it down...I was captivated, hooked. I remember from that day forward grabbing every book on Buddhism I could find no matter if it was: Zen, Tibetan, Chinese, etc…I didn’t care I just loved what I read.
I am going to side-step for just a moment and share how I met my best-friend/brother/co-author of this blog…because it’s important how he fits into this. Sometime in my 20’s while finding life, love and all that good stuff I had the pleasure of meeting Matt through a friend-of-a-friend. Matt and I instantly connected and started a deep friendship. As with all friendships we discussed everything…including religion, and we were both amazed at how similar our paths were…and how much we both loved Eastern religions (more on this later…but back to my story).
As I am sure many people can identify with as I read these I had questions, I craved more…so I began my search for a group, a place to study…to answer my questions. So, what do I do? Being a computer geek I do the natural thing and search the web for local places. Living in the heart of Indian I am lucky in my search and find a couple of local places…so I grab Matt and we venture out to the great un-known. Talk about culture-shock…wow I remember the first night like it was yesterday, for the first time ever Matt and I were speechless after the class! That speechlessness was short-lived and Matt and I began to discuss our take(s) on the night. Both of us agreed it was a unique experience, we loved the message, but boy the ritual was just weird. We both agreed maybe it was just culture shock, and agreed to continue taking the classes.
I can say after repeated trips the ritual never got easier, so we decided to try another “group,” and to our surprise it was the same. It’s that moment…sitting in my car Matt and I talked and agreed…ALL organized religion is lost in the traditions…the message is buried behind the rituals. I recalled my Church visits, where it’s do this, then this, followed by this. It’s like how I prefer texting over phone calls…not because I don’t like talking but in these busy times I just want the message. There is a time and place for socializing but somehow every phone call turned into a ritual “Hi”, “How are you?”, “How’s the family”…then at some point you finally get the point of the call. The message is lost in the ritual.
I want spirituality...I want to be a better person…I want to study my beliefs, but I want to study the root. Am I being selfish? Am I missing the wax-on, wax-off portion of the teaching? If I am I don’t care…I don’t know how long I have on this earth, and each day I miss out on truly following my belief is another day of some form of unhappiness. After all, we are taught in so many other facets of life “Each person has their own way of learning” or “it’s not as important how you get there, just that you got there.” Why can’t you just say “Here is what the ultimate goal is…now get there?
Well it’s time for a revolution, and Matt and I are leading the pack! It’s time to wake-up, step away from the mindless hum-drum, grasp what you belief…and BE TRUE TO YOURSELF! It’s time to have your Rite Without!!
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