OVERCOMING RELIGION (PDF-1706)

Way back at the beginning of my attempts to meditate, I used to wonder how silly I must look sitting there trying to meditate, much less saying prayers of any kind. I seemed like such a hypocrite for, after all, I am not particularly religious. At that time I was probably in full reaction to my Catholic upbringing, which was, spiritually speaking, rather brutal. Anything that smacked of religion or laying down the law was immediately off the menu.

My experience in Catholic school, catechism class, mass on Sundays, and being an altar boy left its mark. About the only good thing that came from my brush with Catholicism was a sense of mystery about life, and a flair for the mystical. Everything else was something to suppress in my memory. And I was so innocent, as this story will tell.