Open Post on the Lonliness of the Magical/Esoteric Path

[causticus]

General discussion thread for how to deal with the loneliness issues that tend to creep up as one advances further down this path. The usual etiquette of Ecosphian discussions apply here.

Comments

[jprussell]

I'm fairly new to a lot of this stuff, and my wife is mostly in the "spiritual but not religious" camp. We've also been together a pretty long time (married almost 11 years, together ~14). She has expressed some worry that my beliefs might take me in directions she's not going, but so far I've stressed that a lot of what I'm getting out of my prayer and meditation lines up pretty squarely with "be a better husband and father", and I've been able to demonstrate that to some degree, so that's taken away some of the fear/discomfort.

As for the more esoteric stuff, she has a cultural/psychological interest in that kind of thing (she's a writer and she is interested in it as story fodder, at least), and I've had the same since long before taking it seriously, so we can at least talk about things on that level (for example, a recent show we were watching had a Neoplatonist concept, which she recognized from Emerson, and I recognized from JMG). I've mentioned the divination, but I just call my daily ~45 minutes of ritual, meditation, and divination my "meditation".

Of course, I've also had lots of practice focusing on what we do have in common and what beliefs we do share while letting differences be different, as we have fairly different political outlooks. I suppose that would be the general thought behind what has worked so far (and still pretty new at this!) - focusing on the love and life we share while letting other parts of ourselves be different, even to the point of disagreement. It's not without occasional friction, but seems to be working for us.

I wish you and your husband good luck!

[lp9]

Thank you for your thoughts. That's very good advice which I will try to implement.

I also have my 45-minute "meditation" every night. :) My husband and I have so much in common and have been on the same page for so long that this is a new situation. And when my spiritual practices take us to different political places--and so much is political these days--it makes my husband very uncomfortable.