My Autobiography For Spiritual Purposes - 1621 Words

Acknowledging my history as a Native American man is critical to my identity. Culture and spirituality have intertwined with history for many members of the Yakama Nation. Through time immemorial, Native Americans connected to spirituality through the earth and they never separated. My autobiography for spiritual purposes begins May 22nd 1982 where I was born into the world half Yakama and half Caucasian. We practiced the Christian belief system on my mother’s side. Frequently, we would attend church with her or my grandparents. They would frequently drop us off in the youth group where they would attempt to teach us the religious practices via cartoons and coloring books. Our grandparents took us on every possible church event in the†¦show more content†¦Most of my youth had been spent much like Carl Jung, as a loner of sorts from other students. I was a quiet kid and kept much to myself. As a youth, I did feel that God had a presence and importance in my life. I did not feel the larger connection to worship and deeper spirituality. In childhood, subconsciously I had begun mixing my actual perceived believes and actual Christianity to form my actual practiced religion. â€Å"Religious experience according to Fromm is an experience of unity with the All, grounded on our relatedness to the world† (Fuller A. , 2008). To explain, I would take whatever made sense, s uch as a God figure. I would also understand that everything had a spirit and that included inanimate objects. I did feel that people were capable of sinning and it was something that was not good. Our mother did her best as a single parent and frequently relied on our Grandparents for support. Due to spending so much time with our Grandparents our beliefs shifted to mirror Christianity. Adolescence was a time of change for my spiritual focus. I had stopped attending the Christian church with my grandparents. The focus had changed internally and onto things that interested me as a young growing adult. I had begun taking up new things that caught my interest such as sports, acting, and friends. Longhouse principles had stuck with me through this area as I continued with traditional dancing. â€Å"Allport makes the