Help: Are you "out" spiritually?

I would love some gentle advice or insight on this topic weighing on my mind.

The general question I have is: are you "out" to your friends spiritually? Do your coworkers know? Would you proudly talk about a recent remote viewing on your facebook page (as an example)?

My personal question is more complex.

I am a writer. I have a "following" (lol, that feels icky to say). Which isn't to say I'm hugely famous More like I have somewhere around 100,000 people that "hear" me. More than usual but I'm not a Kardashian, right? I've written books and for magazines about social issues of import to me. LGBT rights, feminism, parenting, things along those lines. I teach classes and workshops and people come to me for guidance on specific issues.

I've been a buddhist for a decade and no one in my circle is surprised by that. However, I've recently felt called to talk more about my spiritual journey. I've had what I would call (it is all relative) slow spiritual progress my whole life and then last february I had an awakening experience that has made my lazy river ride of spiritual growth into swift bubbling rapids. Does that make sense? In that time I've backed off considerably from my social work because I was just too busy acclimating to my new journey.

Now I'm feeling called to write again but this time about my spiritual journey and how it relates to the topics I cared about before. What I care about hasn't changed. How I view it has been profoundly changed.

1. One side of me embraces this fully. As a writer I've always poured my life out ugly parts and all as an example for my writing (which is why people respond to me I think. I'm not preachy just "check out this idea"). I feel like to hide this part of myself would clog my writing in a way that it would no longer be authentic nor effective to the people who read it. This side of me thinks I should use my current outlets (blogs, fb pages, etc.) to continue what I've always done: share my journey including my spiritual journey.

2. The other side of me sees that if I were to talk about certain things I would immediately be labeled a "quack". I'm ok with that. I'm not attached to what others think of me. But I am attached to the work I've put out there and how much it has helped people. I am afraid to have my work discredited not because it would be a blow to my ego (it would have a year ago) but because I know it will then reach fewer people, change fewer lives. That kind of breaks my heart. This side of me thinks I should start a new, anonymous online persona to talk about some things and continue my work under my real name sans spirituality.

#2 seem dishonest to me. I've never been a private person and holding back a part of me seems, idk, icky.

I've been battling this connundrum for six months now. One day I just see so clearly what I need to do and the next day I am unsure or I feel the opposite. I've been meditating for clarity but it escapes me.

Thank you for reading this far I appreciate your help so much because I really feel conflicted.

For the record the people close to me vote for #2. They are motivated by fear of the backlash I will receive and also much more tied to the monetary benefits of my work (I am not). I also have children and my close circle fears that "outing" myself would place scrutiny on my family. We are already quite "non-mainstream" which I'm sure you can imagine is frowned upon by "The State". Plenty of things like not going to the doctor and instead visiting a reiki master (as an example) are perfectly legal and yet with a nosey neighbors call to CPS make you very suspect. I don't want to dwell in that fear.

What do you see in this? Do you see me clinging to something egoic? Is this just pride in my previous work that I need to work on? Have you dealt with anything similar?

Thank you for reading the struggles of an internet stranger. It is just 1 and 0 but it makes a world of difference to me.

Most people among (actual) friends know what I'm up to spiritually. I would be unable to class them as friends if there isn't a mutual acceptance. (I said "actual" because I class friends as different from the glib "facebook-styled" non-hostiles I understand pass for friends on social sites.)

But I'm in an artistic field so people probably think I'm weird anyway! That's up to them. I feel no particular unease. When I look around and observe what passes as normal I'm glad I'm weird.

♫

Originally Posted by Lorelyen

Most people among (actual) friends know what I'm up to spiritually. I would be unable to class them as friends if there isn't a mutual acceptance. (I said "actual" because I class friends as different from the glib "facebook-styled" non-hostiles I understand pass for friends on social sites.)

But I'm in an artistic field so people probably think I'm weird anyway! That's up to them. I feel no particular unease. When I look around and observe what passes as normal I'm glad I'm weird.

♫

Good point about "types" of friends. The people who follow me do so for a very limited slice of my life, ya know? They "friend" me because we agree on xyz. Not because they *know* me.

I guess a third option I haven't considered is to retreat from this audience of non-hostiles (love it) into a smaller group of actual friends.

[ScorpCap]

I'm in the embryonic stages of my journey so I'm barely "out" to myself. :-)
You could test the waters by forming a private. FB group for people of like-minded interests, and then decide whether you want it to be only for people you are acquainted with, or for anyone who has an interest and who may know you from your other work.

[Miss Hepburn]

Look what happened to, say, Dr Brian Weiss.
He thought he could lose his license and credibility.
He has excelled in his research and profession.

You are not afraid of monetary repercussions.
Good.
Be fearless.
You have the strength of knowing this next step is right.
Never let others' fear stop you...be who you are and have become.

Trust this.
Ease into this new you to others.

I trust that you can do it with finesse.
Those you lose will be less than the those who stick by you and
grow with you.
My opinion.

[Miss Hepburn]

Also, when you have a decision to make this is what I advise:

Lay on your back relaxed or in a recliner.
Breathe easily, eyes closed picture you have made decision A.
(And all the scenarios down the road...)
How do you feel?

Do the same after a few breathes of clearing the last image.
Now imagine doing decision B and all it's aspects....how do you feeeel?

You will know which is correct for you.
You are a leader...so lead.

[LadyMay]

Eventually I had no choice whether or not I wanted to 'come out' to the people around me. I couldn't continue to hide something so integral in my life.

Seems like people that already know your work, etc...would understand this is just a part of your journey and that it is your Truth....therefore....what is there to scrutinize or worry about?

They are your insights...views change and grow...I wouldn't worry about what people think...Easy to say, I know, but you should speak your Truth...If it's real to you, don't be ashamed of it.

[kkfern]

holy looking in a mirror batman.

yes, i am out of the closet. that is even the name of the book i wrote. my whole life has been about coming "out". i have no following. not even published (yet???) i do have experience. the book is crafted about the closet. about why i had to hid in the closet and what finally got me out. it is a 60 year journey. full of twists and turns that make up life.

i love being out. i feel i can finally breath. the air was so thin when i was born in the 50's. there was no place for the little psychic that kept doing things she had to keep secret. so being out now is wonderful. so my advice is to come out. speak out. be out.

i did loose things in coming out. most of my VERY catholic family. but at work now, i am out and it is fun. people wonder about why i act as free an fun as i do. it is because i am what i am. having died three times already has taught me how to live.

one of the down sides of coming out is people, spiritual people, think it is all about your ego and that you are just talking to much. acting like a know it all.

i started out being psychic. it was as natural as breathing. i later learned about being spiritual. then i think i need a new word and maybe mystic is the word. the way i see it is, being spiritual is like being Christopher Columbus. finding the new world and bring the old world into it. then there is the mystic. that like Marco Polo who will explore the new world and see how it is. CC missed out on the new ways. MP learned of the new ways. but if you are not CC you can never become MP.

me, i vote for #3. not sure what that is. i learned long ago that if you are between a rock and a hard place, get out. i mean who wants to get smashed. usually it is because there is a third option. i have found that in spirituality, you are not in the driver seat. spirit will lead you. all you have to do is look for the signs.

i wish you well

kk

[Kate Matthews]

Originally Posted by kkfern

holy looking in a mirror batman.

kk

KKfern, you had me really laughing out loud at this one. I wanted you to know I love reading what you write. I can see why you write books.