To Each Their Own Path

When I was thirteen, I started to read this really spiritual magazine that talked a lot about meditation. It talked about sitting in a quiet place, preferably outside, with your legs crossed Indian-style, your back relaxed but straight, your palms slightly open to the sky to receive your blessing. It talked about opening your chakras from the base up until your crown chakra opened in a flash and you were suddenly communing with your higher self. It talked about healing and finding your purpose through right meditation.

I remember my mom finding my stacks of these magazines with articles that had names like "The Passing Age of Pisces"" and "Understanding the God Within."

The stack was under my bed. My mom was a fundamentalist Protestant with no tolerance for the devil's work being allowed in her house, so she threw the magazines into a dumpster behind the grocery store and told me she'd ground my ass for a year if she ever found that witchcraft in my room again.

My favorite article from all of those magazines had been called "The Art in Loving Your Neighbor."

My second favorite, "To Each Their Own Path."