Spiritual Autobiography

One of the assignments I have to do for this class is to write a short paper on my spiritual journey focusing on my earliest childhood memories.  Should make for a very interesting read:)  I came across some questions today that I think will be helpful as I think through my earliest memories and try to make sense of them.  I found them on this site:  http://spiritualdevelopmentcenter.org/ 

Here they are:

• What is your first name and age and where do you live?
• Does your name have a meaning or a story attached to it?
• As a child, what did your parents teach about religion? What did they teach about good and evil? How has your family’s religious background affected you?
• What scriptures or other books did your family regard as holy? How seriously were the teachings in them taken?
• How did you perceive God or the sacred when you were a child?
• Did your family observe any religious rituals? How were those rituals related to their beliefs?
• Have there been times when you felt the presence of the sacred outside your place of worship, when there were no priests, pastors, rabbis, or other teachers around? What was that experience like?
• How is your present religious affiliation or spiritual life similar to or different from your parents’? How did the change, if any, come about? Was it a long process or short? Easy or difficult?
• When have you experienced awe or wonder? Where were you, and what happened?
• Who are your saints, holy people, spiritual teachers?
• What are the important words and stories of the philosophies or religions that have shaped you?
• What holy days do you celebrate?
• Are your spiritual beliefs or values relevant to what you wear, what you do, who you are friends with?
• Has a belief in God, other deities, or a sense of something larger than yourself, shown itself in the ordinary, everyday events of your life?
• Do seemingly random events of your life seem to reveal interconnectedness?
• Call to mind the significant turning points in your life; what are they?
• What are the most significant decisions you have made?
• What are the most intense struggles and conflicts, successes and failures you have experienced?
• Have you ever felt or experienced a sense of being “called” to do something?
• How do you plan to live out your beliefs in the future?

Not exactly the typical questions you would answer to come up with your testimony.  Looking forward to the experience, digging a little deeper.  Maybe I'll be brave enough to post what I come up with;)