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Member Profile: pilgrim9
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"Seeking satsang"
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I am a:
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62-year-old Man (Divorced)
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Located in:
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Bloomington, IN (USA) |
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Seeking a:
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Woman (35 to 62) |
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For:
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Dating, Serious Relationship, Marriage |
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Spirituality:
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Buddhist, Sufism, Other |
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| About Me
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I have been seeking Truth since the age of 20 or so, and eventually found my way to an orthodox Master and method decades ago. I have heard people say I am contemplative, serious (while a little mischievous and playful), musical, deep-thinking, hard-working. I am on the quiet side, especially in groups, but very much value meaningful 1-on-1 conversation.
I view marriage as an exercise the development of the virtues needed for unification with the Real, aka Divine Reality, and at the same time, a participation in Divine Love. "It is not for the love of the wife that the wife is dear, but for the love of Atma in her", according to the Upanishads; and "marriage half the religion", as it is said in Islam. If we must "love thy neighbor as thyself", that necessarily means that one's spouse, above all, is to be loved as "oneself"; she must be treasured and respected accordingly.
I would prefer not to "fall" in love (i.e. lose one's reason and sense), but rather to rise in love, transcending the selfish ego in selfless love of and appreciation for the other, whose qualities are an extension of and window to the Divine qualities. I have traditional values -- i believe in chivalry! :) , masculinity and femininity .... Something I feel needs to be said in light of the fact that these realities have become blurred and largely forgotten in today's Western civilization.
I love to read (metaphysics, philosophy, biographies, history, scriptures), to meditate and to study aspects of the spiritual life and of religions; the study of languages; and travel to foreign countries (especially traditional ones wherein religion is still the center of life) ... a year of study in India in the 1980s was transformative; India and Morocco are the 2 countries with a special place in my heart. I also love nature and hiking (I live in a forest), especially love to hike in the Rocky Mountains, and to walk on the beach. In my mind, a day without spending some significant time outside in nature, is a lost day! Other interests include my little felines (I have 2), gardening, classical music and Eastern music, poetry, and singing.
I am seeking a woman who puts her spirituality at the center of her life, with a sincere and loving soul, who is seeking wisdom, who can also be light-hearted and enjoy a good laugh as well ... A woman who has somewhat traditional values, likes quiet living in nature, likes hiking, learning and, of course, cats! Long hair and little to no makeup are a plus. Someone to whom I can open my soul and not feel vulnerable, yet who is capable of charitably but clearly correcting me when needed.
I once asked a friend how you know you truly love someone, and his response was, "When you see the other person's faults, and it does not diminish your love and respect in the least". This is the type of relationship for which I yearn.
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Basics
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My Sign:
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Taurus |
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I speak:
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English, Arabic, French, Tamil |
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Occupation:
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Rehabilitation |
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Education:
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Graduate Degree |
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Ethnicity:
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Caucasian |
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Height:
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5 11" (180 cm)
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Body Type:
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Slender |
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Eye Color:
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Brown |
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Hair Color:
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Light Brown |
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Hair Length:
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Short |
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Lifestyle
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I live with:
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Live alone |
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Have kids:
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No |
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Want (more) children:
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No |
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Willing To Relocate:
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Maybe
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Diet:
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Vegetarian, Health Food Nut |
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Smoking:
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No |
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Drinking:
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No |
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Exercise:
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exercise regularly |
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Pets:
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Cat |
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How I spend my free time:
- praying/meditating, reading, studying languages, hiking, gardening, traveling, playing with my cats , in addition to my work in rehabilitation (for the time being; retirement is not too far away!)
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| Personality
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My Personality:
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Intelligent, Quiet, Playful
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When out with friends, I'm usually:
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Trying to be a good listener
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What makes me laugh hardest:
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The Gods Must be Crazy . Tim Conway skits.
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I'm happiest when:
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meditating/praying in nature, in a medieval sanctuary, learning a language, listening to good classical or traditional Eastern music, reading with my feline Princess Cleopatra on my lap, traveling with friends
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The things that annoy me are:
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loud "rap" or "rock" music; pettiness; clutter
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The best day of my life was when:
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Whenever I invoke the holy Name of God .... that extension of the Eternal "now" in which God, all mercy and goodness, and all that is good and lovable, is present in His Name ("God and His Name are one", as saints in various spiritual traditions have said).
As a poem says ...
What was the greatest moment of our life?
Where the most happiness, in which event?
Was it a day of glory, or of love?
A moment we with holy people spent?
It must have been the moment we met God;
He entered into time, we don't know how;
But time is always there, and God is near,
And so the summit of our life is now.
-- Frithjof Schuon
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If I could have dinner with any three people, they would be:
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Jesus
Muhammad
Buddha
The reasons should be obvious, but I would only serve them dinner, being unworthy to tie their shoe, let alone "have dinner" with any of them .
Also Frithjof Schuon, Shankara, Plato, Ramana Maharshi, Ramakrishna, Ibn Arabi, Rumi, St. John the Apostle , Meister Echart, St Francis of Assisi, St Therese of Lisieux, and others
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Interests
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My interests, hobbies, and pastimes include...
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Gardening, History, Museums, Politics, Reading, Writing
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The physical activities I'm interested in are:
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Camping, Hiking/Backpacking, Walking, Yoga (hatha)
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For fun I like to...
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read, hike, play with my cats, garden, study languages, travel
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My favorite movies:
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I have not watched a movie in a long time, but a few that stand out in my memory are:
Ben Hur, Braveheart, The Gods Must be Crazy, Young Catherine, Glory, The Mission, Seven Years in Tibet, The Last Emperor, Dances with Wolves, The Sound of Music. Recently I have watched a few episodes of a long YouTube many-opart series on Yunus Emre, produced in Turkey
I tend to like historical movies -- reality -- rather than fiction , but I do enjoy certain operas like Carmen, or Man of Lamancha
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My favorite music:
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classical -- Handel, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn
Indian classical music
Gypsy music
Gamelan music
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My favorite books:
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Books of Frithjof Schuon are by far my favorite, and the foundation of my spiritual life.
A Guide for the Perplexed, by EF Schumacher, was the book that first really lit up my spiritual impulses, a book which turned my world-view and view of history upside down some 40 years ago. Also, Religion in the Modern World by Lord Northbourne, and Crisis in the Modern World by Rene Guenon. Ancient Beliefs and Modern Superstitions by Martin Lings.
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Values
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The virtues I consider most important are...
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Humility, Generosity, Patience
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The things I'm most grateful for in life are...
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my Mother
my health
my opportunities
my friends, including the lovely cats I have had
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My goals, and what I want out of life...
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transcending my petty ego and overcoming vices; becoming a mirror of Divine Reality (which requires me to be a lot more virtuous than I have yet. :). . When my soul passes to the next world, the greatest achievement would be that it is said of me, "Hic jacet nemo" ("here lies no one") ( from the writings of the great Indian metaphysician, Ananda Coomaraswsmy).
More particularly, retiring from my profession ; being married again and having a beautiful marriage; praying/meditating more intensely and regularly; having a more intense and regular intellectual life including learning a couple languages better.
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My greatest accomplishments in life have been...
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The most important accomplishment was finding my spiritual master, receiving an initiation from him. and adhering, albeit very imperfectly, to the path that he prescribed.
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Five or ten years from now, I see myself...
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retired from the modern workplace and living in a sort of spiritual retreat, with plenty of time for meditation, prayer, hiking/walking in nature, and study, with occasional travels to the mountains and distant lands.... Hopefully with a like-minded wife who shares my interests.
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My political inclination can be described as...
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Non-conformist
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Spirituality
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Spiritual Orientation:
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Buddhist, Sufism, Other
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I consider my spirituality...
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The central focus of my life
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What brought me to my spiritual path and motivated my interest...
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A professor who exposed to me to certain writings, and then the discovery of the sacred in Hinduism (in India) and eventually in traditional Catholicism and then in Islam; I also experienced and grew to love Buddhism through a professor who had been a Tibetan Buddhist nun, and from the unsurpassed image of the Buddha.. The sacred, which captivated me and convinced me of the shallowness and pointlessness of the militantly secular modern world, more or less "captured" me,, in a short space of time, at the age of 20, and the rest of my life has been an endeavor in figuring out how to best conform my life to that strong spiritual certitude.
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I consider the purpose of my spirituality to be...
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Connecting to something greater than myself, Building a personal relationship with God, Instilling morality and virtues
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After the body dies...
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Other
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I would define a spiritual experience as...
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Consciousness of the Absolute. Discernment between the Real and the illusory (the ephemeral), with concentration upon the Real. This is beyond the realm of the psyche.
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A spiritual experience I would like to share...
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These are private; if we get to know each other well, I can share my meager experiences; but I do not seek experiences, I simply seek to know and love God. Some of the greatest saints were those who God seemed to abandon, who did not have "experiences" but rather, experienced dryness or abandonment by God on the human plane and yet maintained the strongest certainty and faith in God's goodness and love.
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The spiritual books and authors that have had the greatest impact on me...
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Frithjof Schuon.
Rene Guenon
Titus Burckhart
Martin Lings
Ananda Coomaraswamy
Ramana Maharshi
Meister Eckhart
The Upanishads
The Bhagavad Gita
The Qur'an
The Gospels
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Who I'm Looking For
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I'm seeking a:
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Woman (35 to 62)
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Ethnicity:
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Any
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Height:
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5' 0" to 5' 8" (152cm to 173cm)
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Body Type:
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Slender, Average
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Hair Color:
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Any
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She should speak:
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English
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Education:
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Some College, Associates Degree, Bachelors Degree, Graduate Degree, PhD/Post Doctoral, School of Life
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Annual Income:
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Doesn't Matter
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Smoking:
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No
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Drinking:
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No, Social Drinker, Non-alcoholic beverages only
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Vegetarian:
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Doesn't Matter
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Has children:
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No, Yes (living away from her)
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Wants children:
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Probably not, No
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Personality:
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Caring, Playful, Intelligent
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When out with friends, she would be...
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The talkative one, The quiet one, Trying to be a good listener
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Spiritual Orientation:
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Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Muslim, Shinto, Sufism, Taoist, Yoga, Spiritual, not religious, Other
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She would consider her faith or spirituality...
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The central focus of her life, Very important
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