About Spirituality X
A space for curiosity about spiritual experience. Thoughtful, empathic, and thorough. Zero fluff, hostility, or dogma.
A space for curiosity about spiritual experience. Thoughtful, empathic, and thorough. Zero fluff, hostility, or dogma.
In mid-2016, I had a spiritual awakening. And I’ve been picking up the pieces ever since.
My name is Lydia. I’m a writer, researcher, and media strategist.
So I developed a series of interviews with smart, thoughtful people who have gone deep on spiritual practice.
And I hosted conversations in my home city, San Francisco. The main event was the Spirituality X Film Series—you can read the list of movies I screened by clicking here!
It was a great project; I got a lot out of it and I still think about this stuff every day. Specific questions I’m curious about:
• How do thoughtful, non-dogmatic people experience spirituality?
• What do they do to get closer to that feeling?
• How does spirituality influence people’s lives?
• What high-level patterns emerge across different spiritual practices?
• What questions consume other people about spirituality?
And here’s why:
Before my Very Important Spiritual Awakening (tm), I didn’t see myself as a spiritual person. I consider myself smart and educated — and I thought spirituality was fluffy, thin, and poorly reasoned. Until it happened to me!
I felt alone and possibly insane, afraid to tell my loved ones. I desperately wanted to learn more, but none of the religions I’ve encountered seemed like the One True Answer.
So after my Whatever It Was, I spent months feverishly researching spiritual paradigms. Have I found The Answer?
Haha!! NOPE!
But I’ve found enough that I want to keep learning, forever!
Pledge to My Audience
I will be thorough and own my perspective.
I will do my research. And I’m always happy to explain my motives. If I’m biased about something, then I’ll do my best to admit it up front.
I will explain where my information is coming from.
If I saw it in an article, I will link you to the article. If I read it in an academic paper, I’ll cite the paper. If I heard it from an occultist during a dark ritual, I will tell you which school of magic the occultist hails from.
Qualifications or whatever
My writing about culture, technology, media, and identity has been published in Vice, The Atlantic, The Harvard Business Review, and lots of other places. I’ve spoken at Stanford, U. C. Berkeley, University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Reed College, Bard College, Smith College, and others.
Someone recently called me a “reporter on the future of the human heart & mind.” ♥
I earn my living here in SF as a digital media consultant. I specialize in thought leadership, expert communities, and high-quality social networks. I’ve also worked for award-winning media and creative companies. Twitter! LinkedIn!
FAQ
Can I contribute to Spirituality X?
I haven’t updated this project in a while, but maybe! Send me an email. lydia.laurenson@gmail.com
How was this funded? Now that the project has quieted down, can I convince you to do more spirituality-related work by giving you money?
I never made any money on Spirituality X (in fact I spent money making it happen). If you want to hire me or just send money, feel free! And thank you!! ♥ lydia.laurenson@gmail.com
What’s your religious background?
I was raised Unitarian Universalist. The top tenet of Unitarian Universalism is: “We covenant to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person.” Otherwise, there’s not much dogma.
My father helps organize the IRAS Conference — Institute on Religion in an Age of Science. My mother was trained as a Unitarian minister at Meadville-Lombard, although she is not currently a minister. One of my majors in college was Religious Studies (the others were Philosophy and Design). So I know a lot about religion as a cultural institution, but spirituality came as a giant surprise to me!
What happened during your spiritual awakening?
I’ll write about it… eventually!
