This 11-part series, plus a Conclusion, a Prologue, and an Epilogue, represents a journey from the author’s childhood through his late 50’s. It is truly a spiritual journey, from disbelief through the kindling of faith. Our story starts about ten years before the author’s birth and ends 70 years later as he is approaching 60 years of age after the death of his parents.
I wrote this article as a grief mechanism. I started writing it nearly 3 weeks after my father’s death. It has helped me to clarify my thoughts and my feelings. It has helped me deal with the man I have become because of my parents and helped me to create a basis for moving on as an orphan.
I was raised without faith, in household where anything that could not be explained by science was complete and utter nonsense. During a couple of periods of my life, I searched for faith and came up empty because it did not fit with my view of the physical world and my own sensibilities.
This is the story of how I came to have the dawn of faith in God, in spirits, in life-after-death, despite my sensibilities and my upbringing. To understand how I turned non-belief into belief, such that I could not simply dismiss it as nonsense, you must meet my peers, and understand my upbringing.