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The man who would be priest - Part three
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Conversations with... "The extraordinary, ordinary people that make Miami shine"
In part one of "The man who would be priest", Christian de la Huerta spoke honestly of the strict catholic upbringing dominating his youth and of his transformative college years, raising questions, leading to a separation from God and the catholic worldview of his youth. In part two, Christian awakens to a newfound reality, free from the projections and interpretations of organized religion and "a God created in their (man’s) image, rather than the reverse." We also glimpsed his life outside of the spiritual community and learned of his call back home, a journey “within” inspiring his own contact and direct experience of the sacred, a new understanding that “we are not separate from God”
AM: And so how did you go about renewing your spiritual life and your relationship with God?
CH: I slowly began developing an interest again towards the end of my twenties… even though my life was very enviable in many ways... I had this condo on the water, a nice car, a beautiful lover, art on my walls, beautiful Armani suits, I was sought after socially & professionally, but I was feeling emptier and emptier inside, like thinking to myself, there has to be more to life than this and yea some of it was probably triggered by the approaching dreaded three-zero (30). As I began to question, to look again, I started to search and right around that time I connected with a spiritual teacher here in Miami, through whom I learned this yoga breath-work (we are going to do later today), I learned meditation, I learned and began to understand the ego as a spiritual concept rather than a psychological concept, I began to learn about teachings of the East, mystical teachings of the West and the commonality between them and my life very quickly began to change.
AM: So when you stepped back into spirituality with this new understanding, this new book, did you realize then that you where kind of coming full circle and starting where you began?
CH: Well it wasn't quite coming full circle, unless you maybe look at it as a spiral. It was a completely different level.
AM: When I say coming full circle, I mean spiritually… because God was prominent in your life and then we, (people) turned that relationship into a sort of manufactured understanding of who God is, but the fact that you came around and that feeling, that fullness was back in your life.
CH: Yes, and another way of saying what you're saying is that I had begun to feel towards the end of my thirties almost as if I had an expanding hole in my gut and as I began to reconnect with different ways of looking at the sacred... not only looking at, but connecting with and having an experience of, through things like breath-work, shamanic rituals and other exercises like that. I developed a very personal, experiential relationship with the sacred and rediscovered service, which I always had this thing with… this kind of sense of mission. Since then I've never felt sad, a sense of lack of purpose or felt depressed again in my whole life.
AM: And so how do you feel when your purpose, your path of service is met with this archaic way of looking at what you are doing and to some extent even minimalizing your efforts... you know the idea that maybe this is unholy or some kind of sorcery or witch craft… how do you deal with that?
CH: Well, I understand it; I know that who I am and what I do is a threat to many people's status quo.
AM: But do you feel a sense sadness for others, for their lack of knowledge or understanding of what is being missed because they've bought into this whole religion picture and they are kind of living there… and most of them don't even really agree with what they are living with.
CH: Right, exactly. They are living a very hypocritical relationship, or at least a very inconsistent one.
AM: I ask the question partly out of curiosity and partly because I often feel a sense of sadness for people who cant even go into the space, because for them organized religion is so ingrained and they believe so much in that if you stray from man's interpretation of bible text, that you know your into sorcery and things like that. I guess I find it difficult to understand why so many people are married to that whole idea, which seems to put them in a position of constantly doing or living contrary to God's word.
CH: You know I guess I just don't feel sad about that any more. I can totally understand it and have felt sad about it before. I mean I feel compassion, but I also feel that its part of my job, its part of the world that we live in and for me it's about helping humanity awake, helping us continue to evolve in terms of consciousness.
AM: And what about your family... How are they with who you are in the world?
CH: It's interesting, most of my family have done this breath-work exercise we are going to do tonight with me. My dad died about three years ago, but initially my parents had a more difficult time with my joining an ashram and being a part of that spiritual community than with my being gay, because you know to them that was like I was going to be lost, go to hell for eternity, but then the years passed and, to use a Christian reference, "by their fruits you will know them"... you know they look in my eyes, they see the effects in my life, they see how people care for me, how kids love me and so they had to like at some point begin to question, maybe he is doing something right.
AM: So let me ask you about Miami… you moved here a few months ago?
CH: I signed the lease on this house February first, but I was away most of that month and away half of the time March through May, so I probably started living here... spending more than half of my time here in June.
AM: I know the first time we met, you touched on the Miami transition a little bit, but what specifically brings you back to Miami?
CH: That's a good question and I could say certain things about it like, my family is here and my mom's not getting any younger and there is another generation of nieces and nephews and most of my work is on the East Coast these days... but I would not have chosen Miami. I mean I knew I was done with California, but If I would have guessed, it would have definitely been New York or Boston, where most of my work tends to happen, so I feel like in a way I was tricked by the universe. The way I live my life is very much in relationship with the sacred, or... what ever that means to me, so it starts as a conversation and then I read for signs and what feels right. It's a very intuitive, guided way of living and it became clear, much to my surprise, right around the time we met and I think I was living in Key West or had spent the last 3 months living there and really enjoying it. You know I was getting some writing done, it was close but not to close to Miami... there was a nice buffer. Miami happened when my brother who lives in Miami Shores, asked me to house sit and I was like wow, I could actually do some work here and it makes a lot more sense. I'm much more accessible to people here than in Key West, close to Miami airport, Ft. Lauderdale, accessible to both communities... and I was like wait, slow down, not Miami.
Join me next time for the final installment in this four part series and learn of Miami's role in the spiritual awakening of America and read my personal account of Christian's Breath-Work class as I share for the first time the details of my incredible experience.
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