Are you tired of everywhere you look on AP, there's another religious group being crammed in your face? We are too!
Are we anti-religion? NO! Religion is a great and personal thing.
And really there is no right or wrong religion in our eyes.
But, this is a community based on poetry. There is no place for religious debate and squander here, and it seems as though it has come to that at times.
Religious poetry is a personal reflection of who we are and it is a wonderful read as long as we all keep an open mind on it, it's not about who's God or Goddess is right or wrong and commenting on someone's religious piece should be kept diplomatic and with respect.
But too often than not, it seems, others are unable to comment on religious pieces without having to argue the point of their religious preferences right there in the comment box! What does that really do for the poet? NOTHING! Because it has now become a religious debate or attack (many times, but not always) that does nothing for seeing the poem itself as a form of art and expression.
What this contest is about is expressing yourself spiritually without attaching a particular religion to the spirituality.
What if there were no words such as Christianity, Wiccan, Pagan, Taoist, Catholic, God, Goddess, Buddha, Jesus etc.? What then? Could you still express your spirituality? Of course you could if you were truly spiritual, because spirituality goes beyond the words that embody religion.
We are looking for original pieces that express the spirituality of religion within us all from a personal perspective without the use of religious crutch words.
Showing how in essence we are all spiritual in our own ways and open minded enough to encompass all religions leaving us feeling spiritual and enlightened no matter what belief system we have chosen.
How do you do this? Use your senses and creativity as a Poet to bring the feelings and imagery to light.
The choices
1) Tell us about a place that makes you feel spiritual. Describe it: what do you see, what do you feel there. Whether it is in a church or out in nature etc. Again without using any deity names or religious crutch words.
2) Describe a part of your religion or belief system, in a way that does not use any deity form, so that someone of any religion can feel and understand it's essence and see the similarities to their own. We don't want a prayer here or speaking to the Deity, but more of the belief system itself without saying that you believe in a particular Deity or religion etc.
3) Tell us what spirituality means to you with vivid imagery, again without using deity names or crutch words.
BE SURE TO WRITE THE CHOICE NUMBER IN THE AUTHOR'S COMMENTS
The real object is to be able to freely express yourself in such a way, that we all as humans can encompass and appreciate the spiritual nature of ourselves and each other without putting a particular name on our chosen religion, and bringing us all closer to each other with respect for each other not only as a human beings, but as fellow POETS.
It can be done! So let's do it and have fun doing it!
The Rules: (BE SURE TO READ THE RULES - PLEASE)
1) Absolutely NO profanity or bashing of another's religious beliefs in any way, shape or form or you will be disqualified immediately!
2) Again, this is not to included any names of deities or specific religious words,such as Christian, Wiccan, Pagan, The Holy Ghost, King of Kings, Buddhist, God, Jesus, Goddess (or the name of a particular God or Goddess) and so on, or you will be disqualified for not following the guidelines.
3) The poem must be at least 24 lines long, but not more than 50.
Any style is fine! You can enter the contest up to two times.
4) Pre-writes are acceptable if they fall under our guidelines, however,
only one pre-write per poet will be accepted. If you enter more than
once, one of them needs to be an original piece.
Hint, hint here - we would prefer ORIGINAL pieces.
1st prize is 300 pts
2nd prize is 200 pts
3rd price is 100 pts
Other prizes may also be awarded, depending on the amount of entries to the contest.
Also, it is not required, but is highly recommended as a common courtesy, that you comment on other entries to this contest and support each other in your creative expressions. If you do comment on another's entry, please put the title of it in your author's notes so that we are sure to notice.
Also in commenting, please refrain from "I don't believe in this but..." comments etc, again this is the very thing we are trying to avoid. See the poem and poet in the light of spirituality, objectively. It doesn't matter if you do not agree with their views on spirituality or what religion they are or you are. See the poem as a work of art and view it as such.
REMINDER BE SURE TO READ THE RULES!!!!!!!!
Are we anti-religion? NO! Religion is a great and personal thing.
And really there is no right or wrong religion in our eyes.
But, this is a community based on poetry. There is no place for religious debate and squander here, and it seems as though it has come to that at times.
Religious poetry is a personal reflection of who we are and it is a wonderful read as long as we all keep an open mind on it, it's not about who's God or Goddess is right or wrong and commenting on someone's religious piece should be kept diplomatic and with respect.
But too often than not, it seems, others are unable to comment on religious pieces without having to argue the point of their religious preferences right there in the comment box! What does that really do for the poet? NOTHING! Because it has now become a religious debate or attack (many times, but not always) that does nothing for seeing the poem itself as a form of art and expression.
What this contest is about is expressing yourself spiritually without attaching a particular religion to the spirituality.
What if there were no words such as Christianity, Wiccan, Pagan, Taoist, Catholic, God, Goddess, Buddha, Jesus etc.? What then? Could you still express your spirituality? Of course you could if you were truly spiritual, because spirituality goes beyond the words that embody religion.
We are looking for original pieces that express the spirituality of religion within us all from a personal perspective without the use of religious crutch words.
Showing how in essence we are all spiritual in our own ways and open minded enough to encompass all religions leaving us feeling spiritual and enlightened no matter what belief system we have chosen.
How do you do this? Use your senses and creativity as a Poet to bring the feelings and imagery to light.
The choices
1) Tell us about a place that makes you feel spiritual. Describe it: what do you see, what do you feel there. Whether it is in a church or out in nature etc. Again without using any deity names or religious crutch words.
2) Describe a part of your religion or belief system, in a way that does not use any deity form, so that someone of any religion can feel and understand it's essence and see the similarities to their own. We don't want a prayer here or speaking to the Deity, but more of the belief system itself without saying that you believe in a particular Deity or religion etc.
3) Tell us what spirituality means to you with vivid imagery, again without using deity names or crutch words.
BE SURE TO WRITE THE CHOICE NUMBER IN THE AUTHOR'S COMMENTS
The real object is to be able to freely express yourself in such a way, that we all as humans can encompass and appreciate the spiritual nature of ourselves and each other without putting a particular name on our chosen religion, and bringing us all closer to each other with respect for each other not only as a human beings, but as fellow POETS.
It can be done! So let's do it and have fun doing it!
The Rules: (BE SURE TO READ THE RULES - PLEASE)
1) Absolutely NO profanity or bashing of another's religious beliefs in any way, shape or form or you will be disqualified immediately!
2) Again, this is not to included any names of deities or specific religious words,such as Christian, Wiccan, Pagan, The Holy Ghost, King of Kings, Buddhist, God, Jesus, Goddess (or the name of a particular God or Goddess) and so on, or you will be disqualified for not following the guidelines.
3) The poem must be at least 24 lines long, but not more than 50.
Any style is fine! You can enter the contest up to two times.
4) Pre-writes are acceptable if they fall under our guidelines, however,
only one pre-write per poet will be accepted. If you enter more than
once, one of them needs to be an original piece.
Hint, hint here - we would prefer ORIGINAL pieces.
1st prize is 300 pts
2nd prize is 200 pts
3rd price is 100 pts
Other prizes may also be awarded, depending on the amount of entries to the contest.
Also, it is not required, but is highly recommended as a common courtesy, that you comment on other entries to this contest and support each other in your creative expressions. If you do comment on another's entry, please put the title of it in your author's notes so that we are sure to notice.
Also in commenting, please refrain from "I don't believe in this but..." comments etc, again this is the very thing we are trying to avoid. See the poem and poet in the light of spirituality, objectively. It doesn't matter if you do not agree with their views on spirituality or what religion they are or you are. See the poem as a work of art and view it as such.
REMINDER BE SURE TO READ THE RULES!!!!!!!!
Contest is Over
- Contest was judged on September 11, 2004
- Rewards: Gold: 300
- Final notes: This was a tough contest! romantic-soul, kvwriter, poetic escape and I had a really hard time choosing the winners on this. We've been reading and re-reading to get this judged finally. Again this contest was NOT about religion, but spirituality itself. There really are some incredible pieces here, all so very different and we appreciate each and every entry to this contest, you all made it a wonderful challenge for us and we thank you all for sharing your talent and thoughts with us. But...we can only have three trophy winners so here they are:
1st Place goes to Guardian Angel for "Spiritual Motion"
It was agreed that this is a truly outstanding piece written about the Spirit world, which ventures into most religions and we felt everyone could relate to on a spiritual level. Not only was it beautifully done with an excellent flow, it left us all with an overall sense of awe and peace as we read it.
2nd Place goes to Shadow Aelf for "Se Destai"
A wonderfully unique piece, done in the setting of nature, that was not only creative, but held a dream like quality that inspired spirituality within each of us as well. It also shows a strong spiritual belief system without pointing at a specific religion, which is what spirituality is all about. Superb piece!
3rd Place goes to Fallenkitsune for "Dancing Around the Fire"
Another stellar piece, unique in wording, enchancing nature into the spiritual belief system, that can be related to by most people. It flows so beautifully and inspired the need to get in touch with the inner self as well as nature.
I really don't think I can praise any of these piece enough here, they are all different and unique in their own way and well worth reading and winning.
While each piece in the contest was note worthy and we enjoyed them all there are a few more than we feel are worth an honorable mention here, so I've listed them, unfortuately I don't have room to comment here on each one, but they were right up there in the narrowing down of the winners and deserve to be recognized.
Illumination by peaseeker
Something by leannewales
The city by morgana
The Beacon by Peaseeker
Nature's comfort by theheartofme
Scattered by Pamela
Whisper of the wind by Queen
This was definately a hard contest to judge. Thanks again to each and everyone for entering your lovely pieces, they were much enjoyed and appreciated.
Namaste' Gypsy
Entries [16]
1 - 16 of 16
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I was quite religious, once
when I was just a kid• Commented on by judge. -
• Commented on by judge.
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They are behind the veil, once again.
Still bright and ever gleaming,• Commented on by judge. -
Something nudges at me
when I feel that I am wrong,by leannewales 30 lines, 23 comments, on Jul 2 11:58 AM 2004. In Personal• Commented on by judge. -
• Commented on by judge.
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I step down to air and feel the rush,
A beam of sun, and lovers touch,• Commented on by judge. -
To enter the sacred circle, to dream of futures still untold
The raising of endless magick, a mist of golden spirals• Commented on by judge. -
• Commented on by judge.
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What does exsistence come down to in the end
What is reality between me and a friendby Night Dragon 47 lines, 1 comment, on Aug 30 11:26 PM 2004. In Spiritual• Commented on by judge. -
My soul has found it's way upon an avians wings
the air rushes in and around usby TheEnigmaOfLife 46 lines, 12 comments, on Sep 9 6:49 PM 2004. In Personal, Spiritual, Contemporary• Commented on by judge. -
Shaking shaking always aching
I cannot believe I am really bakingby 10 lines, 1 comment, on Sep 9 10:04 PM 2004. In Dark• Commented on by judge. -
I swear its killin me.• Commented on by judge.
Bronze trophy winner
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Comments
1 - 30 of 30
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I love the idea of your contest! Religion is just a way to channel your own spiritual instincts..whatever religion we choose is up to us, and they are all right.
Thank you so much for posting this!!!
-morgana
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This is a great contest. Its about time someone hosted a "Spiritual" contest while at the same time, understanding that spiritual does not mean offending others or promoting your own religion. ~Great contest
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hey love Hehe. Awesome contest...Ok, I have a question. Can the title have God or Goddess in it?
Not the name..just God or Goddess? lol
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I've got the perfect poem for this contest, except it's in another one right now; when that's done being judged, I'll probably submit it into this one.
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Hi hun, Nope! Not even in the title. There are many ways to express that without titling it as such
You can do it, I know you can 
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neat.. ill be looking forward to reading some of these entries. this could really test people's ability to turn a phrase. good job.
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Will see you September 9th. This will be interesting! LOL! I am vehemently against cramming anything down anyone's throat. We all come to this road on our own, though I do provide a witness through example and writing. Don't believe in being loud and aggressive. Never works. Wrote a poem not long ago concerning a dream I had and really caught some flack on that one. That should never have happened. Wow! This will be interesting. Love to ya, GypsyGirl!--Kel
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thank kelly, I put you on as a collab partner with natalia and I. i do appreciate your help and we both thought you would be perfect in this department. Love ya >D:<
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Excellent contest idea! I likely won't have time to enter it, but I love the concept, and will certainly be paying attention to the entries. I'm not one to press things down on others, and don't appreciate it done to me either..
Well done!
~~whims -
hun, my IM's are not working properly today. I did read the poem and it's great. Not too sure it fits the rules though, we adjusted them a bit, so check them out again. I've got to run out right now, but i'll talk to you later. Hugs, gypsy
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This is a great idea for a contest and I'll be watching the entries. I'm so sick of having religion crammed down my throat and people speaking in bible verse, the constant quoting. I have my own religion thank you. One of my friends does this all the time and it pisses me off. Sorry for the rant here but it's been that kind of day and isn't getting any better. Sorry but the god squad is everywhere here. eh.
Desiree
Edited on Aug 28, 3:08 p.m. because ''. -
I have a fine poem for your contest` but it is called " god` who is he " ? so hard luck .... lol.
happy scribbling folks
and
good luck to everyone. -
This is a really good idea. I'm in a religious writing group but you're right, it shouldn't be thrown in a person's face. Love the spirituality idea here. Good luck to everyone!
~Kristin -
Since Im's arnt working i'll post here...i entered a poem and was wondering if it fit under the guidlines.I do like your idea for the contest and i hate having peoples religions pushed at me,so goodluck to everyone. ^^
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Blacknight - There's a way around that hun. If you want to enter it as prewritten. Copy and paste it over to a new "add" page for a poem. Just put a "~" in front of the title or (pre-write) behind the title and it will let you enter it as a same title in the system and I'll know it's prewritten and you've got it entered in both We'd be happy to have your entry hun.
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Okay- I'm curious to know, If I wanted to, could I write a poem about my version of heaven and have that fall under category #2? It isn't everything about my religion, just a slice of it.
The reason I ask is because a new contest opened up, about what you see in Heaven- and you can only enter if you have two or less trophies. That excludes me, but it still inspired me, so I was wondering if I could enter it here?
Please let me know- thanks
Great contest btw- I like the no diety rule, very cool. -
Well, I tend to be a stickler when it comes to doing things the legit way; I'm sure it's perfectly fine to do that here on the site, I'm not saying it isn't. I dunno, guess I'm just one of those people who doesn't feel right unless something is done my way. As far as having religion "crammed down my throat," while it does get annoying, I don't have any real problem with it. If someone wishes to explain to me their Faith and what it means to them, as well as the ideas and teachings behind it, then, well, go right ahead! While it won't cause me to budge from my Faith in any way, still, if they wish to speak of their's, then they can do so. Anyway, you can be sure that I'll enter your contest; who knows, maybe I'll end up doing what you said to do anyway; I'm not exactly known for my patience lol.
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That's cool. Just trying to help. Before the system would allow you to drop pick a pre-write, that's the way we old school people did it LOL Either way, whatever you feel it best.
The contest is not about having religion crammed in your face really. It was spurred by it. The contest is about spirituality. Expressing it without the crutch words of religion and it's deities so to speak Thanks for taking a look. Peace, Gypsy
Edited on Aug 29, 7:43 because ''. -
That's fine hun, a slice is fine
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Of course. I'm not old school; I've only been a member for about four months. It's a good thing I joined though; I think I've really improved on my quality of writing here. But anyways...yeah, I'll think about it.
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nice idea i will see what i can come up with!
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I entered a poem and then realised it was too short. I've taken it out again, so apologies for any confusion.
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Oops, I made the same mistake as Peaseeker. Ditto
~ G
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I made the mistake of looking at the entry names thus far...WHOA!
I may still enter..LOL
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uh i entered a poem about god also being the devil its ahrd to undertsand i know u probs wont allow it so im sorry for like err messing your system up? but if u allow it iiwll be very greatful.
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Everything, even religion, is but an opportunity for wonderful spiritual growth. Nobody can cram religion in my face. That's impossible. I am not a victim of other people's perception and certainly not a prisoner of my own perceptions. The source of my freedom is the courage to question my convictions...it is not the courage OF my convictions. Any joke that doesn't get me killed only makes me more funny.
This is an excellent contest and I see a real need for it. Peace Through Love. ET
Edited on Sep 09, 8:27 p.m. because 'spelling'. -
I may enter this contest. I'm extremely spiritual, but (personally) have never been fond of religion. I don't dislike it, but I don't like it either. This is a great contest! Good luck in judging, and to everyone who enters!
Jessica -
Oh wow, you guys are really making this a tough one to judge. All four of us are working hard to get you winners. So be patient with us LOL.. thanks to all who entered and good luck again. Namaste' Gypsy
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Thank you so much for the honorable mention
Congrats winners!!!! Awesome work everyone!!
Much Love & Peace
~Pamela -
Heh. Thank you for second place! I must admit, I didn't expect it at all.
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