Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
New Visions
A Different Kind of Vow: Laurie Collister’s Path to Hinduism

A Different Kind of Vow: Laurie Collister’s Path to Hinduism

Last updated on: May 14, 2026 at 7:02 am by Guest Contributor

0 Comments

A Different Kind of Vow: Laurie Collister’s Path to Hinduism 2026-05-14T07:02:46-06:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Laurie Collister went searching for a religion that worked—and found it in Hinduism. How 349 journals and a “spiritual contact high” tied her to the divine.

A guest post from Laurie Collister, author of A Different Kind of Vow.

As a young woman, I looked up the meaning of the word religion. Its Latin roots meant re (again) and ligare (to bind/tie). To find a religion that fulfilled that mandate, every Sunday, I attended a church of a different denomination – Episcopal, Greek Orthodox, Catholic, Buddhist, Mormon, to name a few. But none taught me how to tie myself to the divine. Only when I attended a service representing one of the oldest surviving religions did my search come to an end. Hinduism taught me how to connect to God in more ways than one.

Feeling the Vibration of Divine Love

In a meditation class, led by an elderly monk, I felt myself sink into a deep peace. My whole body vibrated. I felt like I could love and be loved, simultaneously and without impediment. So, this is what divine love feels like, I thought. After class, I’d be in such an altered state, I’d have to walk around the block several times. Only then could I man the controls of my car.

At the Hindu temple’s Sunday services, I relished meditating alongside my fellow parishioners. The group experience deepened my meditation. But the communality lasted only one hour each week. Eventually, I figured out how to extend that fellowship. I applied for a position as a writer in the public affairs department of the organization’s international headquarters and convent. To my amazement, I got the job.

I marveled at the immaculate grounds – bright green grass, swaying palms, and ponds filled with golden koi. I felt like I’d fallen into this secret, privileged club – what I imagined a good marriage must be like. In fact, many of the monastics wore wedding rings to signify their marriage to God.

Experiencing a Spiritual Contact High

Hindu scripture speaks of the importance of “keeping right company.” At the convent, I began to understand the importance of that dictate. Right company, I discovered, can kickstart your spiritual practice – creating a momentum that you might never generate on your own.

The nuns spent a considerable amount of time “on the other side,” experiencing the love of God, whether it be in prayer, meditation or reading Hindu texts. I could breathe in their divine union like a contact high. Communion with God, I discovered, does double duty: it affects not only your own self, but also everyone around you. After work, I’d return home experiencing a centeredness, depth, and calm ebullience that I’d never felt before.

Not surprisingly, this principle applied ten-fold when it came to the company of gurus. Six months into my employment, a colleague arranged a private tour of the former quarters of the organization’s founding master. I entered the small bedroom and sitting room on the third floor of the main administration building. The rooms were filled with hand-carved cabinets, jade figurines, and a collection of large uncut stones – amethysts, tourmalines, and amber – gifts from visiting dignitaries. The windows captured the late afternoon sun and misty view of hills. I knelt at the guru’s bedside to pray, hoping to buy myself a little more time as my escort lingered in the dark hall. Kneeling at his single bed, I felt this strange mix of ecstasy and stillness. His spirit had been so strong it lingered decades after his death in 1937.

Journaling to Enhance Spiritual Growth

In addition to meditation and “right company,” Hinduism taught me to connect in an unusual third way. A little-known tenet of Hinduism is its view of keeping a journal. According to the Bhagavad Gita, a holy scripture of Hinduism, journaling is an effective way to deal with deep-seated emotional experiences, which, if not resolved, manifest in negative ways, such as disease.

Prominent Hindu teachers, such as Swami Sivananda and Paramahansa Yogananda, highly recommend keeping a diary. They view a journal as a “silent master” that can be used to record spiritual insights, correct mistakes and accelerate spiritual growth.

My journals – 349 volumes to date – have, indeed, proven to be my “silent master.” My daily entries remind me of God’s gifts: I list what I am grateful for, what I have accomplished, and what I’ve been particularly good at doing that day. This practice turns the tide of even the blackest of moods. Immediately, I feel more blessed than defeated, more enlivened than impoverished.

Journaling can also serve as a form of prayer. When perplexed about what to do, I write down my question in my diary, then carefully record God’s answer. Transcribing the answer allows for a level of specificity and clarity that I cannot achieve simply by talking to God at my altar.

Especially helpful is rereading past journals to find “aha” moments and common themes. Through this excavation, I was able to clarify what the medical intuitive Carolyn Myss describes as one’s “sacred contract,” the reason one is born. Identifying and following God’s will became the next logical step in my spiritual journey. This “vow” – how I found it and how I pursued it – is the subject of my memoir, A Different Kind of Vow, published in April.

In our current epidemic of disconnection, marked by war, deportation, mass layoffs, and loneliness – connection has become more imperative than ever. Whatever religious path you choose, may it fulfill its purpose: to rebind, to retie you to the divine.

Laurie Collister is a counselor, journalist and debut memoirist. After graduating from Kenyon College, she worked as a litigation paralegal, market analyst, writer and, most recently, as a counselor on LA’s skid row. A Different Kind of Vow: Rewriting My Happily Ever After was published by She Writes Press on April 7. The Last Home on the Left, about her fourteen years working at on iconic mission on skid row, will be released on July 13, 2027. Collister lives with her extended family and dog Bella on a cul-de-sac in Los Angeles.

Hindu

Hinduism

A Different Kind of Vow

Divine Love

Laurie Collister

Previous Post

May 8, 2026

The Man Who Died on the Titanic: and What Happened Next

Next Post

May 23, 2026 Can An Algorithm Reveal Your Soul’s True Purpose?

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"How?"

Craig

The Amazing World of Non-Speakers: Are ..."

"WoW Trey! This is a fabulous article just chock full of great insights and wisdom! ..."

I_Am_SheilaING

What a Guy Who Interviewed 500+ ..."

"I participate in a blog which reads theological works one chapter at a time before ..."

glen smith

The Amazing World of Non-Speakers: Are ..."

"this stuff has been disproven for a very long time. You can believe what you ..."

A fish with no hands

The Amazing World of Non-Speakers: Are ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 50+ Spirituality 60 Second Inspiration Activism Adversity Afterlife agape aging Aliens Angels Angels and aliens anger animism Astrology Atheists Attention Attitude Authenticity Awareness Awe Ayahuasca Balance Beginnings Being Present Belief Bhagavad Gita Bible birth of Jesus Blessings Bliss Bono Breathing Buddha Buddhism Calling cats Centered Centering Prayer Chakras Change Character Character and Aging Christ consciousness Christianity Christmas Church Civility commencement speeches commitments compassion Connecting with God Consciousness Contemplation Contemplative Prayer Contentment Conversations with God Coping Coping mechanisms Corinthians Coronavirus Covid creativity Daily practice Dalai Lama David Brooks David Frenette Death Deathbed visions Decisions determinism Discernment disconnecting Donald Shimoda Dreaming of the Dead dreams Drinking Easter Eastern religion Eckhart Tolle ego Elders Emerson Engagement Enlightenment everyday magic Evil Spirits Expectations experience Faith fate Fatima Fear Feel Finding God Fitness Fulfillment Gandhi Gary Zukav Generosity Giving Gnostic gospels Gnostics God God's will Golden Rule Good & Evil Gospel of Thomas Gospels Grace Gratitude Grief Growing Older Guardian Angels gumption Gurus Halloween Happiness health health and happiness Heaven Helping others High Strangeness Hinduism Holiday Season honesty Honor Hope Humility impostor syndrome inner music Inner Work Insights insomnia Inspiration Inspirational intuition Investing Jeff Bridges Jesus Jesus Christ John Templeton joy joy of life Justin Bieber Kaballah Kabbalah Karma Kindness koans Law of Attraction Life Life after Death Life and death Life Balance Life Hacks Life Lessons Life Path Life Philosophy Life Plan life purpose Life Rules Life Tips Life's Big Questions Lindsay Lohan Listening Living Intentionally Loneliness Love Magic Mark Twain Marriage Meaning of Life Meditation mentor Mentors Mid-Life Crisis Mindful Mindfulness Money Monks Multiverse Mysterious World mystical experience Mysticism Mystics Mythology Napoleon Hill Near Death Experience (NDE) New Thought New Year New Year's resolutions Noise Oprah out-of-body experience Parables Peace of mind philosophy Plant Intelligence Pope Francis Positive Thinking Prayer prayers for the spiritual Preachers Premonitions presence Prophecies Prophecy Prophets Psalms Purpose Purpose of Life quietude Quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Trine Reconnect Recovery reincarnation Relaxation Religion resolutions Resurrection Ritual Rituals Rules to Live By sadness Sam Harris Sandy Second Act Seeking self Self Mastery self-help self-improvement Seneca sermon sex shamans Sickness Silence Silence of God sleep small voice Smiling Social Activism solitude Soul Soul and Spirit Soul Awakening Spiritual Awakening spiritual beliefs spiritual guidance spiritual journey spiritual living spiritual path Spiritual philosophy Spiritual Practice Spirituality Spirituality and work Spooky Spirituality Stillness stoicism stoics Storytelling Stress Relief Success Suffering Suicide Surrender tao Thanks Thanksgiving the afterlife the bardo the Bible the Blues The Election the Kingdom the secret the self The Soul Thomas Keating Thomas Merton Thomas Moore Time Tony Robbins tradition UFOs Uncategorized Universe Values visualization Voice of God Wake Up Call Wake Up Call book Walls Walt Whitman Well-being Winter Blues Wisdom words to live by Work work/life balance worry Yogananda Zen

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 July 2012 April 2012 March 2012 January 2012 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 December 2009 November 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many books are in the major prophets section of the Old Testament?

Select your answer to see how you score.

3 5 4 7

Books by This Author Books by Wake Up Call

See All Titles »