Mai Xiong - Week 1

Mai Xiong

Week 1

            It is heartbreaking to hear about the deaths and racial discriminations during this time of Coronavirus. I remember when schools began to close and stay-at-homes began to be issued across counties, it made everything more and more frightening.

            At a micro level, it has been difficult for me (and I imagine many others) to reorganize plans and goals. I took a break from UC Davis during the winter quarter and was very hopeful returning back to campus this spring. This quarter was supposed to be my “coming back strong” quarter, let alone, my last quarter at UC Davis. I wanted to be physically present on campus, utilize the career center and gym, go to office hours and meet my professors and TA’s—all the normal things I would do during a typical quarter, but this quarter, I wanted to push myself extra hard and make the most of everything before graduation.

            Despite the changes to the quarter and at large, the state and the world, I am happy to hear and receive an enormous amount of care, support, and reassurance from many individuals (friends, families, professors, TAs, even strangers, etc.). I am slowly discovering that remote learning can be just as fun and engaging! 

            Regarding the course, I am extremely excited to learn more about the spirit realm! I was raised Shamanism with a mixture of Animism. I still do not know much about them, but I know that they are connected with the spiritual world. I want to have a better understanding of, what is the spiritual realm? What is inside of it, outside of it? Is there an existing space between the physical realm and the spiritual realm?

            I am also interested in learning more about the connection between spiritual healing and the medical field, specifically mental health. I am curious to learn about spiritual healers and how does one know if one is a healer or not? Is there such thing as a calling and what are the signs? How does one determine what a sign is? How is “evil” and “good” determined in the spiritual realm? Or are there even such things as “evil” and “good”? Do dreams hold meanings or answers? What does life look like after death? 

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