My name is Connor. I am 20, and a student at Indiana University at Bloomington, IN. I have been soul searching for a long time, and am finding a comforting path with Buddhism. Without going into too much detail about my past, which is only minimally relevant, I'd like to give just a brief background on what brought me here. Raised, I was Christian. I left the faith, officially, at age 10. For what exact reason, I am not sure. But, I do remember yelling at God a lot during that time. I felt like taking on my own beliefs. So, I did. Of course, trying to do faith on my own was difficult and trying during my teenage years. Being somebody of a common childhood, I was exposed to philosophical movies disguised as action flicks. The very paragon of this is, of course, Star Wars. I'm not a huge fan of the series anymore, as far as quality of movies go, but it did provide a stepping stone for me to look deeper into life than I was. As with "favorite" movies that we watch over and over again, we notice new things. Well, the biggest "new" thing I discovered was the philosophies of the Jedi. Hidden behind a veil of lightsaber combat, and feudal knighthood, was a wisdom. Just a spark of wisdom I needed to start researching the origins of the "Jedi Faith".
Of course, I found Taoism, Buddhism, Chivalrous Knighthood, and Martial Arts by this way. And, after that door opened for me, I became as a sponge. 
(I really like these emoticons) Ever since, I have been letting down my walls to happiness; and, while I am not really even a Buddhist yet, I intend to be. As I study, I find more and more Universal truths in Buddha's teachings, and I gladly accept them.So, basically, what I'm saying is I owe my spiritual development to George Lucas.
I'm joking. *cough* *no laughter* ohhh kay. Back on topic.I'm still young, and I have much to learn. So, I hope you will accept me into your forum, and I hope to grow and learn with you all through debate and discussion.
-Connor.
