David Mee Lee's Personal Life Journey

From David’s Registration Form on Ron Lawson’s Section 9 ‘Approach To Life Ideas’. This is for his sociological study.

The following questions may be used as a guide for your written responses and also for any person wishing to speak on the Saturday Celebration of Life about their life journey.

1. What drew you to Adventism? David Mee-Lee’s answers to the following. Marcia will answer in a separate e-mailed response. Raised SDA and remained active until about age 40 when the church became less relevant as a place to be spiritually nurtured.

2. What has kept you there OR alternatively caused your departure? If the latter, at what stage of your life did this occur? With three children, we kept going to church for their religious training, but noticed that I was spending increasing time in Sabbath School Class talking about how to make the church more relevant to our lives. Or challenging how current practices and beliefs were not relevant and meaningful. It became clear that when Marcia stopped going, that I had no personally compelling reasons to continue other than heritage and tradition. I owned that awareness and then also stopped. Also it seemed meaningless to go to church to try to get other people to see how what the church was doing was less meaningful. Who was I to challenge and disrupt something that could be meaningful to them

3. Looking back on your time in the church how do you view your involvement? Extremely active until about age 35. Strong family influence and the church was a wonderful community to develop leadership skills; develop a sense of community; become socially aware and develop a sense of mission to help others; decrease pressures of the materialistic culture. There were of course attendant limitations and narrow mindedness that had to be overcome upon leaving the church. How has your allegiance to the church influenced the person you are now? See #3 above. I credit the Church as having developed many of the talents I still use in my life and career

4. Is spirituality important to you now? What form does it take? Yes, I am more spiritual now that when I was an active SDA. But it is transcultural and eclectic spirituality based in the belief that Truth is Truth and that God’s Truth is common in many persuasions using different terminology and rituals, but nevertheless consistent and timeless. I am a typical “New Age” spiritual type

5. What are your current life's priorities? How has your view of the world changed? What values are important to you now compared with when you were a member of QUSDAS? Family and work. My work has a sense of mission that has been influenced by my SDA upbringing. But I don’t believe in absolute truth nor that truth resides in one group over another. See #5 above. As a QUSDAS member, I was still very much invested in evangelizing the world to the Adventist Truth, though even then, was not really so orthodox in my heart. It was a strong way of life and I knew no other. Family tradition was huge. But I now am much more interested in whatever works for people to be fulfilled and manifesting the “fruits of the Spirit” by whatever methods and communities speak to that person. I am interested not in ideology but in what creates love, peace, joy, thoughtfulness, integrity, authenticity, transparency, community, transcendency and connectedness.

The next set of questions may be used as a guide for anyone wishing to speak on the Sunday in the session after Ron Lawson’s talk. Acknowledged or anonymously Ron would be grateful if everyone could give their answers to the questions because they could be relevant to the books he is completing.

1. Are you active in an Adventist church (attendance, more)? If so, how frequently do you attend on the average? Not active for nearly 20 years

2. Do you think of yourself as an Adventist (however you may define that)? No. However, you can take the man out of the church, but hard to take the church out of the man. So the church is in my bones in many ways.

3. Have your beliefs or behaviors changed in any ways that are important to you since you were involved with QUSDAS? (Please explain) See above answers in #s 2,3 5 and 6

4. Have you shifted your religious allegiance to another denomination or faith?

Not to any formal church or spiritual group

5. Do you still believe in God? Yes Do you see yourself as no longer religious? Yes

6. How heavily were you involved in QUSDAS? Very – leadership local and nationally What years? 1967-1972

7. Looking back, what role, if any, did your involvement in QUSDAS play in your life’s trajectory?

Hugh role: provided life long friendships and relationships (wife of 36 years); developed my sense of mission; training ground for leadership skills and systems and administrative skills

8. Did you become involved in another group/community like QUSDAS where you found opportunity to express and explore faith-related questions in a supportive environment? IF YES, PLEASE EXPLAIN. IF NOT, What difference could it have made to you to have such a situation? I have not been interested in joining any explicitly faith-based groups or churches as I consider myself more broadly spiritual than a particular Christian or other faith. I have been more interested in groups that are eclectically spiritual like Human Awareness Institute – a more general personal growth support community

9. Did your separation from QUSDAS (probably following graduation) result in any major changes in your beliefs or religious behaviors? (Please explain) Not separation from QUSDAS so much as separation from the SDA church. See above responses on changes in my outlook on truth etc.

10. Did you marry someone from QUSDAS? Yes, but met her at a Kallangur Camp meeting before she attended Queensland University and QUSDAS.

11. Were you raised in an Adventist family? Yes

12. Any other comments that would be relevant to share? Feel free to ask further questions. Left the church, but not bitter nor do I harbor any ill will. Still have many fond memories and friends and enjoy reminiscing about the good old days. Still attend SDA church when with Denis and his family and with my mother. There is a nostalgic enjoyment in doing that but no presently meaningful connection for me

For statistical purposes:

Career / Profession _Psychiatrist involved in full time training and consulting nationally and internationally_________________ Male / Female Male___Age _59__ Degree/s_MD (Australia: MB.,BS)__

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