If there is a value I’m close to, it’s honesty. Without it, we are just living a life filled with lies and pretendings; what we think it’s true in reality isn’t. Pure honesty is difficult to achieve, be honest with ourselves, be honest with others, be honest about who we are… When I read Kit’s story for the first time, I was deeply touched by his quest of finding this pure honesty and it reminded me of what truly matters in life. Kit has the honesty to be who he is deep inside and live according his beliefs, he isn’t hiding behind a superficial curtain like many do. I respect him a lot for that and if you do too, you connect with him on his online home  or Twitter. 

Who is Kit exactly?

That looks like an easy question, but it isn’t! Rather than giving a bunch of labels, I’ll say what I love: turning a corner and seeing that life is wider than I had thought. Fresh baked bread in the morning. Connection with close friends. Quiet. Photography. Teaching an English class where the students are engaged.

When is your birthday? Phew. That’s a bit easier. 3rd June 1984.

Where do you currently live?

In a rented apartment down a small street, right in the heart of Bangkok. I’m happy to be a in small community of mainly muslims, who are the most friendly and welcoming people I’ve ever met in Bangkok.

What makes Bangkok such a special place for you?

The things many people adore about Bangkok (shopping, night-life) leave me feeling indifferent. I’m here for practical reasons really: my partner is from here, and the best job opportunities for teaching English.

Thailand, on the other hand, I am a huge fan of. I love the weather, food, and people. Mainly the people. The culture here is far more accepting of weakness and mistakes than we find in the West. And I get the sense that people aren’t fighting so much just to be alive. There are downsides to this, but all the same, I am very happy here.

What do you do for a living?

All my money comes from teaching English. I have never made a penny online, but view it instead as a chance to meet like-minded people (I don’t know many locally, you see) and share great ideas to help us live more meaningfully and lovingly.

Tell us a bit more about you…we want to know everything about your background, passions + dreams!

People are free to live as they choose. For the most part, I think we choose a life of limitation. Our fears are like crutches and we are loathe to kick them off. My passion then is to dig deep into the human experience and find what we need to set ourselves free. That of course is different things to different people.

For me, I’m a kind of “spiritual but not religious” person (having once been deeply religious). I love reading on philosophy, psychology, and how Eastern spirituality can blend with Western. Reiki completely changed my life; I practice mindfulness meditation, and I am interested in a kind of religionless Christianity.

What is the biggest struggle you encountered to be here where you are today?

This was when I sat down to pray to God one time and I suddenly felt he had gone away.

How did you overcome it?

It almost overcame me. I became an atheist and dissociated myself from all my Christian friends and family (which was almost everyone I was close to). I tried all sorts of naughty things, got into all sorts of subversive ideas, and had a hell of a lot of fun in my new-found freedom. But it took its toll, and I ended up very sick.

The only way I stayed sane was to be honest. People wanted me to reject what I was becoming, but I could not. Counselling helped. I wrote passionately in a journal, waiting out the four months of sickness until I was healthy enough to fly to India. From there I back-packed solo around Asia and New Zealand, and slowly found my feet. The healing has, honestly, taken years.

There is a beautiful sentence on your site that says, “We seek to be free from religion, but full of soul”, can you tell us more about the message behind it?

Religion is a response that humans make to the realisation that there is a powerful love that lies within us, and even all around us. Sometimes religion helps us with that; often it hinders. When religion hardens, it becomes a kind of structure that makes it hard to move, to breathe, freely. We end up serving these structures of belief and piousness.

The path of the soul is towards openness and love. We can walk that way inside religion, but we can also go outside it. Both ways can be good.

What are the values you strive for in life?

There’s just one I consciously attend to: honesty. Honesty will penetrate deep into your being and allow the best qualities to come forth naturally, without effort.

Your favourite quote?

There is no way to peace; peace is the way. AJ Muste

What are your hopes and wishes for the future?

I try to keep things real and in the present. But if the path I’m walking along is a forest trail, all I want is to go deeper.

A huge thank you to Kit for sharing his beautiful story !