At times religion struggles with its own story

Here is an article I came across and want to share. It includes comments by men I can appreciate for standing by their values. It is healthy for open discussions to happen surrounding religion and science. Of course, folk can enjoy religion without science, science without religion, and religion/science. The world is big enough for all belief systems.

Pat Robertson implores creationist Ken Ham to shut up: ‘Let’s not make a joke of ourselves’
By Scott Kaufman
Wednesday, February 5, 2014 12:19 EST

Pat Robertson responded to the recent debate between Young Earth creationist Ken Ham and Bill Nye, a.k.a. “The Science Guy,” by reiterating his disagreement with Ham’s form of creationism.

“Let’s face it,” Robertson said, “there was a Bishop [Ussher] who added up the dates listed in Genesis and he came up with the world had been around for 6,000 years.”

“There ain’t no way that’s possible,” he continued. “To say that it all came about in 6,000 years is just nonsense and I think it’s time we come off of that stuff and say this isn’t possible.”

“Let’s be real, let’s not make a joke of ourselves.”

“We’ve got to be realistic,” he concluded, and admit “that the dating of Bishop Ussher just doesn’t comport with anything that is found in science and you can’t just totally deny the geological formations that are out there.”

Last November, Robertson raised the ire of Young Earth Creationists when he made
similar statements. The hosts of “Creation Today,” Eric Hovind and Paul F. Taylor, attacked Robertson for claiming that dinosaurs could exist, because the world isn’t, in fact, only 6,000 years old.

“Pat Robertson is claiming, then, that 6,000 years comes from Ussher’s book and not the Bible,” Taylor said. “The point is, where did Ussher get his figure of 6,000 years?”

Your religious life can cause you mental health problems

I enjoy my spiritual life in every respect. To reach the place in my life of living in the liberty I enjoy, I first worked through a lot of "stuff" others taught me about the Creator. That stuff kept getting in my way of living in the natural harmony that I was born with. In fact, we are all born with a natural relationship with the Creator, a relationship of harmony.

Many of my friends enjoy a religious life. Our different paths to God do not get in the way of our friendship. However, I caution anyone seeking a spiritual life in organized religion to use wisdom. For years, I have supported folk in finding a better life as they suffered with mood disorders. Many of them are seeking a place of peace and acceptance with the power they believe gave them life. It is not their belief in a Creator God that causes them pain. It is the judgement they direct at themselves. They feel like they must be spiritual failures for God to punish them with a mental illness.

I came across the following article that brings a very interesting perspective to the situation I just described. In my book, I share my story of learning a new way of understanding God and interpreting Christianity's wisdom book. Since, I began living from the interpretation in my book, my life is one with peace and assurance and a wonderful absence of self judgement.

Peacefulness to you and yours . . .

Religious Trauma Syndrome: How Some Organized Religion Leads to Mental Health Problems

Posted on March 26, 2013

by Valerie Tarico

At age sixteen I began what would be a four year struggle with bulimia.  When the symptoms started, I turned in desperation to adults who knew more than I did about how to stop shameful behavior—my Bible study leader and a visiting youth minister.  “If you ask anything in faith, believing,” they said.  “It will be done.” I knew they were quoting the Word of God. We prayed together, and I went home confident that God had heard my prayers.

But my horrible compulsions didn’t go away. By the fall of my sophomore year in college, I was desperate and depressed enough that I made a suicide attempt. The problem wasn’t just the bulimia.  I was convinced by then that I was a complete spiritual failure. My college counseling department had offered to get me real help (which they later did). But to my mind, at that point, such help couldn’t fix the core problem: I was a failure in the eyes of God. It would be years before I understood that my inability to heal bulimia through the mechanisms offered by biblical Christianity was not a function of my own spiritual deficiency but deficiencies in Evangelical religion itself.

Dr. Marlene Winell is a human development consultant in the San Francisco Area. She is also the daughter of Pentecostal missionaries. This combination has given her work an unusual focus. For the past twenty years she has counseled men and women in recovery from various forms of fundamentalist religion including the Assemblies of God denomination in which she was raised. Winell is the author of Leaving the Fold – A Guide for Former Fundamentalists and Others Leaving their Religion, written during her years of private practice in psychology. Over the years, Winell has provided assistance to clients whose religious experiences were even more damaging than mine. Some of them are people whose psychological symptoms weren’t just exacerbated by their religion, but actually caused by it.

Two years ago, Winell made waves by formally labeling what she calls “Religious Trauma Syndrome” (RTS) and beginning to write and speak on the subject for professional audiences. When the British Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Psychologists published a series of articles on the topic, members of a Christian counseling associationprotested what they called excessive attention to a “relatively niche topic.” Onecommenter said, “A religion, faith or book cannot be abuse but the people interpreting can make anything abusive.”

Is toxic religion simply misinterpretation? What is religious trauma? Why does Winell believe religious trauma merits its own diagnostic label?  I asked her.

Let’s start this interview with the basics. What exactly is religious trauma syndrome?

Winell: Religious trauma syndrome (RTS) is a set of symptoms and characteristics that tend to go together and which are related to harmful experiences with religion. They are the result of two things: immersion in a controlling religion and the secondary impact of leaving a religious group. The RTS label provides a name and description that affected people often recognize immediately. Many other people are surprised by the idea of RTS, because in our culture it is generally assumed that religion is benign or good for you. Just like telling kids about Santa Claus and letting them work out their beliefs later, people see no harm in teaching religion to children.

But in reality, religious teachings and practices sometimes cause serious mental health damage. The public is somewhat familiar with sexual and physical abuse in a religious context. As Journalist Janet Heimlich has documented in, Breaking Their Will, Bible-based religious groups that emphasize patriarchal authority in family structure and use harsh parenting methods can be destructive.

But the problem isn’t just physical and sexual abuse. Emotional and mental treatment in authoritarian religious groups also can be damaging because of 1) toxic teachings like eternal damnation or original sin2) religious practices or mindset, such as punishment, black and white thinking, or sexual guilt, and 3) neglect that prevents a person from having the information or opportunities to develop normally.

Can you give me an example of RTS from your consulting practice?

Winell: I can give you many. One of the symptom clusters is around fear and anxiety. People indoctrinated into fundamentalist Christianity as small children sometimes have memories of being terrified by images of hell and apocalypse before their brains could begin to make sense of such ideas. Some survivors, who I prefer to call “reclaimers,” have flashbacks, panic attacks, or nightmares in adulthood even when they intellectually no longer believe the theology. One client of mine, who during the day functioned well as a professional, struggled with intense fear many nights. She said,

I was afraid I was going to hell. I was afraid I was doing something really wrong. I was completely out of control. I sometimes would wake up in the night and start screaming, thrashing my arms, trying to rid myself of what I was feeling. I’d walk around the house trying to think and calm myself down, in the middle of the night, trying to do some self-talk, but I felt like it was just something that – the fear and anxiety was taking over my life.

Or consider this comment, which refers to a film used by Evangelicals to warn about the horrors of the “end times” for nonbelievers.

 I was taken to see the film “A Thief In The Night”. WOW.  I am in shock to learn that many other people suffered the same traumas I lived with because of this film. A few days or weeks after the film viewing, I came into the house and mom wasn’t there. I stood there screaming in terror. When I stopped screaming, I began making my plan: Who my Christian neighbors were, who’s house to break into to get money and food. I was 12 yrs old and was preparing for Armageddon alone.

In addition to anxiety, RTS can include depression, cognitive difficulties, and problems with social functioning. In fundamentalist Christianity, the individual is considered depraved and in need of salvation. A core message is “You are bad and wrong and deserve to die.” (The wages of sin is death.) This gets taught to millions of children through organizations like Child Evangelism Fellowship and there is a group organized  to oppose their incursion into public schools.  I’ve had clients who remember being distraught when given a vivid bloody image of Jesus paying the ultimate price for their sins. Decades later they sit telling me that they can’t manage to find any self-worth.

After twenty-seven years of trying to live a perfect life, I failed. . . I was ashamed of myself all day long. My mind battling with itself with no relief. . . I always believed everything that I was taught but I thought that I was not approved by God. I thought that basically I, too, would die at Armageddon.

I’ve spent literally years injuring myself, cutting and burning my arms, taking overdoses and starving myself, to punish myself so that God doesn’t have to punish me. It’s taken me years to feel deserving of anything good.

Born-again Christianity and devout Catholicism tell people they are weak and dependent, calling on phrases like “lean not unto your own understanding” or “trust and obey.” People who internalize these messages can suffer from learned helplessness. I’ll give you an example from a client who had little decision-making ability after living his entire life devoted to following the “will of God.” The words here don’t convey the depth of his despair.

I have an awful time making decisions in general. Like I can’t, you know, wake up in the morning, “What am I going to do today? Like I don’t even know where to start. You know all the things I thought I might be doing are gone and I’m not sure I should even try to have a career; essentially I babysit my four-year-old all day.

Authoritarian religious groups are subcultures where conformity is required in order to belong. Thus if you dare to leave the religion, you risk losing your entire support system as well.

I lost all my friends. I lost my close ties to family. Now I’m losing my country. I’ve lost so much because of this malignant religion and I am angry and sad to my very core. . . I have tried hard to make new friends, but I have failed miserably. . . I am very lonely.

Leaving a religion, after total immersion, can cause a complete upheaval of a person’s construction of reality, including the self, other people, life, and the future. People unfamiliar with this situation, including therapists, have trouble appreciating the sheer terror it can create.

My form of religion was very strongly entrenched and anchored deeply in my heart. It is hard to describe how fully my religion informed, infused, and influenced my entire worldview. My first steps out of fundamentalism were profoundly frightening and I had frequent thoughts of suicide. Now I’m way past that but I still haven’t quite found “my place in the universe.

Even for a person who was not so entrenched, leaving one’s religion can be a stressful and significant transition.

Many people seem to walk away from their religion easily, without really looking back. What is different about the clientele you work with?

Winell: Religious groups that are highly controlling, teach fear about the world, and keep members sheltered and ill-equipped to function in society are harder to leave easily. The difficulty seems to be greater if the person was born and raised in the religion rather than joining as an adult convert. This is because they have no frame of reference – no other “self” or way of “being in the world.” A common personality type is a person who is deeply emotional and thoughtful and who tends to throw themselves wholeheartedly into their endeavors. “True believers” who then lose their faith feel more anger and depression and grief than those who simply went to church on Sunday.

Aren’t these just people who would be depressed, anxious, or obsessive anyways?

Winell: Not at all. If my observation is correct, these are people who are intense and involved and caring. They hang on to the religion longer than those who simply “walk away” because they try to make it work even when they have doubts. Sometime this is out of fear, but often it is out of devotion. These are people for whom ethics, integrity and compassion matter a great deal. I find that when they get better and rebuild their lives, they are wonderfully creative and energetic about new things.

In your mind, how is RTS different from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

Winell: RTS is a specific set of symptoms and characteristics that are connected with harmful religious experience, not just any trauma. This is crucial to understanding the condition and any kind of self-help or treatment. (More details about this can be found on my Journey Free website and discussed in my talk at the Texas Freethought Convention.)

Another difference is the social context, which is extremely different from other traumas or forms of abuse. When someone is recovering from domestic abuse, for example, other people understand and support the need to leave and recover. They don’t question it as a matter of interpretation, and they don’t send the person back for more. But this is exactly what happens to many former believers who seek counseling. If a provider doesn’t understand the source of the symptoms, he or she may send a client for pastoral counseling, or to AA, or even to another church. One reclaimer expressed her frustration this way:

Include physically-abusive parents who quote “Spare the rod and spoil the child” as literally as you can imagine and you have one fucked-up soul: an unloved, rejected, traumatized toddler in the body of an adult. I’m simply a broken spirit in an empty shell. But wait…That’s not enough!? There’s also the expectation by everyone in society that we victims should celebrate this with our perpetrators every Christmas and Easter!!

Just like disorders such as autism or bulimia, giving RTS a real name has important advantages. People who are suffering find that having a label for their experience helps them feel less alone and guilty. Some have written to me to express their relief:

There’s actually a name for it! I was brainwashed from birth and wasted 25 years of my life serving Him! I’ve since been out of my religion for several years now, but i cannot shake the haunting fear of hell and feel absolutely doomed. I’m now socially inept, unemployable, and the only way i can have sex is to pay for it.

Labeling RTS encourages professionals to study it more carefully, develop treatments, and offer training. Hopefully, we can even work on prevention.

What do you see as the difference between religion that causes trauma and religion that doesn’t?

Winell: Religion causes trauma when it is highly controlling and prevents people from thinking for themselves and trusting their own feelings. Groups that demand obedience and conformity produce fear, not love and growth. With constant judgment of self and others, people become alienated from themselves, each other, and the world. Religion in its worst forms causes separation.

Conversely, groups that connect people and promote self-knowledge and personal growth can be said to be healthy. The book, Healthy Religion, describes these traits. Such groups put high value on respecting differences, and members feel empowered as individuals.  They provide social support, a place for events and rites of passage, exchange of ideas, inspiration, opportunities for service, and connection to social causes. They encourage spiritual practices that promote health like meditation or principles for living like the golden rule. More and more, nontheists are asking how they can create similar spiritual communities without the supernaturalism. An atheist congregation in London launched this year and has received over 200 inquiries from people wanting to replicate their model.

Some people say that terms like “recovery from religion” and “religious trauma syndrome” are just atheist attempts to pathologize religious belief.

Winell: Mental health professionals have enough to do without going out looking for new pathology. I never set out looking for a “niche topic,” and certainly not religious trauma syndrome. I originally wrote a paper for a conference of the American Psychological Association and thought that would be the end of it. Since then, I have tried to move on to other things several times, but this work has simply grown.

In my opinion, we are simply, as a culture, becoming aware of religious trauma.  More and more people are leaving religion, as seen by polls showing that the “religiously unaffiliated” have increased in the last five years from just over 15% to just under 20% of all U.S. adults. It’s no wonder the internet is exploding with websites for former believers from all religions, providing forums for people to support each other. The huge population of people “leaving the fold” includes a subset at risk for RTS, and more people are talking about it and seeking help.  For example, there are thousands of former Mormons, and I was asked to speak about RTS at an Exmormon Foundation conference.  I facilitate an international support group online called Release and Reclaim  which has monthly conference calls. An organization called Recovery from Religion, helps people start self-help meet-up groups

Saying that someone is trying to pathologize authoritarian religion is like saying someone pathologized eating disorders by naming them. Before that, they were healthy? No, before that we weren’t noticing. People were suffering, thought they were alone, and blamed themselves.  Professionals had no awareness or training. This is the situation of RTS today. Authoritarian religion is already pathological, and leaving a high-control group can be traumatic. People are already suffering. They need to be recognized and helped.

—-  Dr. Marlene Winell is a human development consultant in the San Francisco Bay Area and the author of Leaving the Fold – A Guide for Former Fundamentalists and Others Leaving their Religion. More information about Marlene Winell and resources for getting help with RTS may be found at Journey Free.  Valerie Tarico is a psychologist and writer in Seattle, Washington.  She is the author of Trusting Doubt: A Former Evangelical Looks at Old Beliefs in a New Light and Deas and Other Imaginings, and the founder of www.WisdomCommons.org.  Her articles can be found atAwaypoint.Wordpress.com.

WE ARE ONE IN SPIRIT PODCAST: PART FOUR

 

Why Words Are So Powerful

Today is the fourth segment of my discussion with Minister Steve Brannon. We continue our interview by chatting about how words are used to manifest our reality.
To read more about leaving organized religion and this interview with Steve Brannon, click the links below. Or, you may listen to the interview, "Are You Spiritual.. or Religious?," here: http://bit.ly/JcOKFt
Part 1 -Don’t Rock the Boat Lest You Want to Leave the Church Fellowship
Part 2 - Why Religion is No Longer Working for Most People
Part 3 - Emergent Conversation about Christians Leaving the Church
Part 4 - Why Words Are So Powerful
Steve: I believe a lot of lessons are being set in motion for us on the global scene, just by the economic instability in countries and climate change all around the globe. Mother Earth is crying out to be treated correctly and have good stewards. We’re setting up a number of lessons on that level, but even right now in our country, we are wondering which way we are going to go. Are we going to show love and take care of one another, or are we going to be selfish and see ourselves as separate? Even on the personal level, so many people that I know are having a lot of health things come up, conflicts in relationships, the same lesson is coming over and over again. Are we going to see ourselves as united as one people, one energy; or are we going to continue in separation, which is not working? We won’t be able to get through this life without having a chance at learning that lesson, I don’t believe. Today it’s really coming to a head.
Yvonne: Yes that’s what we’re learning, that we are one in spirit. We are one with each other. We are one with the earth. We are one with the animals. All life is valuable. That is what Spirit is trying to teach us, Oneness.
Steve: I loved the visual I got while reading The Celestine Prophecy. The individuals praying over the plant, watching the plant respond—a beautiful picture of oneness to me.
Yvonne: Mr. Masaru Emoto demonstrated oneness with water. People prayed over or spoke/wrote words and put them on containers of water, and the crystals changed formation.
Steve: Our words are powerful. That’s how we manifest our reality. When our heart and our mind are settled on one thing, we speak it out, we confess it with our mouth. That’s phraseology. Things happen.
Yvonne: The word was with God from the beginning and is God. God spoke and things came into being. We have that same life force in us. Our words have power to manifest our reality. It all starts with a thought or word, and we add our emotion; the next thing we know we have a creation whether it’s what we wanted or not—it may be a negative thing, but we get what we believe we should have. Even if it is condemnation or judgment from others, a loss of job, loss of health or whatever, we’re creating with our words at all times. Words are powerful. We have to be careful what we say
Steve: Every even our thoughts are prayers. The universe immediately starts to line up with what we think about and what we intend, so we better think about our thought life! Yvonne: No wonder the Bible encourages us to guard our hearts diligently for in it is the issues of life. Guard those thoughts. Guard those emotions.
Steve: It encourages us to think on things that are of a good report—anything pure, honest, true, lovely—think on these things.
Yvonne: That’s been one of my favorite verses—especially for the past two weeks. Well, we’ve come to the end of our interview. Is there one thing that you might say to encourage us from our conversation today?
Steve: Leave room for mystery and questioning; don’t get locked down when you find a comfortable place in your belief/faith system. Don’t drive too many tent stakes. Be ready to move on to something new. Never stop growing. If one door gets closed, there’s always another one to open. The Holy Spirit is always teaching and you will always discover new truth.
Yvonne: True, so true. I learn more every day.
Steve: This is the day for it too. We need a lot of guidance. It’s time for us to get still, enter the silence, and come back with the guidance and answers that we need.
Yvonne: Be still and know God.

Technorati Tags: the spoken word,good,know God,Holy Spirit,leave room for mystery,questioning of your faith,enter Silence and a time of stillness

WE ARE ONE IN SPIRIT PODCAST: PART THREE

Emergent Conversation about Christians Leaving the Church

Today is the third segment of my interview with Reverend Steve Brannon. We are continuing our discussion by introducing the Emergent Conversation.
Yvonne: Steve, I love the way your book gives us the freedom to explore. Over and over again you say to seek the spirit within you; ask the Holy Spirit for direction and guidance. The law is written on your heart, so go there and find it!
Steve: The most exciting thing for me is not for someone to sit down and tell me what they’ve gotten all excited about reading scripture or any kind of wisdom book. I love to have them tell me what the Holy Spirit taught them or guided them into. If a new revelation has come to you, or a new understanding has come to you, I want to hear it! Let’s talk about this stuff. Now that’s reality, a spiritual life is reality. This relative plane that we are living on is not the real world. There’s a solar vibrational level and a higher truth to be found when we enter the silence within. I love it when people come out of their silence and are bubbling over. They are excited and their faith is growing. They’ve got something to say and I want to hear it!
Yvonne: Absolutely. Talk to me about the Emergent Conversation. How does The Two Agreements fit into it?
Steve: The Emergent Conversation or the Emergent Movement started around 1998 with some youth ministers from main line churches who saw the trend regarding what’s going on in Christianity and a big exodus of youth. Kids who were raised in church get to their twenties and bail. Not only are they not going to church anymore, they have really turned against it. They will never go back and they have no intention of following the religion of their parents. These ministers wanted to know what they could do about this. After they began talking, they got pretty liberal with their questioning. They began looking at the traditional ordained church that Christ commissioned and they wanted to get closer to it. As they did, they saw that the many dogmas and doctrines that had found a place in modern-day Christianity were not present in the first church. They’ve just been put added over the years. The church today has become contaminated by programs, doctrines, dogmas.
These leaders put everything on the table. They questioned whether there is a literal hell or heaven. Everything teaching was open to discussion. Well you can imagine this made quite an earthquake so to speak. The clergy in the larger organizations and seminaries started speaking out, writing books against the Emergent Conversation, and warning people about it. But again, if your belief system is so rigid that it can’t take a question, that’s a red flag. The first church was chaotic. They didn’t have a guide book. The Emergent Conversation was comfortable with chaos and realized that thisis just what you go through when trying to get some answers and being open to Spirit. You try some things and they don’t always work. All is not lost. The Holy Spirit is there to protect us, to guide us, to teach us. So the question is: are you going to be reliant on what you say you believe and stick to it even when it’s not working? Or are you going to rely on spirit to lead you? or are you going to go by your own understanding? The life line of Emergent is the Internet. Australia, New Zealand, and the UK are some of the larger, stronger areas of the Emergent Conversation. The US is rather slow about catching on, but once it got started in local faith communities, many congregations would sell their church building, take the money, and go help meet the needs of the community: those who are homeless and hungry. They started to practice what they saw happening in the first church and knew what was expected of them, which was not to keep up huge cathedrals, but to meet needs and actual taking some social justice stances.
Yvonne: Like that radical rascal, Jesus, did. He wasn’t one who hung out with religious people. He ministered to the people who needed him—those who recognized their need for a healer or someone to show them a better way. He was not one to be enshrined in a temple and wrapped up in religious theology.
Steve: No not at all. To be honest, a lot of folks would be pretty leery of having Jesus as a neighbor with all the people hanging out on his front porch.
Yvonne: They definitely would. They wouldn’t even recognize him.
Steve: They would be nervous with all the unsavory types coming out the door over there. That’s what this conversation wanted to pursue. Get back real go back to the roots as best as possible. The Two Agreements says that it’s well and good to follow the true teachings of Jesus, but not to get bogged down into the institution. That’s not what Jesus wanted. I don’t see where he said that he wanted to start a new religion. He really wanted folks to understand one thing: when you see me, you see the father. I am the father are one and I am one with you.
What you can do while you’re here on the planet is enjoy life as you enter the kingdom. It’s already here. It’s in you. It’s all around you and that kingdom is peace, joy, exuberance, and the knowledge that you have right standing with the power that puts you here in the first place. So don’t live in fear. You are one in the same with that energy and you have right standing. You can stand boldly and proudly as a divine being. It’s a sad thing that our children are being taught that they are less than divine.
Yvonne: They are taught to fear the god we have made in our own image—a god that is quite brutal and abusive. Look at the God that has been created through Christianity and in some belief systems and you have to think “if I had that kind of parent I would never go see him. I would never have anything to do with him.” Why have we made God, who is love, out to be a horrible, mean, unloving, punishing parent? We as humans treat out children much better that the Judeo-Christian God treats his kids?
Steve: Psychiatrists have had a field day with that one over the years. Why do humans want to beat themselves up so bad? Why do they feel so guilty? There’s been many books written on that. Some of them, Escape from Freedom, is a title that jumps out. Guilt and fear are things we have to deal with. We need to be healed in our minds first. Then it will go to our hearts, and then it will go into our body. Our first healing is right here realizing, professing it, and affirming it. I really am into affirmations. I like affirming “I AM ONE with God. I am one with the one who put me here, my creator. I am one with the source. I am one with life force.” Affirm that and feel it down in your gut, feel it in your heart, and get some healing going there. Yvonne: That always generates joy and gratitude generates all the fruits of the spirit. We were talking about how Jesus was with the outcasts of society. He was not hanging out in the temples. You also minister to some less fortunate people.
Steve: He went to where there was a need.
Yvonne: There’s a need everywhere, but the people who can be helped are the people who realize they need help.
Steve: That’s a very good point. There’s not very much help for a person who seems to already have all the answers. In The Two Agreements the word “mystery” is used throughout. My belief system leaves room for mystery. To say, “I do not know” is a full, complete answer. I always allow room for the Holy Spirit to keep filling me up and giving me answers. I enjoy working with folks who are bound together with a common purpose to help one another be well and live well. Some are focused on getting a need met and are living in what I might call a “teachable moment” or being receptive. There are always new questions coming up.
Part of my ministry is with inspirational support groups for folks suffering from depression and other mood disorders. There’s always a need for healing, understanding, and support there. Depression is the number-one crippling illness in the country. It’s not heart disease or diabetes or cancer. The number one illness that puts folks on disability and causes the loss of career or job is depression. I decided to work with that population and create the inspiration support group. We are a plurality of faith systems. We have folks in the Jewish, Christian, Catholic, and other faiths, yet we have created an understanding family. There’s a lot of laughter and hugging; there’s a lot of joking and kindness going on. Folks would never believe that this is the room where the depressed people meet. They would say, “Wait a minute! Isn’t that supposed to be depressed people down there?” The janitorial service at one of the buildings where we were meeting actually asked that question.
There are two things that all of us want to believe and feel: that at least one other person on the planet loves us just like we are. The second thing that we need, not just something we want, but something we need is to feel that someone understands us, gets us, just the way we are, no matter what is going on with us. These folks need that.
Yvonne: Depression many times is a result of our seeing ourselves as separate from God or separate from others and feeling the emptiness that comes from a mindset of not being understood or accepted. So, it makes sense that when people who feel rejection learn about oneness and become part of a family that cares about them, they would laugh and rejoice. It’s a natural bi-product of being loved.
Steve: Exactly, exactly. If you removed the judgment and condemnation out of Christianity and present the love that Jesus said would identify them (they’ll know you by your love for one another) we’d be looking at a revolution.
Yvonne: I know we would. That is the soul reunion or coming back to God we are experiencing in the ascension process. Realizing that we never were separate means accepting that we brought all this suffering on ourselves. Religions and dogmas teach and emphasize the illusion of separation.

Podcast host: Yvonne Perry

WE ARE CALLED TO BE MYSTICS

     The follow article provides a needful explanation of life as a mystic.

 

Practical Mysticism – The Way of the Future

By: William Meader  

For centuries, mysticism been a major force in our quest to experience God and the spiritual dimension of life. Our yearning to find relationship with the Divine is ancient, and has been an instinctual impulse within us since the dawning hour of humankind. Indeed, this urge is woven into the very fabric of human consciousness. It is a heartfelt desire to establish a deep and abiding union with God’s love, and from this, experience a “peace that passeth understanding.” Yet our relationship with God is an evolving thing, as is everything else in life. Though mysticism has been the emphasis of the past, it is gradually evolving into a new and more enlightened approach to God and our understanding of spiritual living. This new approach has been called many names, but its most succinct and useful title is Practical Mysticism.

Practical Mysticism is not a spiritual approach that denies the validity of mysticism (as we traditionally understand this term). Instead, it is the next stage in its evolution. Mysticism has, historically, emphasized the importance of relating to God’s love. It is based upon the conviction that God is love, and that to find a deep love within oneself is to find divinity. A practical mystic would not refute the truth of this notion. Yet in addition to this view, the practical mystic understands that God is not only a representative of love, but also of mind and intelligence.

This is the essential difference between traditional mysticism and the perspective advocated within Practical Mysticism. To the practical mystic, God is love and mind, and equally so. Both represent sacred attributes of divinity seeking expression through humanity. As our mystical understanding of life matures, we are beginning to understand that the use of the mind (higher mind) is a gate to God. It is a portal into the will and intelligence of divinity, just as the heart is the way to divine love.

As an individual’s abstract mind is developed (in conjunction with love), s/he begins to realize that God speaks to humanity through lofty and profound ideas. From this, a new understanding of life emerges. It is a recognition that humanity is truly evolving. However, it is not evolution as we typically consider it. Unlike the Darwinian notion that survival of the fittest propels evolutionary change, the practical mystic realizes that humanity evolves through its relationship to progressive ideas and their practical application.

Practical Mysticism states that service to humanity needs to be centered in compassion, while at the same time expressed with wisdom and intelligence. It demands that we learn to establish a deep connection to the soul’s love while simultaneously applying the wisdom of the mind in practical ways. Too often mystics are lovingly compelled, but lack the ability to demonstrate practical skills for living. This must change. Through widespread education in recent years, humanity’s ability to think and reason has increased tremendously. We therefore live in a time when love alone will not suffice. Instead, love must be accompanied by intelligent thought and practical skill in action. This is the mantle of the practical mystic.

When we view the historical underpinnings of religion, we see that mysticism is the ground that gives birth to theology. In its early phases, a religion is largely mystical and only later hardens itself with unnecessary creed and dogma. Yet, even with the destructive introduction of dogma the mystical tendencies of a religion are still held by some of its exponents. In many ways the orientation found in certain branches of Christianity give evidence to this. The belief in cloistered living is one such indication.

Christian mysticism has been governed by the assumption that to find God (in the deepest sense) requires separation from society, and to live a life of contemplative solitude. Though not denying that there is a measure of truth to this, Practical Mysticism doesn’t emphasize this notion. Instead, finding the divine within society is the primary theme. To the practical mystic, divinity is found within the crucible of culture and civilization. And, it is this conviction that motivates the practical mystic in his/her commitment to serve humanity.

The cloistering tendency still found in religion is actually a residual effect of life lived during the Piscean Era. During that great astrological epoch it was believed that rapport with God is deepened by removing oneself from the doings of the world. From this, monastic theology came into being and convents and monasteries provided the needed isolation. Indeed, for the last two thousand years this has been the ordained means for finding God. However, humanity is now in transition, astrologically considered. At this remarkable time in history we find ourselves moving between two great ages—Pisces and the emerging sign of Aquarius. A new order is therefore on the horizon, and with it comes the next step in the evolution of humanity’s mystical relationship to life. Indeed, the notion that God is primarily found in seclusion is gradually coming to an end.

The dawning Age of Aquarius represents the next step in the development of our understanding of God and humanity’s relationship to the divine. This zodiacal sign symbolizes the importance of intelligent and practical approaches to life. Aquarius is known as the sign of service, and is profoundly related to the development of the higher mind. In addition, it encourages us to realize that there is no place where God it not. As such, God is equally present in the hectic circumstances of urban life as in the isolation offered in remote places. A religious monastery, places of science and the arts, or even the ghetto are all gates that lead to the divine. This sign hearkens to the cultivation of lofty thought and the need to find practical methods that support the evolution of culture and the upliftment of civilization. Our future largely depends upon this. The sign of Aquarius is the force that urges us toward Practical Mysticism. Even so, it is we who must rise to the occasion.

One of the perceptual differences between the mystic and the practical mystic has to do with belief about the nature of creation and its relationship to the Creator. Historically, Western theologies have held the view that there is a gulf between God and creation. This is the root assumption in the mind of the Western mystic, and has led to a sense of isolation from God. Indeed, this is why some scholars have referred to Western theologies as religions of exile. Yet, practical mysticism sees this in a different manner. It is not God and creation, but God as creation that the practical mystic holds true. This is the deeper reason why the practical mystic sees God within every facet of civilization. Every societal institution is understood as an aspect of divinity struggling to evolve toward a perfected expression. Spiritual service, therefore, has relevance in all places.

A key distinction between the mystic of old versus the practical mystic has to do with the question of good and evil, right and wrong. Over the centuries, Western theologies have strongly delineated these two things. The view has been that there is good and evil and a choice must be made. The notion of hell and the devil emerge as tools used to define evil and to prompt people (usually through fear) to make a choice in favor of goodness. However, the practical mystic does not see it this way. Instead, there is an understanding that everything in the world is an expression of both darkness and light, of good and evil.

Every human being, life event and social institution hold measures of truth and distortion. Indeed, this is one way (of many) to understand evil. Simply stated, evil is the distortion of truth. We can easily see this when we consider the fact that a vice is often a virtue that has been distorted or misapplied. All things are imperfect and, therefore, have measures of distortion and impurity (evil) in their expression. This is true for the criminal and the saint alike. The simplistic notion that darkness is due to origin sin, as Western theology suggests, is being superseded by a more enlightened understanding of evil. Evil is a dynamic characteristic found in the physics of creation itself, and is naturally a part of the evolution of all things. To the practical mystic, the question is not what is good and what is evil. Rather, it is to see all things as manifestations of both, and to facilitate the transformation of the lesser (evil) on behalf of the greater (goodness).

Mysticism has been governed by the belief that love is the only road that leads to God. Yet, we are entering a new and dynamic phase in the evolution of mystical yearning—the era of Practical Mysticism. Gradually we are realizing that God is not just love, but is also mind. Practical mystics understand that the heart and the mind are equally divine, and both must be utilized in service to humanity’s betterment. Such people advocate the importance of bringing spiritual wisdom into practical expression. They seek to build a new civilization where humanity’s oneness is recognized and outer societal structures evidence this recognition. This is done by inwardly aligning with the soul while simultaneously keeping one’s feet planted on the ground. Such is the formula for bringing heaven to earth, and is the mandate of the practical mystic.

© 2007 William Meader

Technorati Tags: mystic,mysticism,emergent conversation,good news,the two agreements,human consciousness,new civilization

When I was sick… An Introduction to My Sole Ministry

 

One of the core beliefs of the Emergent Movement is that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. We enrich this experience by remembering/acknowledging/honoring our oneness with the Source and with each other. To do this, we must embrace our neighbor as an individual, regardless of their state of their physical or mental health, the size of their wallet, the “correctness” of their religious views. For the past ten years, my spiritual ministry has focused on the “consumers” (individuals utilizing mental health services for depression and bipolar disorder), as well as their family and friends. Together, we have created a supportive “understanding family” comprised of a plurality of belief systems.

Brian McLaren on mental illness, humanizing the consumers of mental health services

 

 

As “progressive” as we like to think we’ve become, there is still an enormous stigma attached to mental illness. We all have our problems and worries, and we all have coping mechanisms—some healthy, and some, not so much—that we use to deal with them. However, what about those among us that need help managing their mental health challenges? Faced with the very real prospect of rejection, they are silenced and cut off from the world. Unfortunately, many religious institutions reflect this societal view, and this has only further isolated those dealing with mood disorders.

Christ did not shy away from those facing challenges. On the contrary, he gravitated not to the pillars of society, but to those considered less fortunate and even, by some, undesirable, most notably the poor and infirm. It is on His model that I have based my community outreach: first, to in-patients in a behavioral health facility and, secondly, to a population of consumers in the larger community. My interfaith inspirational support meetings provide spiritual encouragement to in-patients and other consumers suffering from mood disorders, regardless of the person’s faith (or lack thereof). The aim is to create a supportive, trustworthy, respectful, non-judgmental, and nurturing atmosphere where these individuals can safely explore and strengthen their spiritual lives.

I begin these meetings with a moment of silence in which we remember “those members of our family that we have yet to meet.” A central message of my ministry is that everyone needs time to be alone with God: what I refer to as visiting the “inner sanctuary”. In my book, The Two Agreements, I discuss the importance of entering the “stillness” and the “Silence” to find one’s own connection with the Source, on their own terms, rather than those imposed upon them by any person, organization, or religious dictates.

I am also sensitive to the fact that mental illness does not only affect the consumer, but their loved ones as well. That’s why I hold a second meeting each week that’s open to friends and family in need of support. Many focus all of their energy and attention trying to help the diagnosed person. Others are frightened away, and remain distant from the person experiencing the illness. Still others report feeling hurt, helpless, overwhelmed, confused, sad, guilty and ashamed because of their loved one’s illness. I believe that no matter the reaction, these family members and friends need support and comfort as they walk the often-challenging road to wellness alongside their loved one. To this end, my ministry includes special events that build a family atmosphere and promotes healthy relationships between people with illnesses, family and friends of different faith systems.

Both of the groups that meet weekly, our understanding family, are part of a larger mosaic. Within that mosaic, our family demonstrates the necessity of unity not only to these individuals and to their loved ones but also, on a deeper level, the human family, our connection with one another, and with God. Spiritually speaking, the esoteric teachings of major religions speak of an underlying unity in all of creation, an eternal oneness.

In these most trying of times, I ask all faith communities to create a safe place, in space and time, for these individuals and their loved ones.  It serves us well to remember Jesus’ words while teaching His disciples a lesson in compassion, “I was sick, and ye visited me.” 

Today, we need to have the Conversation more than ever.

 

I invite you to support a controversial conversation: the Emergent Conversation. Some religious leaders wish it to end; others believe it already has ended. I propose that the need for the Emergent Conversation has never been greater. People (especially the younger generations) are disillusioned with traditional Christianity; they hunger for God, yet they are “turned off” by the dogma, the rules, and the narrow version of salvation. By way of example, I recently heard a story about a young Christian woman who had lost her father to cancer. As his condition deteriorated, she became increasingly concerned about “where he was going to go” after he died. Her father had spoken of God, but he had not been a churchgoer, and she was not quite sure whether he believed the “right” things. As she put it, “being a good person is not enough to get you into Heaven.”

These beliefs only serve to cut us off from God, each other, and our spiritual selves. That’s why a central message of my reinterpretation is that there is no separation between man and God, except that which lives in our hearts and minds. This separation, which began with Adam and Eve (the “Lie”) has been perpetrated throughout history by the Christian establishment. It preaches that we are all inherently sinful. Any “sin” we commit (i.e. not following religious dogma) further separates us from God and excludes us from the kingdom of Heaven. Any questioning of this dogma is a sin in and of itself, for it indicates a “disbelief” in Jesus, God, and the Bible.

The Conversation, however, welcomes questions, for it is in this way that we come to God in love, not for fear that we will be banished to hell. There are several things not explained by the traditional interpretation of the Scriptures, that have left many of us feeling marginalized and unworthy for not believing strongly enough. For example:

· How is it Jesus did a perfect work and paid for all sins, yet humankind is still in danger of losing soul salvation, and therefore must continually ask forgiveness for these same sins?

· How is it that God expects us to sincerely love Him with all our heart while under the threat of eternal punishment if we fail to truly, sincerely love Him?

· Why does the phrase “plan of salvation” appear on gospel tracts, but cannot be found in the gospels of the New Testament?

· How is it that the church of today is not, neither can it ever become, a continuation of the church Jesus commissioned?

· Given that Christ's resurrected life brought victory and salvation, why is the cross, an instrument of death, the celebrated symbol of Christianity?

· How many times have we sat in church wondering why being with God must be so mechanical and boring?

· Jesus taught that all people are one with the Father, so why does the church teach that people are separate and removed from God?

The questions are only the beginning, but my answers to them go a long way to eliminating fear and bringing us closer to God. The aim of the Conversation is to rethink all aspects of Christianity. And I support the undertaking by writing the reinterpretation of the Good News story. This reinterpretation debunks the Lie of our separation from God and teaches us a simple yet often-buried Truth: that we are nothing more (and nothing less!) than aspects of the Creator.

Ironically, one of the most encouraging reactions to the Conversation has come from the Christian establishment; not in the form of acceptance, of course, but rather an attempt to repackage their own mainstream message. The current trend in Christian churches is the kinder, gentler version: more love, less judgment. Yet the basic message remains the same: believe as we do, or you will be forever separated from God and his Kingdom. This makes the Emergent Conversation, or Movement, even more necessary, if only to keep applying pressure.

On the other hand, there are many challenges to the Emergent Movement, not only from those outside it, but also from within. As with any “shiny new toy”, there is the threat of eventual disillusionment. For those seeking instant gratification, there is the very real chance of returning to conformist views or having no spiritual life at all. Therefore, my advice to those joining the Movement is to keep in mind that this is not a “quick fix”, but a long-term commitment to know God and oneself.

It is my sincere desire that it continues and remains a powerful influence on Christianity as the global community undergoes The Great Emergence. That’s why I have pledged to make myself available to congregations wanting to learn to create inspirational support networks and groups for them. For more information on my group work with a plurality of faiths, please visit: The Two Agreements FB page, thetwoagreements.blogspot.com, thetwoagreements.wordpress.com. Contact us: thetwoagreements@yahoo.com

A recent post on my The Two Agreements group on fb

Those of you presently reading my book know it was August 1988 that the reinterpretation of the Bible theme and good news came to me.  I spent hours in contemplation over the new perspectives, in the form of images and inner dialogue, of the old stories I heard as a child attending Sunday school. 

You see, I was not "raised in church" but the stories were so very fascinating to me that they found a permanent home in my mind and heart.  Following intuition, not only did I focus on the individual stories of the Bible, I took a huge step back to see the "big picture" and realized that there are two agreements that God made with humanity.  With these two agreements, God set out to win back the hearts and minds of humankind, once and for all. 

I get excited all over again recalling those early experiences in 1988 of listening and receiving these new understandings of the Gospel. It is great to talk to some of you each day about the wonder and excitement of a truly liberating Good News story for our time.

If anyone is having difficulty locating a place to purchase TTA, let me know.  I will make certain you find it.  In case you did not already know, the proceeds from the book go to a not-for-profit organization that provides free services to individuals suffering mental health challenges, their family and friends.  My "spiritual ministry" is fully invested in leading this work.  We are celebrating our 10th year in March 2012.  I greatly appreciate all of those that purchased my book these past weeks. Blessings . . .

Welcome to the blog

 pic by cpcache

I am excited to welcome you to my blog.  These days I work to complete my book on a reinterpretation of the good news story.  It is a post modern interpretation that brings the most powerful story in the history of mankind into the current time.  The first time I came across the optical illusion of the name Jesus it took me a moment to get the picture.  But after I saw the word I was unable to not see it. So it is with the reinterpretation that I bring to those truth seekers among us.  The reinterpretation will bring a view of the Bible theme to the forefront.  That view was there all the time, however, it takes more than looking at the surface to see what the story is communicating. 

The work is going quickly on my book.  At the moment, I expect to complete the writing and editing phase by the end of March.  Until that time I plan to blog my progress and share the exciting spiritual perspective that I gain by living from the reinterpretation.  Again, welcome.