All of this resonated with me, but the Fight, Flight, or Freeze and love statement brought tears to my eyes.
Also, the reassurance in all the Christian chatter at times, that it’s ok to be numb and not sure. Jesus message to the man on the cross that He would see him in Heaven also hit my heart. ❤️
Really enjoyed this piece, Joe. Our journeys have a number of overlaps -- faith, then atheism, then psychedelics. Although we don’t see eye to eye on every point (I’m still an atheist), there’s something refreshing and “my people” about collectively divining meaning from all angles of the Christian experience. Thanks for bringing your perspective to the campfire.
Thank you for writing this essay. I have gone through my own journey of devotion to Christianity, atheism, agnosticism, journey with psychedelics and other spiritualities. The deeper I become my authentic and true self, the more I love Christ. Although, for me, my reconnection to Christianity has been through my soul, and the animist work I have done with The Animus Valley Institute, and therapeutic work with the post-evolutionary Christian minister Bruce Sanguin.
My family's home Church is New Life in Colorado Springs. I imagine you have heard of it because of Ted Haggard, and the scandal that happened years ago. Last Christmas, when I attended the New Years Eve service with my family, I felt like the hollowness, shallowness and emptiness of the Christ vision in the mega-entertainment Church might crush my soul, and leave me in a pool of tears I couldn't recover from. I hadn't been in a Church for five years, and to go back to that kind of relating to God was deeply painful.
I long to be in Church with others who follow Christ. I no longer feel I fit in with the deconstructionists, or the Churchgoer, and the loneliness of this can be excruciating at times. I've gone to the Episcopalians, The Lutherans, The Catholics, The Eastern Orthodox, The Quakers, The Universalists...and I have never found a collective home to worship Christ.
The closest I have come is through attending Richard Rohr's Living School.
Hildegaard, St. Francis, Joan of Arc, Teresa of Avila, Matthew Fox, and the other mystics who seem to live in the in-between, devoted to the experience of the complex and paradoxical, earth-based, and wildly cosmological relationship with Christ, are also of great comfort.
Also this: "I remembered the words I had heard in a waking dream months earlier: Love gives us options. When we feel torn between fight, flight, freeze, and feeling there’s no other way, love finds a way. True faith will dig through the roof on behalf of those we love. And the love of God, as witnessed in the true love of friendship, will dig through the roof for us."
I agree with Martha, what a beautiful statement. Thank you.
Tara, I'm a little blown away and humbled by your comment. I am so happy to hear your witness to your true self in Christ. I can relate to the disconnect you felt in such a church. Many years ago when I was not yet a Christian and didn't expect to be one, I went church shopping around LA and intentionally chose some churches I knew I would not jive with. Sounds like you have done your fair bit of shopping too. At times it was very jarring, and amusing, but my family's church has had so many great people, and my pain was more isolation, intellectual disconnect, and inauthenticity. There is a tension between Protestantism and mysticism that exists for some good reasons and some less good reasons. I also hope to continue traveling the in between spaces.
Also, I am very grateful for your Mad in America and substack piece on issues in psychedelic therapy. There were many things that stuck out to me and mapped onto some of my experiences and critiques, but I was especially grateful for your line, "Relational wounds cannot be healed through going inside ourselves; they are healed in emotionally intelligent, loving, non-coercive human-to-human relationships." Thank you for that eloquence.
Joe, thank you. I appreciate the resonance we share with Church shopping, the disconnect to Church at times, and traveling the in-between spaces.
I'm grateful to hear your family's Church has so many great people; what a gift. And I feel the ache of needing more authenticity and intellectual connection in it at different times. Life can be so paradoxical.
Thank you for sharing your appreciation of my recent essay. It's been quite a journey, as I am sure you can relate to, given the essay series you published months ago with your own critiques and experiences of this big movement. I appreciated you speaking up and giving voice to everything you did a lot.
And yes, enlivening loving relationships are so essential to our human flourishing. I deeply long for our species to grow in this arena.
All of this resonated with me, but the Fight, Flight, or Freeze and love statement brought tears to my eyes.
Also, the reassurance in all the Christian chatter at times, that it’s ok to be numb and not sure. Jesus message to the man on the cross that He would see him in Heaven also hit my heart. ❤️
Amen, Amen.
Really enjoyed this piece, Joe. Our journeys have a number of overlaps -- faith, then atheism, then psychedelics. Although we don’t see eye to eye on every point (I’m still an atheist), there’s something refreshing and “my people” about collectively divining meaning from all angles of the Christian experience. Thanks for bringing your perspective to the campfire.
Thanks Andy. I didn't realize we had that much overlap.To hear it feels like 'your people' is an awesome compliment. Happy to join you by the fire.
Thank you for writing this essay. I have gone through my own journey of devotion to Christianity, atheism, agnosticism, journey with psychedelics and other spiritualities. The deeper I become my authentic and true self, the more I love Christ. Although, for me, my reconnection to Christianity has been through my soul, and the animist work I have done with The Animus Valley Institute, and therapeutic work with the post-evolutionary Christian minister Bruce Sanguin.
My family's home Church is New Life in Colorado Springs. I imagine you have heard of it because of Ted Haggard, and the scandal that happened years ago. Last Christmas, when I attended the New Years Eve service with my family, I felt like the hollowness, shallowness and emptiness of the Christ vision in the mega-entertainment Church might crush my soul, and leave me in a pool of tears I couldn't recover from. I hadn't been in a Church for five years, and to go back to that kind of relating to God was deeply painful.
I long to be in Church with others who follow Christ. I no longer feel I fit in with the deconstructionists, or the Churchgoer, and the loneliness of this can be excruciating at times. I've gone to the Episcopalians, The Lutherans, The Catholics, The Eastern Orthodox, The Quakers, The Universalists...and I have never found a collective home to worship Christ.
The closest I have come is through attending Richard Rohr's Living School.
Hildegaard, St. Francis, Joan of Arc, Teresa of Avila, Matthew Fox, and the other mystics who seem to live in the in-between, devoted to the experience of the complex and paradoxical, earth-based, and wildly cosmological relationship with Christ, are also of great comfort.
Also this: "I remembered the words I had heard in a waking dream months earlier: Love gives us options. When we feel torn between fight, flight, freeze, and feeling there’s no other way, love finds a way. True faith will dig through the roof on behalf of those we love. And the love of God, as witnessed in the true love of friendship, will dig through the roof for us."
I agree with Martha, what a beautiful statement. Thank you.
Tara, I'm a little blown away and humbled by your comment. I am so happy to hear your witness to your true self in Christ. I can relate to the disconnect you felt in such a church. Many years ago when I was not yet a Christian and didn't expect to be one, I went church shopping around LA and intentionally chose some churches I knew I would not jive with. Sounds like you have done your fair bit of shopping too. At times it was very jarring, and amusing, but my family's church has had so many great people, and my pain was more isolation, intellectual disconnect, and inauthenticity. There is a tension between Protestantism and mysticism that exists for some good reasons and some less good reasons. I also hope to continue traveling the in between spaces.
Also, I am very grateful for your Mad in America and substack piece on issues in psychedelic therapy. There were many things that stuck out to me and mapped onto some of my experiences and critiques, but I was especially grateful for your line, "Relational wounds cannot be healed through going inside ourselves; they are healed in emotionally intelligent, loving, non-coercive human-to-human relationships." Thank you for that eloquence.
Joe, thank you. I appreciate the resonance we share with Church shopping, the disconnect to Church at times, and traveling the in-between spaces.
I'm grateful to hear your family's Church has so many great people; what a gift. And I feel the ache of needing more authenticity and intellectual connection in it at different times. Life can be so paradoxical.
Thank you for sharing your appreciation of my recent essay. It's been quite a journey, as I am sure you can relate to, given the essay series you published months ago with your own critiques and experiences of this big movement. I appreciated you speaking up and giving voice to everything you did a lot.
And yes, enlivening loving relationships are so essential to our human flourishing. I deeply long for our species to grow in this arena.