Do you know you are loved? I think that’s the question our eyes seek from the moment we open them at birth. In my experience, everyone is born knowing the Being from whom they flow. How do we re-friend that Being when others have painted over our inner knowledge and re-welded our inner relationships.
Wordsworth expressed in Intimations of Immortality: “Not in utter nakedness, nor entire forgetfulness, but trailing clouds of glory do we come from God who is our home.” You’ve seen a new baby – you were that loved and connected baby once, too. John Mbiti changed the old Descartian quote to “I belong, therefore I am.” Walking with people into re-finding and fulfilling their inner truth and glory is a precious part of my work.
I read theology while my children were young; my mind and spirit grew! I also identified with Djohariah Toor (Road by the River) wrote “The church has hurt many people, but the Holy Spirit has never done anyone a bad turn.” In my personal capacity, I can help people heal and grow in whatever practice of faith, or lifestyle, that suits them. Part of my life is within the framework of organised religion, and I can fully endorse the strength and love, connection and growth, that it brings to many.
Part of my life is in helping people heal where religion, not spirituality, has caused hurt, where God-speak has been in aid of empowering men, or the West, or “The Way It Should Be”. I am trained to respect and respond to each person’s individual experience of their faith.