21st Century Spirituality is Free From the Church Building

In the exploration of spirituality and faith, many have found themselves on a journey of transformation, seeking to move beyond the constraints of the religious traditions of my upbringing. This shift from an antiquated mindset to a more contemporary spiritual existence is reminiscent of the profound transition referenced in the sacred passage of Isaiah 43.

Being freed from that "Old Time Religion” (we used to sing a song that said 'it's good enough for me’???) I was able to deal with self hatred in a way I could not have imagined before. I headed down to the San Joaquin River for a ritual of letting a self-hating part go — with the gratitude of my system and D.I.D. parts.

WATCH MY YOUTUBE VIDEO: LETTING GO OF A SELF-HATING PART

My alters realized there was another part, who called himself Cockroach, that was bringing the energy of self-hatred. Cockroach however, was not a natural part of our system, but rather was a part from the outside called an unattached burden. How did it come in externally? I honestly have no idea. I'm even willing to concede it might just all be part of my inner perception, but I've learned to listen to what the different parts of my D.I.D. have to say, and, thus, I am embracing this truth, and a spiritual process to let it go.

Cockroach is certainly not a demon, but a part that joined us believing self-hatred was a helpful way to keep the rest of our D.I.D. parts hidden away. Internal bullying and shame kept our parts hidden that weren't appreciated in our trauma-inducing society of American Christianity. Cockroach thought they were helping us to survive - and an argument can be made that it worked. My system is still here.

Rather than exorcising Cockroach, my parts decided to send cockroach off with gratitude to find their true purpose for today. Maybe Cockroach was meant to help us or maybe it was a mistake, but that doesn't matter. We know we neither need nor want that self-hatred anymore, so we want a beautiful process of letting Cockroach go.

We grabbed a rock from the river and went to the top of the bank and wrote Cockroach's name on it. We lit incense and used the ashes of a cigarette for purifying and connecting fire. Most of my parts, including Avery, Buck, Toby, and Adelyne, wrote words like protector and caring to let Cockroach know we understood their role and appreciated the help they tried to be.

I was able to connect through the alters to Cockroach and was assured the part also understood and appreciated the spiritual process. We went down the path back to the water and stepped into the freezing flow of melted mountain snow. We declared reconciliation, release and renewal for all the parts involved and released the rock, a spiritual representation of Cockroach and our gratefulness, and released it back into the water.

The Christianity of my life would have frowned on such a ritual as a practice of some dark magic but I actually based it upon a story in the Bible commonly called The Gaderene Demoniac in which some unattached burdens (the Christian Bible, of course, calls them demons) were told it was time to leave a human being behind. The parts thought Jesus meant them harm - to send them to an "abyss" but rather Jesus gave them grace and sent them into pigs that then jumped off a cliff, releasing the parts to search for new purpose (I am sad for the pigs, though.) This was such a better process than a Christian wrestling match trying to force "demons" out of someone.

Looking back, I now realize much of that "casting out" is actually bullying trying to get a protector part to stand down and stop trying to ensure safety for their system. It's horrifying to think of the trauma that has produced in people's lives.

For me, as we followed this ancient model at the river that day, we felt a gentle and immediate spiritual release, no longer feeling a direct connection to self hatred we had known for so long. And, unlike Christianity that says 'all is well, now' after an exorcism, the serious work begins for my system to remove the residue of long term, trauma-induced self-hatred that was taught to us by the unhealthy home of our childhood and the bondage of repressive religious teaching under which we were raised.

I see today that a beautiful spirituality is available to so many who are blocked from it by a religion that is packaged in a building and enslaved to an exclusive, narrow interpretation of one set of ancient writings. Was that what the Jesus of the Bible meant when he is quoted promising "life abundant?"

A spiritual dam is about to burst that will no longer be hindered by the dam of religion and may parts of unhealthy practice will be released into the raging river that breech feeds forth. Spirituality isn’t in a church, it’s inside of you and connected to the eternal you of heaven that is connected to us all.

It's the new thing so many of us are sensing. Can you perceive it?

If you've been looking for spiritual community, but are no longer find it in a church building, come join us for a Pastor Paul community hang out on Wednesday, May 3. Let's pursue the 21st century spiritual life... together