This episode is brought to you by the magic of Wild & Holy Weekend! There is still space to join me for a weekend of hugs, tacos, truth and expansion, but the time is now to secure your spot. Visit WildandHolyWeekend.com for all the details and to buy your ticket!
Happy Labor Day, friends.
I hope you're enjoying a nice holiday weekend if you're in the US. We're diving into a hefty topic today and I'm going to do my best to do it justice, although I suspect this topic will continue to be explored through multiple lenses as we continue on in Season 1.
Today, we're diving into healing religious wounds and this is a big one! In fact, I'd say this is one of the biggest reasons so many of you identify with the idea that you can be both Wild & Holy and I hope that our community continues to be a safe space for all of us to do our spiritual healing and find more wholeness and permission to be who we are.
A few things before we start:
1. I want to approach this topic from a place of deep healing, but there are still hurts I'm very much unraveling. It's important to me to be as unbiased as possible when discussing this because my goal isn't to make religion bad or wrong, but rather identify the parts that haven't resonated with me, the parts that have caused wounds and how I've navigated this thus far.
2. I'm very much still in the process of exploring religious wounds. There's been a great deal of healing here for sure, but I'm in the depths of reopening old wounds this year to gain deeper perspective and further healing. That's what prompted me to return to church to do this exploration.
So as we dive in here, know I'm human with my own experiences and perspectives, but it's my intention to approach this topic with as much grace, compassion, and objectivity as I can muster.
Things mentioned in this episode:
My Definition of Religion: a set of rules, rituals, beliefs, morals, and values that create a subset of culture that one find identify and affinity with to explain the concept of God and how this God should be worshipped.
Why many people seek religion: religion aims to describe the mystery and complexity of life, how to have a relationship with God, and provides a road map of what's good and bad, right and wrong, as well as gives an understanding to big ideas such as what happens after we die and how we explain life events.
What happens when we start to de-identify with a particular religion is a process known as existential individuation in which we start to cultivate differing beliefs, values, morals, rules, and rituals that guide our lives.
This can be quite the unraveling of personal experiences as it calls a lot into question.
Furthermore, religion serves to meet a big basic need of acceptance and belonging. When we start to pull away from a faith, we can feel as though we don't know where we belong. There's loss here and because of this, the grieving process is absolutely normal.
We must feel and process through the stages of grief to find our way to more wholeness and grief is anything but a straight line.
Episodes mentioned in today's episode: The Expansion Series: Episodes 3, 5, and 6. What I Mean When I Say the Word "God", Ep 8.
Other things to consider:
There's a difference between pain from a religion and pain from God. These aren't always the same thing and it's important to treat them as separate processes.
Lastly, healing wounds requires forgiveness. Forgiveness doesn't make something okay or mean that you agree with something. Forgiveness means you absolve someone for the actions they took based on the beliefs they held.
Join me this Thursday over on my Facebook page for an in-depth discussion on healing religious wounds and how we can do this work together!
This episode also points you back to donating to those impacted by Hurricane Harvey. Please don't stop giving or finding ways you can help. This will be a long road of recovery and rebuilding. Let's continue to support those families and businesses who will be rebuilding for some time to come.
You can donate to any of the organizations listed here.
Are you loving Wild & Holy Radio?
Leave a review for me on iTunes. Your feedback is SO helpful in helping other spiritual seekers and the religious and curious find us and our community continues to grow in richness and depth because of YOU!
Leave a review by following these instructions and don't forget to subscribe below!
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
Stay Connected
