{"id":379414,"date":"2015-02-05T21:32:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T21:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2015\/02\/05\/healing-and-the-two-sides-of-spirituality\/"},"modified":"2015-02-05T21:32:00","modified_gmt":"2015-02-05T21:32:00","slug":"healing-and-the-two-sides-of-spirituality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2015\/02\/05\/healing-and-the-two-sides-of-spirituality\/","title":{"rendered":"Healing and the Two Sides of Spirituality"},"content":{"rendered":"
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One of the key elements in The Five Facets Philosophy<\/span><\/a><\/span>is the spiritual facet.<\/p>\n

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I chose the term spiritual<\/i> over religious<\/i>because each of us is born with a spiritual essence.<\/p>\n

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Though organized religion attaches itself to spirituality, our spirit is not linked inherently to organized doctrine.<\/p>\n

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Our spirit is our very essence; at its core it includes things like our compassion, convictions, courage, and hope\u2026<\/p>\n

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Our spirit is at the root of the way we treat one another, the land, and all that encompasses our universe\u2026<\/p>\n

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Our spirit is like a window to our soul, the place where wonder and heartache shimmer and shatter.<\/p>\n

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Our spirit is free to choose destiny, desire, and destination.<\/p>\n

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Organized religion often asks us to adopt the values and beliefs of others; it directs that what is good for one is good for all.<\/p>\n

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Doctrine and scripture often tell us that there is a God, Entity, or some Energy that is dictating our every move and our every experience.<\/p>\n

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Some scriptures ask us to put our entire faith in His hands, and to implore Him to do with us what He chooses.<\/p>\n

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After my Gavin died, I, like so many of us do, questioned God\u2019s role, His mercy, His choice.<\/p>\n

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I saw paradox everywhere I looked.<\/p>\n

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One such dilemma for me was the assertion that God isn\u2019t a cruel god, that He is loving, kind, and generous.<\/p>\n

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The definition of cruel<\/i> is to knowingly inflict pain on someone.<\/p>\n

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If God were making all the decisions, then He knows how much suffering we incur when one of our children dies.<\/p>\n

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Those things are contradictory\u2026<\/p>\n

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I am a person who has come to believe in a God who screams out in agony when hate, injustice, and suffering occur.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve also come to appreciate a Higher Power who rejoices when we experience joy.<\/p>\n

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My God gave us free will and The Golden Rule, the ability to choose love, kindness, and generosity\u2026<\/p>\n

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That is my spirituality and those are the beliefs I chose to adopt in healing my heartaches.<\/p>\n

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While coming to my own conclusions surrounding my faith, I learned a valuable lesson: What is so right for one may be so completely wrong for another.<\/p>\n

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Take for example this church sign I noticed driving home one day.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMan is a sinner who needs God and is helpless to save himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Those words resonate harshly within me. They tell me that I don\u2019t have the ability to choose resilience, courage, change, or healing for myself.<\/p>\n

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I once had a conversation with a man who helps inner city children in Louisiana; he said that people he works with believe that God chose extreme poverty for them. They believe hardship, joblessness, and dependency are their destiny.<\/p>\n

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He also said that leaders around him believe that they have been designated as Providers.<\/p>\n

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I cannot wrap my thinking around this sort of helplessness\u2026<\/p>\n

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And yet, the individuals living those roles are accepting of that edification.<\/p>\n

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In my many conversations with others who have suffered tragedy, I have met believers who were able to reconcile their suffering through a belief that some One or Some Thing is in charge, that there is a Master Plan, one which begs us to accept circumstance and decline questioning.<\/p>\n

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I received a number of condolences from strangers after my son died, people who read the obituary and felt so moved to send comfort.<\/p>\n

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One such person sent me a laminated poem that spoke of a God who every now and again plucks a young rose from Earth to make Heaven a little more beautiful.<\/p>\n

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My exhalation left a steamy haze on this giver\u2019s glass, a shadow that, for a long time, prevented me from seeing this person\u2019s spirit, kept me from gazing into a piece of this neighbor\u2019s soul\u2026<\/p>\n

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I no longer harbor angst or anger against this fellow journeyer, for I recognize that she, too, is making a choice that feeds her soul and fuels her inspiration\u2026<\/p>\n

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What do you think, about the sign\u2019s message, Journeyer? Have you ever stopped to reflect on the two sides of spirituality? Sound off!<\/p>\n

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And one final thing before we part: Our neighborhood is rapidly growing! Please join us by adding your name to receive a free digital copy of our power mantras poster<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/b>. It includes ten of the top quotes that feed my soul and fuel my inspiration! You\u2019ll also receive my free monthly newsletter!<\/p>\n

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We can\u2019t wait to have you as our neighbor!<\/p>\n

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Until we meet again, yours in hope, healing, and happiness,<\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/b> <\/span>~AE<\/p>\n

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Soon\u2026<\/span><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the key elements in The Five Facets Philosophyis the spiritual facet. I chose the term spiritual over religiousbecause each of us is born with a spiritual essence. Though organized religion attaches itself to spirituality, our spirit is not linked inherently to organized doctrine. Our spirit is our very essence; at its core it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[87,914,61,1318,35,1146,173,14,324,94,28,1311,1319],"class_list":["post-379414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-child-loss","tag-choices","tag-death","tag-dependency","tag-empowerment","tag-gavin","tag-god","tag-healing","tag-newborn-death","tag-religion","tag-spirituality","tag-the-five-facets-philosophy","tag-two-sides-of-healing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Spirit-2Bis-2Blike-2Ba-2Bwindow-2Bto-2Bour-2Bsoul-2Bquote-2Bon-2Bupward-2Blightbeams-2Bpic.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}