You know you’ve created God in your own image when he hates the same people you do.

—Anne Lamott

*

Dr. Beebe believes we have found a way to be spiritual through psychology -- so it has become a substitute for religion.

He says that religion implies dogma.  And it's true that it's a difficult subject; it brings out the worst in some INFJs.  You should see some of the private entries I get in my guestbook quoting scripture at me as if that's a substitute for a personality and qualifies as a personal note.

Religion can be a vital guide for helping the individual to explore their True Nature or it can be just another limiting factor contributing towards narrow mindedness and ego identification. The responsibility for inner growth lies with the individual. One does not need to be religious to be spiritual and a religious person is not necessarily spiritual.

*

Religion is a defense against the experience of God.
                                         -Carl Jung

*

If you are looking for a spiritual path, proceed carefully.  There are organizations that exploit people under the guise of helping them spiritually.  Therefore, check out spiritual and religious organizations, as well as their leaders, very carefully.  Do your homework.  Be patient.

Eleanor Roosevelt's optimism rooted itself in faith.  She often drew inspiration from prayer and religious affirmations, regularly carrying a prayer in her purse.  Shortly after becoming First Lady, Eleanor wrote that some kind of faith, "a firm conviction that there is a reason and a meaning" behind hardship, gave people the courage and strength to take positive action.  Her faith carried her through a lifetime.  When she served at the U.N., Eleanor would kneel by her bedside each night and repeat the same prayer.  She asked God to "deliver us from fretfulness and self-pitying; make us sure of the good we cannot see and of the hidden good in the world.  Open our eyes to simple beauty all around us and our hearts to the loveliness men hide from us because we do not try to understand them.  Save us from ourselves and show us a vision of a world made new."  Through this prayer, Eleanor renewed and reinforced her optimistic view of the world.

-Excerpted from Leadership the Eleanor Roosevelt Way,
by Robin Gerber

*

From Image to Likeness: A Jungian Path in the Gospel Journey by W. Harold Grant, Thomas E. Clarke, Mary M. Thompson

*

First ecstasy, then laundry.

* * *