Shame – it’s what’s for dinner (at my house, anyway)

As some of you know, I’ve recently discovered Dr. Brene Brown (aka the Albert Einstien of the 21st century). She has a Ph.D. in Social Work and has spent her life studying shame, vulnerability, fear… basically all the things that get in the way of happiness, joy, and abundant life.

I’ve spent the past few weeks listening to her talks and reading her books and, well, dealing with my own shame. I’ve been, as Dr. Brown says, “wading in the swampland of the soul,” ...

the secret: you are [that]. i am too.

"Tat tvam asi"

Literally translated from Sanscrit, it means interchangeably “Thou art that” and “That art thou.”   

It is generally taken to mean that your soul or consciousness is wholly or partially the Ultimate Reality [God]. That is to say, even before the creation of the universe, a unitary, divine consciousness existed, and that this consciousness is identical to your deepest self…it is the relationship between the individual and the absolute. (Encyclopedia Brittanica, Global Oneness)

ugly words [or] god is not a rapist

RAPE.

It’s an ugly word. It hurts coming out of my mouth. It elicits a visceral response, a bitter taste on the back of my tongue.

But it is how I would describe my first experiences with the church.

I was raped as a child. Someone took my innocence and my trust and they replaced it with cowering fear.

I was raped  spiritually and emotionally and mentally.

My own power was taken from me and in its place, the power of Someone Else took over, and that “someone else” was the Church.

But the worst rape I experienced was the rape of my perception of God.