Holding On to Faith: Strength in the Midst of the Storm
Today, as I sat down to write, I put on the soundtrack from Medicine Man. If you’ve never seen the movie, I highly recommend it. It’s hard to categorize—part romance, part story of perseverance, maybe just an average film with an unforgettable soundtrack. But with Sean Connery and Lorraine Bracco in the lead, it’s hard to go wrong.
The first thing that is going through my mind right now is I
feel very grateful to have the support of my sister, and some very close
friends, which I know that many do not have. I know this is going to be a
battle in the upcoming days, weeks, months, and with God’s grace, years.
Before my diagnosis of Stage 4 Cholangiocarcinoma, I started
a YouTube channel called Beyond Politics: Purpose
Thru Spiritual Unity, (which I have had to put on hold for the time
being). I’ve never been religious, but I’ve always been spiritual. I know
where my salvation lies. Unlike religion, which often bends teachings to fit
doctrine, spirituality is deeply personal—an unshakable connection that doesn’t
need validation from dogma.
As I stand on the threshold of what’s ahead, holding onto my
faith gives me a peace I can’t find anywhere else.
Carl Jung, the Swiss psychologist, was once asked if he
believed in God. At the beginning of his career, he said, “Yes.” Later in life,
when asked again, his response was different. He hesitated, then simply said,
“I know.”
That shift—from belief to knowing—is profound.
I believe that early on, a shift from intellectual belief to
personal experience, that Jung’s belief in God may have been shaped by
tradition and teachings. But through deep exploration of the unconscious,
mystical experiences, and synchronicity, he moved from accepting God as an idea
to experiencing God as a reality.
Jung emphasized that true spiritual knowledge doesn’t come
from doctrine but from lived experience. The unconscious, dreams, and
archetypes weren’t just psychological constructs; they revealed something
undeniably real.
His statement aligns with a key distinction in many
spiritual traditions: faith (belief without proof) vs. gnosis (inner
knowledge). For Jung, God was no longer a question—it was a certainty,
rooted in direct experience.
Since my hospitalization in 2021 for necrotizing
pancreatitis, I’ve become more aware of my spiritual self. A book a friend sent
me, Could It Be This Simple? by Dr. Timothy Jennings, started me down a
path of deeper understanding. It led me to explore the contrast between God’s
Design Laws and man’s-imposed laws.
Man’s imposed law is about power, coercion, and control.
God’s Design Laws, on the other hand, are about freedom, love, forgiveness, and
natural consequences. They aren’t imposed—they simply are.
I explored this in one of my YouTube videos, discussing
God’s Design Law of Freedom. (Link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy1DkbZqAMI&t=13s)
Now, as I begin treatment in a few days, I feel an
unshakable certainty. Chemotherapy will take its toll—on my body and mind. But
somehow, through faith, I believe the burden will be softened. Not because I
believe in something, but because I know.
This is my story, and I am the one who knows. I know God—not
just in belief, but in certainty. And no matter what the outcome, this story
will be told for a reason.
Until tomorrow…
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