Steven Barnes argues that faith, understood as trust in something beyond your damaged ego, is essential for healing from trauma and loss. He identifies three targets for that faith: your deeper self, allies and teachers, or a higher power.
Greetings. This is Stephen Barnes of the Diamond Hour welcoming you to healing emotions Part 8, the power of Faith. Beautiful quote. For when you've come to the edge of all light that you know and are about to drop off into the darkness of the unknown. Faith is knowing one of two things will happen. There will be something solid to stand on, or you will be taught to fly. Patrick Overton. Now, faith is a tricky subject. We'll try to unsnarl it though. Let me just say it plainly. In order to achieve your potential in any field, you need faith. It doesn't have to be faith in an old man in the sky, or Gaia, or universal energy, or any transnational force. But it does need to be faith in something beyond your own ego. Why? Well, in terms of healing your emotions, loss of love, betrayal, failure, disappointment, crushing depression, all of these things damage your sense of self worth. Your ego concept cracks if you then attempt to rely on your ego to get you out of an ego trap. Wow, that's like trying to sprint on two broken legs. You're trying to use the very tool that no longer functions and will spiral deeper into the abyss. This is no joke. Do a little research and you'll find that very, very few champions in any field will say that they accomplished what they accomplished for themselves. No, it was for their family, their school, their country, their team, their nation, or God. It's fascinating, really. Why is this? Well, your old identity is like a subroutine. Your brain is running and it has the temerity to believe that it is you. And when it is damaged, it can literally die. In fact, every time you move from one level of your life to another, every time you actually grow in a substantial way, your old self image explodes, shrivels, disintegrates, and it will scream in terror, in fact. And pay attention to this. Your ego does not want to die alone. It will literally destroy your body to preserve itself. If you identify with your ego, it will be impossible to progress consciously. Only the random overloading happenstance of life will take you to the other side. So what shall you have faith in then? Basically, there are three. Your deep, true self, your companions, allies and teachers. Or third, a higher power. That's it. One of those three. I know of no others that cannot be subsumed into one of those three categories. Find one, or frankly, all three within your belief system. There is no way to avoid the bumpy road ahead of you in life. That's just simply blame. But what we can do is be stronger than our challenges. So don't trust your ego to help you grow, you're going to need to go deeper and wider and truer. Do that and you'll find the strength that you need to keep moving through the pain. Have faith that on the other side of that pain, this deeper knowledge and the you that you have been looking for your whole life, see you on the other side. For deeper explorations of this particular way of approaching growth, change, healing, Success, go to www.diamondhour.com this this is Steve Barnes reminding you to be the hero in the adventure of your lifetime. Thank you.
