Perrenialism
After doing deep dives into Richard Rohr, and understanding how many orthodox Christians view it as a thing to be avoided, I watched this video and felt it was somewhat applicable to my take on the truth.
This very much, again, reminds me of the times I threw out:
All my books having to do with New Thought, New Age, or any philosophy not tied to Orthodox Christianity
Crystals (which I didn’t pray to, but got in various stores, like mystic shops, etc) for “good vibes” and beauty
Jewelry or objects that seemed like it could potentially be tied to remembering that identity
Anything sexual that could be tied to a lack of purity
A Course in Miracles
I remember when I threw all this out, and I was messed up for a while. I think it was not only all the things that cost a lot of money, and my time, and lots of highlighting and things like that, but especially A Course in Miracles
What upset me so much about it was how much TIME I had spent highlighting, and transferring my notes from my old book into my new book. I spent a LOT of time, meticulously transferring that over. And the way I found that book to begin with was on a street in Williamsburg right as it was beginning to rain, ironically after lots of searching for that exact version online.
Right after throwing all that stuff out, I was exorcised of demons for 2-3 hours. And the result of it was that I had experienced a tremendous amount of “trauma” in my life. Kinda sad honestly. It was not a great experience.
But what I did come out of that understanding, was I felt like I had thrown out a bit of my healing. Like I had found God, in some of these texts, and touched God in various ways, only to be told that none of that was real, that all of it was demonic, and I was following a fake Jesus, a fake God, and demon possessed.
This has led me to also realizing that somehow, deep down, I felt sometimes people didn’t really understand what Christianity was really meant to be. And so often, I was also lost in it through becoming a Fundamentalist Evangelical … essentially following a more Orthodox approach that just somehow didn’t feel good.
All in all, I do wonder if I’m actually a Perennialist. I don’t quite 100% agree with ACIM anymore (mostly that you’re responsible for bodily ails and things of that nature), and do feel like I’m more a follower of Jesus’ teachings. But that said, I’m not sure if I fall neatly into a little box within Christianity. And so, it’s a long journey to understand where I fit in community with others.
