Religious Abuse as Emotional Torture

Religious Abuse as Emotional Torture

Maurice Turmel PhD

We begin our story with a poem, one I wrote years ago, in what seems like another lifetime. My Guidance tells me I walked the earth back then and saw for myself the insidious beginnings of this thing called Religion.

People were looking for ways to control the masses. Each day some new purpose would emerge designed to enslave the existing populations and have them do the dirty work of those who saw themselves as Masters.

For the purposes of this story and the Religious Abuse Recovery Program we are launching here, we will focus our attention on the Catholic Church primarily. But this expose can be applied to other religions as well.

Man’s Folly – Religious Abuse

In the Name of the Father / How can it be? / You lied and cheated / Deceived me, I can see

No more holdouts / No more old scores / Time to return me / To my sweet amore

The one true love / That resides within / Is not without worry / But certainly without sin

The abuse of the Father / Is no folly indeed / It happened to many / Disrupted His creed

His words were spoken / In the hearts of the All / Lost and forsaken / Left in the Hall

There to be taken / By those who “knew better” / Thought they’d interpret / That unopened letter

Concealed though it was / To be opened by you / Thought they would grab it / And give it a chew

Chew, this they did / And badly as well / Hell and damnation / Had cast their spell

Long after the heartache / The evil and rhyme / The words of the Lord / Were turned into slime

Now these are retrievable / Through your own heart / Look in there now dear / You’ll find your part

No longer distorted / By those in the know / Cause you open your own mail / To start your own show

Let it be said / That God always knew better / He’d let you find / Your very own letter

He’d let you know / When you had enough / Cause His Heart is Yours / And Yours is so tough

Tougher than lies / Let that be for certain / Look inside your self / Just behind the curtain

The veil they created / With their stories untrue / The nonsense they taught / And said was about you

You know the truth / God set it there / He said: “Take a look dear / Don’t you be scared”

“I placed those words / Inside your heart / I knew you’d find / Your very own part”

“I’m glad you took charge / And set it all straight / No use pretending / I just couldn’t wait”

“Glad you could find / Your way to center / Heaven is right here, dear / Time for you to enter”

“And I love you, I do”

Signed: The Lord within You

Time to Remove that Religious Collar:

I come to you with this news because it is time to remove that religious collar from around your necks. We have suffered at the hands of our religious leaders. We adopted methods of coping that affected us adversely. These would include the great variety of addictions all designed to numb out the toxic effects of Guilt and Shame piled upon us by those who claimed to know better. This is one aspect of the insidious nature of Religious Abuse.

Let’s set the stage so we can all see where this enslavement of souls began. At the beginning of the First Millennium AD, around the time Jesus Christ was born, the Roman Empire was in a stiff decline. Their mastery and control over Europe and various regions in Africa and the Middle East were falling apart because the Roman leaders could no longer maintain the discipline necessary to keep their legions subjects in line.

As the Roman Empire continued its decline, some of its soon to be deposed leaders noticed that a rise in religious fervor was taking root, therefore, an opportunity to harness that need was now available. They realized they could transform this seeking of spiritual succor into a different form of enslavement that only required conditioning of the mind. By co-opting God as their ultimate Higher Power, they could deliver to the populace a series of edicts that could not be challenged, since they came directly from God.

An uneducated populace fell right into the trap and became supporters of this new religious movement. The Roman Empire morphed into the Roman Catholic Church and carried on their usual affairs under the guise of a new business model. Former military leaders exchanged their battle garb for priestly robes and began the transformation. They started to build churches and went to work developing their mind conditioning practices.

They saw for themselves what power religious beliefs could hold when they witnessed the effect Jesus Christ had on the population of the time. After they killed him, they jumped all over this need and began the business of converting the Empire into a large scale Religion.

They developed all kinds of methods for enticing people, methods that made good use of the technological advances of the day. For a naïve population, these acts of trickery were pure magic and served to draw them tighter within the fold. Simple mathematical formulas coupled with advances in hydraulics were converted into the miracles of crying statues, bleeding glass and speaking stones, all orchestrated behind the scenes by masters of illusion who hired themselves out to the Highest Bidders. That’s how Catholicism began, with trickery and deceit, methods that remain in existence to this very day.

This form of trickery and deceit set the stage for what was to become a systematic program of wowing potential converts with manufactured miracles. The biggest coup for the Catholic Church was when they successfully co-opted Jesus Christ’s name and enormous popularity. Once he was out of the way, it was easy, because he was no longer around to challenge them. This simply was the common business practice of stealing an idea, then getting rid of the competition that created it.

But that was not enough. They needed a founder, someone who was loyal to Jesus Christ, and that was his right hand man, Peter. They claimed Peter as the founder of Jesus Christ’s church, even though they had killed him as well, crucified him upside down, if you recall. So today you have St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City and St. Peter’s Basilica within that square all contained within a small piece of real estate that reports to no one but itself, exempt from taxes and exempt from scrutiny, the wealthiest religious organization on the planet.

In the meantime, Roman Empire soldiers became Christian Mercenaries and led the charge against Heathens everywhere. A heathen was simply a person or group that did not endorse Christianity. For this failure to comply they were killed, with Holy Swords and in God’s name. A few centuries back, during the time of the Crusades, a Christian mercenary leader reportedly asked his Pope, Pope Innocent II, how he should differentiate between believers and heathens, so as not to smite the faithful. And the Pope replied: “Kill them all. We’ll let God determine which are His.” There you have another piece of the foundation of the Roman Catholic Church.

Historians may dispute these claims as too simplistic and not factual enough, because I offer no accounting of dates or other specifics. The accuracy of these claims can be determined when you Google any of the key words listed above. For the purposes of your Religious Abuse Recovery, such details are unnecessary. What the church did or didn’t do, and who were the main players at the times of various atrocities will have no effect on what you need to recover from Religious Abuse. All we are showing you here are the corrupt beginnings of a Religion that claimed to have your best interests in mind, while its priests and nuns were busy berating you, sexually abusing you, shaming you and reducing you to puddles of tears, as successfully conditioned you to hate your self. This is spiritual blasphemy of the highest order

The Roman Catholic Church has become a massive and perverse institution whose main weapons include psychological conrols, de-humanizing physical and sexual abuses and constant condemnation of your value as a person, as a true son / daughter of God. This is how they started and where they remain to this day, keeping all of us as children dependent on them, and continuing their program of mental and emotional enslavement through psychological torture and conditioning.

You need to see this for yourself, so you can come out of the trance they have put you in. All of their messages are what we psychologists call “double-binds”. For example: “God loves you, but you’re a Sinner.” “If you do as we say, you will go to Heaven. If you don’t, you will go to Hell.” There was no Hell until they invented it. There was no Purgatory until they invented that.

All of these machinations are fictions, all part of the Big Lie to keep you enslaved. None of it is true. They made it all up. And they continue to promote these ideas to this day because now they can rely on unquestioned history and their 2,000 years in business as validation of their eternal righteousness and authority.

This is where the Roman Catholic Church started. They discovered that Guilt and Shame, coupled with the fear of rejection by God, were stronger weapons than arrows and swords for bringing populations to their knees. It was easy back then to dupe so many people, because there was no education system to speak of, except for the elites who were already behind this fictional creation, and are still there to this day.

Jesus Christ did not launch the Catholic Church and neither did his close friend and disciple, Peter. They were setting the stage for a spiritual revolution however, and that is why they were killed. They were a threat to the ruling authorities of the day. Once these two were out of the way, the elites of the time seized the opportunity to capitalize on the authentic search for truth and wholeness, and used this natural human desire to enslave people in a whole new manner. With the fear of God duly installed, they could do pretty much whatever they wanted.

They successfully utilized the power of belief and the natural urge to meld with one’s God as a tool for conscripting millions into their fold while installing themselves as the only legitimate intermediary between man and God.

That’s where our experiences of religious abuse began. These perverse psychological tactics have been in operation for 2,000 years and they will not be going away quietly. The perversions of Christ’s original message are still going on, as are the abuses inflicted on countless children all over the world. We have only seen the tip of the iceberg where these abuses are concerned. The Catholic Church has successfully silenced many dissenting and complaining voices by simply paying them off under gag order conditions.

In the meantime they continue to manage their business as usual. Who is the next potential Saint in their lineup of fake ascenders? Let’s condemn abortion one more time. Let’s continue to deny poor people in third world countries the use of condoms to keep family sizes manageable. Let’s release another edict against homosexuality while tour own ranks are filled with them. Let’s publicly condemn priest pedophiles while we continue to shift them from parish to parish as complaints are laid.

Lies, hypocrisy and more lies are the true foundations of the Catholic Church. You need to see this to begin your recovery. You need to know that you placed your trust in the lowest of the low, that your parents were duped as were the thousands of generations before them. You need to see how badly and perversely you’ve been lied to so that you can contemplate the idea that you are not so bad after all. When we reject our abuse experiences as determiners of who we are and put these back onto the shoulders of our abusers where they belong, we begin to see that their practices are clear testimony of their perverse nature.

They are the abusers and we are the victims. The abuse that we suffered is about “what happened to us.” It is not about who we are. But it most certainly is about who and what they are. And they are everything they ever accused us of. They are the perverse and the psychologically sick. Their actions, thoughts and behaviors toward innocent children are what need to be condemned. They are the purveyors of abuse.

The Catholic Church’s entire program began with a series of lies and that remains as their foundation to this day. These people are murderers, liars, child abusers, sexual abusers and emotional abusers. They live in a hollowed out world where the only truth that matters is what will help perpetuate their power and control for another day, week or year.

They have piles and piles of money that they keep to themselves while they shame us into giving to the poor and disenfranchised, loathsome conditions that they help perpetuate with their antiquated but controlling messages about sin, sexual activity and birth control. In their world, it’s all about counting the cash, keeping the business humming along and silencing the victims of their various abuses through murder or payoff. Yes, there are bodies buried around residential schools in North America, children that were killed by their priest caretakers. Those who survived these experiences and witnessed the murders, have been bought off by those pesky gag orders, so that the Catholic Church can continue to pretend it is wholesome and clean.

This church, and many like it, is as political as any government and as corrupt as the worst you and I have ever seen. They are befuddled by the fact that they continue to be sued and called to account for their misdeeds. After all, shouldn’t they be above the law? Meanwhile, children abused at their hands, grow into adults who have multiple problems with self-trust, self-worth, self-esteem, self-condemnation and even self-abuse. These are the childhood religious abuse victims who as adults turn to alcohol and drugs to mollify their experiences of abuse at the hands of the Catholic Church. These people are you and I, victims of abuse at the hands of tyrannical nuns and priests who clubbed us into submission by conditioning us to fear God, the same God they claim is always loving and welcoming – another double-bind.

Their Pope is a big fat joke. They have elevated him to Rock Star status and sent him around the world to mingle with the common people. He’s just a father figure who goes around the world making a sign of the cross over the heads of thousands who are starved for parental approval and affection.

The Catholic Church’s leaders have positioned themselves as parent authorities who, while working for God, are allegedly immune to scrutiny or prosecution. They have successfully used the same tactic as rapists and similar abusers when confronted with charges of abuse – blame the victim and re-victimize them all over again.

The Catholic Church Authorities are the real heathens. They are the abusers of God’s just words. They are the liars and psychological enslavers of today. They are as good at running their religion as other enslavers’ of whole populations – Adolph Hitler and the Nazis, Joseph Stalin, Idi Amin and most recently, Saddam Hussein. Comparisons can be made to a number of Western Leaders as well, but we will save that for another day. For now, the Catholic Church’s leaders are well in tune with the petty despots that we’ve seen come and go down through the ages.

Petty despots and religious abusers are all cut from the same cloth. They are elitist. They see themselves as privileged. And they truly believe they have the right to “Lord it” over the rest of us. We, the general population, continue to be their slaves as long as we endorse their program, or, more accurately, fail to stand up for ourselves and put these abuses and condemnations back onto them, where they belong.

This is the end of the road for the Catholic Church and all religions that practice psychological enslavement of their adherents. Those of us who have been abused are now saying:

Enough! I will no longer suffer at your hands! I am done with you forever! And I will heal myself of all your toxic effects.

Let that be the beginning of your Religious Abuse Recovery process. Let that phrase now become your Mantra. Say it to yourself everyday and prepare to heal from the lifetime of abuses you have suffered at their hands. The problem was never you. They problem has always been in the hands of your abusers. They are the ones who are sick and misguided. They are the ones who have perverted and corrupted Christ’s message to us. They are the ones who pretend to be God’s emissaries when they are in fact perverts of the truth.

In the next installment we will lay out a profile of religious abuse victims. You will see yourself there and know you have been accurately described. With that template in hand you will begin your own recovery process using the guidance and methods provided here.

Yes you can recover from Religious Abuse, Religious Sexual Abuse, Religious Mental Abuse and Religious Emotional Abuse using the very same psychological tools they used to condemn you. Properly applied, these tools will lead you out of the spiritual wilderness they cast you into, and help you find your way Home to your True Heart, your True Self, and then make good your Personal Connection with the Living God within. Then you will know the true freedom of being “Connected to Source”, which simply means you will never need another religion again for the rest of your natural life.

How’s that for a promise? You, connected with You, and with the Great Creator! No more middle man. No more lies - just your own permanent connection to the Almighty.

Personal Development Ascension Training Program Focuses on Western Mindset

Personal Development Ascension Training Program Focuses on Western Mindset

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Journaling and Ascension

Journaling for Ascension is about empowerment through self-awareness. It is a process by which you get your needs met for emotional and spiritual cleansing. Journaling removes the cobwebs from your thinking processes by having you record the ideas, thoughts and emotions that you currently find distracting.

This process is always about balance. Journaling gives you access to your inner thoughts and feelings and removes them from the cluttered storehouse of your unconscious. Then you can clearly see where you are going from day to day, what you are thinking and what you need to focus on as your growth unfolds. This cleansing is essential to moving you toward Ascension.

The world opens up to you when you start journaling because your unconscious receives the message that you are ready to receive information from your inner world. And you inner world is eager to release the straggling emotions of old traumas and hurts.

Self-empowerment through self-knowledge is about entering your world of unconscious activity where you have stored the effects of past traumas, hurt feelings and any un-examined life events. When you’re open to this process you will uncover much about yourself that has heretofore remained hidden.

Journaling is not a short cut to immortality and creative writing as some would have you believe. It is simply an access point to your inner life where valuable information about who and what you are can be uncovered. Self-communication leads to self-cleansing, which then paves the way for Ascension to occur.

Disregard any other ideas you may have about journaling, especially those that suggest you have to write creatively and with purpose. This is not the case. Journaling is about self-revelation. Bringing your unconscious self to conscious awareness. Only by knowing what you believe in and then acting on that information can you make choices for the better.

The conditioning you received in your early years is still active inside, even if it no longer makes it to conscious awareness. That’s what repeating patterns of behavior are all about. We are being driven by some part of us that believes in unquestioned and outdated ideas. Once you see these patterns, and the ideas that drive them, you can interrupt your automatic responses and make new choices. We refer to this process as Conscious Evolution.

Prepare yourself for a rough ride at times as your unconscious protector/controller tries to steer you away from recognizing this inner activity. This part of you has a big investment in staying hidden and will resist your pursuit of self-honesty and increased awareness.

In the end you will acquire what you want, because your submerged self wants to be heard and wants the same level of freedom that you desire. You will become collaborators on that front, cooperating on the process of Ascension and shifting to higher consciousness.

The old guard, the protector/controller, will put up resistance because he or she is about to lose their job. Successful journaling requires you listen to all the voices within, including this one. So when that part is active, put it on the page.

Your resistance will hiss and snarl at times of change, so let it do so in your journal. You’ll see this happen time and time again. It’s a struggle after all for every part of you. When you choose to make a change for the better, that upsets the old inner balance. Let the resistance have its say in your journal. Only then can you set it aside and resume your forward motion toward Ascension.

Once you begin this process and engage in it regularly, your journaling will become self-activating. Whenever something inside you clamors for attention you’ll find yourself reaching for the journal to let it out. Whatever needs attention put it on the page – good, bad or indifferent. Do not edit or deny what’s begging for attention. You’ll learn that these “negative” parts of you are just scared. Once those feelings are out, you will immediately calm down.

Journaling is a very powerful process of self-communication. It will activate itself time and again as you become accustomed to using it. And it will pave the way for your Ascension process. Begin simply by just recording your feelings. Let your inner self tell you what is going on inside. Do not edit or distort. Just record! Ask yourself feeling questions mainly, because we are all quite capable of rationalizing our thoughts and feelings rather than experiencing them.

When you ask feeling questions, listen for feeling answers and write them down. Your protector/controller will try and dissuade you from going too deep. Feeling questions help you sidetrack that resistance.
“How do I feel about . . . .?” will help you reach the center of any difficulty while bypassing the guardian at the gate to your interior life.

You will discover things about yourself that are truly amazing, secrets you’ve never revealed to anyone. You’ll uncover regrets you’ve had about past experiences, hopes you hold for your future and secret desires that you have never been willing to admit to. This is your chance to do all that adventurous excavating while clearing your emotional and feeling centre of psychological debris.

This will be a time of great learning accompanied by great frustration. It’s all part of the package. Journaling brings out everything and that is always to your benefit. Our 3rd dimensional baggage has to be released before 5th dimensional ascended consciousness can come into view.

Do not give up on your recording practices just because things have calmed down. Your journaling sessions will become smoother as time marches on, and you’ll be better equipped, in terms of emotional and spiritual strength, to handle each and every crisis that comes your way.
Journaling takes you to the Well of Wisdom from where all answers emerge. Eventually, you will find yourself confronted with the Divinity that is you, your own Holy Soul. She or He will reveal much about who you are and help you secure that connection with Source.

In time, you will trust that connection so completely that you will access it often, especially when big decisions are at stake. At this point you will see yourself as a co-creator with your God Source and happily utilize that guidance for every aspect of your life.

That is the power of journaling. It puts you in touch with your essential self, which puts you in touch with your Source. We are part of that Divine Matrix and we are all enriched by this connection.

Commit to your Ascension and let journaling be your friend from this point forward.

Introduction to Ascension

Introduction:

Introducing you to Ascension Training may is akin to explaining the experience of riding roller-coasters. Until you’ve actually been on one, you can only marginally relate to the excitement and enthusiasm of a person who has just taken a ride.

Individuals who have taken the ride are very capable of describing the experience to you. They can offer numerous insights on what you can expect. But all anyone can really offer is a glimpse, and that is true of any novel experience.
I can appreciate that many of you have done a lot of work on yourself to this point. You may have been sensing that there is something in the air, something new to explore in terms of personal development. Let there be no doubt about that feeling, there is something new in the air and it is called Ascension.

What Is Acension?

Ascension, at this time in human history, means moving from 3rd dimensional density consciousness to 5th dimensional expanded consciousness where the world will appear as different as night from day. In fact you could simply describe the process as moving from Darkness to Light. That is the power of this experience.

What You Already Know:

You are likely familiar with such terms as Lightworker, Higher Self, Spiritual Development, 2012 and Ascension. You have been preparing for these times most of your adult life and now your Life Purpose is at the door. It is time to complete your mission. You may not be sure of where you are going just yet, but strong signals have been coming to you for some time now, and your Higher Self brought you here.

As you read the articles and familiarize yourself with the content of this site, you will form a view of what Ascension is. Your heart will tell you if this is the right place for you. Ascension is the final step that takes you out of 3rd dimensional consciousness into the world of 5Dth dimensional ascended consciousness where the so-called Golden Age awaits. Crossing this threshold requires the proverbial "leap to faith" that great writers and prophets have pointed to for eons. Once you commit, there is no turning back. As you engage in ascension the world of 3D conflicts hold no more appeal.

It does not matter by what route you arrived here. We can guess it has been a trying life experience for you up to this point. Life has taken you up and down many blind alleys before bringing you to this place where your only choice is "to ascend, or not ascend."

You already know what your Heart and Higher Self have to say about the different dimensions of experience you have encountered. It likely took you a long time to believe that those voices had your best interests in mind. Your ego would certainly have worked hard at dissuading you from athis awareness Time to put a lid on that ego voice. It has nothing to offer but more of the grief you have already been through.

Ascension means moving from a current base of awareness to a higher level that offers greater possibilities for growth and expansion. More than that, ascending from 3rd dimensional consciousness to 5th dimensional consciousness means finally connecting with your Soul and life purpose. Within the world of 5th dimensional consciousness, one's life purpose becomes clear, along with the parameters that support it.

Summary:

We, my Ethereal Friends and I, have provided a picture of what you can expect as you move through this Ascension Training Program. Your active participation is a must for you to reap the rewards of success. Knowing you have earned your way into the 5th dimension will give you a powerful sense of accomplishment that cannot be challenged by those living in the 3rd dimension. Your heart will be at peace and you will know at the deepest level that you are Home.

Maurice Turmel PhD is a 25 year veteran therapist who currently directs programs at The Ascension Training Centre. He is a contributing writer to Trans4Mind.com, a Personal Growth website. He has 4 books to his credit: 1)The Voice - A Mythological Guide to Lightworker Service; 2) Conscious Evolution - Preparing for Ascension 2012; 3) How to Cope with Grief and Loss; 4) Twelve Steps to Ascension. http://ascensiontrainingcentre.com/

Preparing for Ascension 2012

Dear readers,

We are pleased to introduce the Ascension Training Centre's launch of the 12 step Ascension Training Program to be delivered over 6 weeks. Developed by Dr. Maurice Turmel, in collaboration with his guidance, this intensive life changing program is set to launch on February 18, 2010.

What is Ascension?

Ascension is the predicted shift from 3rd dimensional density consciousness to 5th dimensional expanded consciousness where the human race will be able to reconnect directly to Source.

Ascension 2012 come to us through the Maya calendar which has predicted this acceleration of The Pulse for centuries, and set December 21, 2012 as their calendar end date, or Deadline, if you prefer.

The Earth is expected to undergo structural changes along identified fault lines, with a possible shift in axis rotation occurring as well. Such events are reported to occur every 26,000 years when the Earth is aligned with the Galactic Center of the Milky Way.

For we inhabitants of the Earth, ascension is about this shift upward in consciousness. If you have been working on your personal growth and spiritual development for some time, you are likely feeling the effects of higher energies coming into the Earth at this time. These are part of the coming shift. So are signs coming to us through Crop Circles and numerous Channeling sources.

This Ascension Training Program, rooted in psychology, mythology and spirituality, has been designed for the Western mindset. It has already been rated as "life changing" by early participants.

For additional information please visit the website at the Ascension Training Centre .

Once there, please pay attention to your Heart and Feeling Centre as these will inform you if this program is for you.

http://ascensiontrainingcentre.com/

FREE PREVIEW:

A FREE Preview of the Ascension Training Program has been scheduled for Tuesday, February 9 at 2PM Eastern Standard Time (North America) and will be repeated later that same day at 7PM Eastern Standard Time (North America).

How Long: Preview Sessions are 1 hour in length.

Where: FreeConferencing.com

Conference dial-in Number (712) 432-0075

Participant Access Code: 627563

Playback Number: (712) 432-1085

Note: Participants can access the call via Skype and avoid long distance charges.

Skype: enter freeConferencing as the contact you are calling. Automated answering will ask for Access Code - Same as above. Then Press # and you are there.

The Many Faces of Grief and Loss

The Many Faces of Grief and Loss
by Maurice Turmel PhD

Grief and loss is a broad category that encompasses death and dying, grief recovery, grief resources and every type of loss imaginable. From losing a loved one to losing your job, grief and loss includes a variety of dimensions that affect each and every one of us in our daily lives.

The predominant category is loss of a loved one, of course. Death is the first thing that comes to mind when grief and loss are being discussed. But this particular experience can also emerge when we breakup with a lover, lose a pet or get fired from our employment. When the grief experience strikes, recovery is what preoccupies us the most.

We now understand that losing a loved one is only one aspect of grief and loss. Relationship breakups, divorce, loss of the family pet, getting fired and losing a business are all causes that generate the grief and loss experience. Such losses are rarely associated with the main grieving category, but in fact, they do share many common denominators as the primary experience of death of a loved one.

What is central to this article is that grief and loss affects us in almost every aspect of our lives. We recoil over the loss of a job. We fall into depression over the loss of our home. We grieve the death of our pets. We agonize over a recent divorce. And of course, we cry over the loss of loved ones.

What is our point here with this foray into the multiple dimensions of grief and loss? We are dealing with an emotional crisis and a feeling based wound. We experience sadness, depression and hurt. Feeling lost and afraid is common. Anger usually arrives first, till we discover what's underneath, and pain is what we wish to avoid, initially. All such reactions are quite typical with the experience of grief and loss.

Grief and loss, as a life experience, emerges in many aspects of our lives. Learning to relieve ourselves of stress via relevant grief recovery programs can have far reaching benefits. Recovering our usual bounce and drive is a worthy goal and significant benefit in grief recovery. Whatever we learn about dealing with grief and loss can be applied across its many dimensions and occurences.

The cycle of life includes gaining, losing and gaining again. For example, when a snake crawls into the tall grass to shed its old skin, it's because the new is emerging from underneath and pressing for release. Losses are typically categorized as devastating when, in fact, they are often a prelude to something better. Learning to let go, no matter what the cicumstances is a valuable life lesson.

Our biggest loss is always the death of a loved one. On a well known stress scale, this type of loss is just ahead of divorce and moving, two more examples of grief and loss. Learning to manage our daily losses, big and small, can well equip us for dealing with the big one when it inevitably strikes. A good grief resource becomes our most valuable guide during such circumstances and will lead us toward a healthy recovery.

Recovery from grief and loss, in all its varied forms, requires that we deal with our emotions. When we are emotionally vulnerable we can find a deeper meaning to life and acquire new and lasting friendships where we initially saw hurt and sorrow. Every loss carries a benefit, even if it takes years to uncover. Letting go emerges as grief and loss' primary lesson.

Cathars vs Catholics

"The following article was excerpted from a piece by Peter Shepherd of Trans4Mind.com who shared the following historical information related to how One Pope, at least, dealt with so-called heretics and ordered the execution of thousands who were non compliant with the catholic authority. It is Peter's belief that this is one of the first undocumented cases of religious genocide." Dr Moe

Peter Shepherd of Trans4Mind.com

Particularly impressive was Montsegur. We climbed up the steps to this sacred place, paying homage to the many Cathars who gave their lives to preserve their integrity and honor the wisdom of their ancient Gnostic teachings. The burning of the Cathars at Montsegur stands as a monument for us to confront the destructive force of hate and intolerance. We united with the spirit of the Cathars, to live in the power of love instead.

Following is an account of the martyrdom of the Cathars at Montsegur, drawn from a much longer original article, 'The Church's War on the Cathars' by Eric Wynants...
During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the region known as the Languedoc, spreading approximately southward from the Loire to the Pyrennées, down into Arragon and eastward to the Rhone, became the most highly civilized area of Western Europe. Its fertile soil and pleasant climate provided the means for a leisurely life.

The Rhone and the Garonne were notable routes of communication and the passage of many Crusaders on their way to the East gave an immense stimulus to trade. Above all the Moslem conquest of Spain had brought the influence of Arabic culture. The larger cities had schools of medicine, mathematics and astrology where Arabian scholarship was imparted. Jews were not debarred from public life and were highly respected as doctors and teachers. The Catholic Church no longer held the monopoly of knowledge and it was gradually losing its power hold in the Languedoc.

The wealth of the monastic orders and the intolerance of the bishops roused the contempt of the nobles who accused them of self-indulgence and lack of interest in the poor. The common priests, through the neglect of their superiors, had fallen into discredit on account of their poverty and illiteracy. Very different was the behavior of the Cathars. Their eloquence in presenting their beliefs and their untiring care for all in need of help, won the devotion of both nobles and common people. They became known by the name of "bons hommes" (the good men).

In general the Cathars subscribed to a doctrine of reincarnation and to a recognition of the feminine principle in religion. Indeed, the preachers and teachers of Cathar congregations were of both sexes. At the same time, the Cathars rejected the orthodox Catholic Church and denied the validity of all clerical hierarchies, all official and ordained intercessors between man and God.

At the core of this position lay a gnostic tenet - the repudiation of "faith," at least as the Church insisted on it. In the place of "faith" accepted at secondhand, the Cathars insisted on direct and personal knowledge, a religious or mystical experience apprehended at firsthand. The Cathars were heirs to knowledge which partly came from the East and was known to the Gnostics and the early Christians. The basis of this secret was the transmission of the power of love. The gesture of the rite was the material and visible means of projecting this power. Behind it was hidden the spiritual gift, by which the soul was helped, and was able to cross without suffering the narrow portal of death, to escape the shadows and become merged with the light.

In the Black Mountain, not far from Carcassone, there was found a chamber, dating from the Cathar period, containing skeletons. "They lay in a circle, with their heads at the center and their feet at the circumference, like the spokes of a wheel." Those who have studied magical rites will recognize in this posture of death a very ancient rite intended to facilitate the escape of the soul, to allow it to traverse the intermediate worlds by virtue of the impetus given by union.

It was inevitable that sooner or later the clash would come, for no expressions of faith could be more diametrically opposed than between the Catholics and the Cathars. The Cathars were part of the movement of the poor, dating back to older times. Wealth was rejected by the Cathars as "external." Catharism spread with extraordinary speed in Southern France. It was the radiant cult of the pure spirit which took possession of men's souls, and it seriously endangered the materialistic Church of the Pope.

Pope Innocent III realized this and dispatched several apostolic legates to Southern France. These legates went to Toulouse, which was the capital of Catharism. When the legates were rejected, and one of them murdered, Innocent III ordered a crusade of mercenary knights and soldiers. Although there had been intermittent persecution of heretics all through the previous century, especially through the Inquisition, the Church now mobilized her forces in earnest. They were resolved to strike a resounding blow, which would bring misery and terror to the south. The mercenaries, having no personal loyalty or standard of honor, were brutal and godless. The heresy was to be extinguished once and for all.

On the 21st of July 1209, an army of some thirty thousand knights and foot soldiers from northern Europe descended like a whirlwind on the Languedoc - the mountainous northeastern foothills of the Pyrennées in what is now Southern France. In the ensuing war, the whole territory was ravaged, crops were destroyed, towns and cities were razed, a whole population was put to the sword. This extermination occurred on so vast, so terrible a scale that it may well constitute the first case of "genocide" in modern European history. In the town of Beziers alone, for example, at least fifteen thousand men, women, and children were slaughtered wholesale - many of them in the sanctuary of the church itself. When an officer inquired of the Pope's representative how he might distinguish heretics from true believers, the reply was, "Kill them all. God will recognize his own." This quotation, though widely reported, may be apocryphal. Nevertheless, it typifies the fanatical zeal and bloodlust with which the atrocities were perpetrated. The same papal representative, writing to Innocent III in Rome, announced proudly that "neither age nor sex nor status was spared."

Surviving Cathars disappeared into remote hiding places in the forests and mountain clefts of the Pyrennées. The heart of the resistance movement was at Montsegur, originally an ancient Manichaean temple consecrated to sun worship. By April of 1243, a vast army of more than ten thousand surrounded the mountain, and by March 1, Montsegur finally capitulated.

The Cathars were accorded unexpected generosity. Provided they abjured their heretical beliefs and confessed their "sins" to the Inquisition, they would be freed and subjected only to light penances. Yet, they decided not to do so. On March 15, the truce expired. At dawn the following day more than two hundred Cathars were dragged roughly down the mountainside. Not one recanted. There was not time to erect individual stakes. They were locked into a large wood-filled stockade at the foot of the mountain and burned en masse.

Peter Shepherd

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