Our Religious Past is One Source of Accumulated Psychic Clutter You may also have clutter around the Ten Commandments. You may have been raised in a religion where they were paramount. In the United States, there is much turmoil over their display and the separation of church and state. Many of us see their display as a huge affront while others see their display as a necessity – a stand for the truth. Church-and-state issues have affected spirituality in many settings. For example, one state-university owned hospital, was loathe to hire a chaplain for years, for which the benefits for healing have been widely documented, out of the fear of collapsing state and religious issues. In 2004, that was one reason given for their putting off consideration of a program designed to insure that no patient died alone. You may also have clutter around the Seven Deadly Sins. Do you think of Catholicism, where they originated, when they are mentioned? You may not believe in the existence of mortal sins, but it may be worthwhile to consider the list of sins as a source of clutter. They are pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony and lust. Take a look at them. Isn’t it our pride that leads to rigid thinking – I’m right and you’re wrong? Sometimes we criticize others ostentatious displays of wealth, which may well be merely a mask for our own envy. We may have misunderstood the religious injunction against wrath and developed a pattern of suppressing our angry feelings, rather than our angry actions, when we have those feelings. Feelings never stay totally repressed for long, and they may leak out as fits of frenzied rage. But more often they covertly appear as suicide, alcoholism and other addictive diseases, or according to Louise Hay, they may show up in our bodies, as other physical symptoms, including abscesses, bladder problems, bursitis, TMJ, fevers, gallstones, hemorrhoids, heart problems, liver problems, and laryngitis, to name a few. We all have lazy days when we just can’t seem to get much done. But as one source puts it, sloth refers to the “sleep of complacency.” But in life, we’re either going forward or backward. The concept of “hovering” doesn’t apply. Have you ever complacently preferred that things remain just as they are, not realizing that you could be close to stagnation? Greed, gluttony and lust have become hallmarks of our materialistic culture. We are bombarded with hundreds of messages each day on TV, radio, billboards, newspapers, magazines, etc., saying that there is something out there that we can put on ourselves or in ourselves that will make us feel or be better. The underlying message is that we aren’t okay the way we are, and it leads to much of the dysfunction in our society. It might be worth it to take a look into your accumulated clutter. Excerpted from Confession is Good for MORE than the Soul
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Religion is a subject in which we attract much psychic clutter, defined, in part, as rigid or uncompromising opinions, or alternatively the unconscious or unexamined material in our psyche. Read the many jokes retelling the stories of children’s interpretation or rather misinterpretations of what is said in church. If not addressed, they can last a lifetime. What have been your clutter-producing experiences with the religion of your childhood? Look for the psychic clutter you’ve collected in your youth and as an adult. Also take a look at your spiritual life. Most of us have clutter around the nature of God, with beliefs varying from Christian, to Pagan, to Muslim, to Hindu. We often have strong opinions about those beliefs.