We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.
I had the honor of interviewing Jan Christenson on my IC show this week. Jan is the founder of the non-profit organization "In Search of a Peaceful Mind." An excellent program behind the Zoom Room, a FREE 24/7 virtual group meeting-room, offering support to anyone looking to learn more about the 3 Principles or just looking for someone to talk to. I am proud to be one 220 coaches from around the world who volunteer their time so that, day or night, there's always someone in the room to connect with.
Jan has led a very interesting life. She spent many years in the nursing profession and is a proud mother and a wife. She survived a traumatic head injury that left her fighting for her life. This resulted in years of physical therapy to regain her cognitive abilities. Jan also shared a story about another trauma she had endured as a young child that she said she didn't enjoy talking about. Nonetheless, she realized that she needed to share her story as it was helpful to others who had experienced similar traumas. That trauma was sexual abuse.
As a young child, Jan had been high spirited, happy, and carefree until she turned eleven years old. After that, she became sad and depressed and introverted. She suffered from anxiety and low self-esteem. This dramatic change in her personality was due to the sexual abused she suffered at the hands of her guidance counselor. She spent the following years suffering from depression and low self-esteem. It was only after she came across the Principles that she came to terms with what had happened to her as a young child.
Unfortunately, Jan's story of sexual abuse is not an unusual one. I, too, suffered from sexual abuse in my early years. We are not alone. The current statistics say that one in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before turning 18 years old. We share our stories to bring hope to people who have suffered similar abuse, to let them know that they are not alone and that things can change and get better.
Like Jan, it was coming across the 3 Principles that helped me let go of the shame that I had carried throughout my life. It's by talking about it that we lessen the stigma surrounding the subject of sexual abuse. Often abusers will blame the child, either overtly or covertly. Either way, the message is the same, and we end up blaming ourselves. This leads to the shame that we carry deep within us—believing that we are somehow defective, tainted, or broken.
What was it about the 3 Principles that helped me, you might ask? After coming across the Understanding, I saw that I was a Spiritual Being having a Human experience. I saw that it did not matter what had happened to me in the physical world of form, as it never touched or damaged the essence of who I am: which is pure love, pure peace, and pure joy. I saw that we all live in Separate Realities. I will never know what thoughts were going through the minds of the people who abused me. Thoughts that led them to think that their actions were okay. But what I do know is that I don't want to waste one precious moment of my life going back there and trying to figure it out. It's over. It's in the past. Did it impact me…Yes? Did it damage me… No? How wonderful it is to know that there's hope, that we can unburden ourselves from past traumas and go on to lead rich and fulfilling lives through the Understanding of the 3 Principles.
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.