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  • Religion, Psychology and Mental Health


    People have made entire careers of exploring the connections between God, spirituality, health and the mind. Toltex counselors come from different religious backgrounds, but we all share a basic openness to the spirit and to the many faiths that have grown from the fertile soil of human history. We have no religious agenda nor prejudice, but we have all experienced in our own ways the place of spirit in human life.

    Religion has been ultimate hope. It has also been ultimate fear. One link between religion and mental health is how the effort to live up to the weight of God in the mind makes demands upon us that some cannot bear, while others are uplifted, and others are left uninterested. This often has to do with the fact that some people simply spend their lives hoping for salvation, but secretly desperate that they are undeserving.

    They cannot conceive of God and the spirit as boundless and forgiving. They understand religion as a list of instructions which, if not followed, are the death and damnation of the soul. Proof of what they feared all along – I’m just not good enough; not just for life, love and happiness, but not good enough for God’s creation. These people will make religion into a tool to hate others and the self. These people have lost the ability to see how THEY have made religion into an expression of their own worst fears, a source of suffering not unlike the other things that just don’t work out for them.

    It is not our place to judge. It is our place to help, but not by telling anyone what is right – except our opinion is that openness to human differences and similarities is the only way to live well, and to honor creation. Faith, hope and meaning are gifts to humanity, which we can then share between us. Our way of sharing is to help you find the path through the wilderness that will yield some learning, some joy and some meaning. It needn’t be one religion or another. You are a part of creation, and when we speak with you, it is your eyes and ears that tell us what is real. We will help you make sense of what is real to you, or what you would like to be real to you.

    Call us for a free consultation: 1-888-986-5839, or request a consultation on the form at the top of this page.