Episode #116: Outgrowing Religion, Living as Embodied Love

September 20, 2023

Today, we are joined by Jim Palmer, the Founder of the Center for Non-Religious Spirituality and the author of six critically acclaimed books. Listen in as he shares his transformative self-discovery journey and insights about his path and pivotal moments that led to profound shifts. Let's explore his literary works, dive deep into the faith-body connection, and examine phases of life reconstruction. This is for anyone from a toxic religious background who is recovering, reconstructing, or reclaiming spirituality on their own terms.

In this episode, we cover the following:

Spirituality, religion, and personal growth
Religious codependency and self abandonment
Self-awareness, self-love, and self-acceptance
The phases people go through in reconstruction after leaving a religion, including feelings of existential crisis, anger, and confusion.
Overcoming shame and abuse.
Gender roles, religion, and identity
The interconnectedness of all things
Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which reveals commonalities between people despite their differences.
Love, compassion, and reclaiming language
Atheism or humanism definitions

Jim Palmer is the Founder of the Center for Non-Religious Spirituality. In addition to being a critically acclaimed author of six books, Jim writes columns and articles for professional journals and major publications. He is an adjunct professor of Ethics, Philosophy of Religion, and Comparative Religion. Jim is a Spiritual Director, Founder of the Nashville Humanist Association, and Chaplain with the American Humanist Association. Jim is a speaker, counselor and retreat leader in the area of religious deconstruction, recovery, and reconstruction.

Follow Jim Palmer on Instragram here @jimpalmer12 on instagram #thegodofspinoza #centerfornonreligiousspirituality

#chaplaincy #beaslove

• The beauty of life and poetry. 0:00

• Trauma, mental health, and faith. 8:10

• Questioning beliefs and identity. 13:12

• Faith, heresy, and personal growth. 19:01

• Spirituality, religion, and personal growth. 22:19

• Spiritual healing and Christian theism. 29:20

• Gender roles, religion, and identity. 35:48

• The interconnectedness of all things. 43:49

• Love, compassion, and reclaiming language. 49:46

• Atheism, humanism, and spirituality without religion. 56:42