Your concept-of-self and faith: How does one influence the other?
I have lots of questions to ask here about your concept-of-self and faith. I am sure the answers will differ for each of us.
My first question is, "Within your concept-of-self do you see any value in having a religion, a faith, a sense of spirit, a connection with the Earth or in some way a feeling of being connected to something greater than yourself?"
My second question is, "Does your faith influence your self-concept?"
My third question is, "Does your self-concept influence your faith?"
For me, my concept-of-self includes the notion that I am not whole without my sense of spirituality. It is through my sense of belonging to a spiritual community that I access more of myself. It is a fundamental part of who I am but not all that I am.
My concept-of-self includes a coming home to myself which is spiritual in nature. Putting it in words though, I find very hard. It is something incredibly deep and personal to me. However, it sustains me. It is thus very important to the concept-of-self that I have.
Also, the spiritual concept-of-self that I have is beyond religion. I do have a religion but I don't regard this as defining my self-concept. Some people I know define themselves by their religion. I don't. It sits quietly in my heart. It is, however, not as important for me as my sense of being a spiritual being.
The joy of human life for me is that there are many different ways to consider spirituality and religion. I have a sister who is an Evangelical Christian, a mother who is Anglican, a close friend who is a Buddhist, another who is a Mormon, another a Baha'i faith member and so on. My life is the richer for all of this.
The real essence for me is not what anyone believes, it's how they behave. We'll leave this for another blog!
For now, tell us what the relationship is between your concept-of-self and religion, spirituality and faith. But please, no religious dogma and no attempts to convert anyone. Just tell us how it is for you.
Concept-of-self, Self-concept in Self concept, concept-of-self 
Reader Comments (7)
Fran
Sue Rollond.
Jane Cummins.
Martins Field's Beach Retreat, Busselton.
I have had Gynaecological cancer. I have lost faith in what I have seen with many religions ostracizing me after my Gynaecological cancer diagnosis. Yet this is where I thought I could turn to for support.
It seems churches could not find room in their discussions about the loss of my genitals. I could not understand why I should be made to feel uncomfortable and shunned for even raising such an issue.
I soon discovered why there is a sense of shame in finding the word pudendum - latin meaning - female genitalia - one who should and ought to be ashamed - the shameful part of a woman's body.
I refuse to be ashamed of what happened to me - I feel my God or spirituality knows that women's bodies are a remarkable powerful part of life.
I know many women who live in shame. If the church will not allow women to be proud of their bodies then I feel I don't belong there. I know in the beginning I turned to the Buddhist philosophy where I learned that the most important thing in life was the air going up your nose and the air going out of your nose. So this has been a great lesson for me, for whatever comes in my life the greatest thing on earth is air.
I have founded GAIN (Gynaecological Awareness Information Network). I also learned that Mother Teresa said it didn't matter where your money came from in life what was important was that you used the money for the world to GAIN. Hence to get my vision of an International GYN awareness Day I had to turn to a pharmaceutical company to support me to get my message out there. Whether it is good or bad to use drugs to get your message out there - that is what I had to do.
Nelson Mandella in his 1994 Inaugural Speech states: "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous talented and fabulous?' Actually who are you not to be You are a child of God; your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It not just in some of us it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others”
So I had to look within myself to find my spirituality - and to learn from others, I discovered you come into this world on your own and once you find your own spirituality and belief in yourself and do good to others nothing else matters.
Kath Mazzella OAM
Details of GAIN (Gynaecological Awareness Information Network) can be found here: http://www.gain.org.au
Blessings
Rachel.
How freaky that the mistype goes to a "mega site of bible studies" - http://rachaelsravings.blogpot.com/ - eek!