SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE:

The Western model for traditional religion and medicine both suffer from the same limitation: dominator thinking. But there is a reason for this.

Picture the alpha-dog phenomenon. Wherever two or more dogs are gathered, one dog must be in charge. This is not by accident; it’s evolution.

Traditional religion and medicine have been fighting for the alpha position for hundreds of years. The problematic nature of science in competition with the supernatural is a house divided against itself. The public is caught in the intellectual and emotional crossfire that tests loyalty, faith and doctrine in an invisible civil war whose wounds are seen in the disenfranchised and powerless feelings of those who want to be healed, not codependent upon drugs, diagnosis or doctrine.

This is also a primary problem when it comes to forgiveness.

The dominator is genetically cued in the human experience, the forgiver is not. This might be a partial answer to the question: Why is forgiveness so difficult?

It’s difficult to forgive some people because, in part, our dominator genes are in a battle for survival, pitting instinct against a doctrine of “should,” as in, “You shouldn’t feel this way.” Many are conflicted about forgiveness because it doesn’t feel natural.

Each of us is connected to an invisible and infinite supply of ideas that is not known in the world as a practical and pragmatic source of information.

Yet, all great invention, art and science came by way of our intuition through our imagination, which Einstein alluded to when he said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

In the world of human and genetic terms and conditions it seems natural to want to survive and protect.

But in universal terms, conditions are not ruled by genetics, science or politics; conditions are the by-product of how we apply spiritual principles. And principles are the way we train and thus define our moral and ethical behavior.

For more information about this and my new book, please visit the website, www.TheSecretAccordingToJesus.com.

JIM TURRELL is the pastor of the Center for Spiritual Discovery in Costa Mesa.