1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,480 Hey beautiful, welcome to my podcast, Queerly Having Issues. 2 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:16,680 I believe we all have our issues because we all have a story. 3 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:21,960 My name is Jafeth and it's time to tell you about mine. 4 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:25,160 Welcome to another episode, thank you for tuning in. 5 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:29,960 The first two episodes I've been talking about the theory of religious trauma, but also 6 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:35,240 my personal experience of growing up in a non-affirmative religious environment and 7 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:38,400 the impact that has had on my life. 8 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:43,840 Some people ask me whether the topic of healing is on my list, and yes it is. 9 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:49,960 However, it's a very broad and complicated topic, so within this episode I want to focus 10 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:55,600 on religious trauma and how queer theology might be beneficial for those of us who are 11 00:00:55,600 --> 00:01:01,640 struggling with this kind of trauma, or just any one of us who would like to have a different 12 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:04,800 view on the Christian narrative. 13 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:10,080 With this episode I'd also like to wrap up the topic of religious trauma so I can start 14 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:13,080 addressing other topics that I find important. 15 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:18,400 This healing chapter has taken me many many years and I don't think that it will ever 16 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:19,400 stop. 17 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:26,280 In my healing journey I've read a lot of different books on Christianity, Christ, God, 18 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:30,000 consciousness, just books that have helped me shift my perspective. 19 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:35,720 Honestly, it was also confusing as there are so many other opinions out there and because 20 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:40,120 I come from an environment where there was only one way of seeing things and there were 21 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:46,400 a lot of clear answers to questions, answers that weren't really based on research or 22 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:47,400 whatever. 23 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:55,080 Just, you know, the answers that they give you in order to keep you in their grip basically 24 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:58,240 to stop you from thinking for yourself. 25 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:03,680 That made it harder for me to follow my own heart and my own instinct, but I've always 26 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:09,920 had this inner voice or this inner feeling that if God really exists then he would love 27 00:02:09,920 --> 00:02:11,560 me the way that I am. 28 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:17,680 That is how my journey sort of started and shifted until now I'm at the point that I 29 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:22,320 don't consider myself religious or a Christian anymore. 30 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:27,800 However, I think looking at the Christian narrative from a queer perspective has definitely 31 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:33,000 helped me to bring more acceptance and peace to my life as it is right now. 32 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:37,680 And I guess because I'm not a Christian anymore and often people would probably say like 33 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:41,680 you see he lost his way because you know he didn't follow the rules or he didn't follow 34 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:46,800 the you know the truth with a capital T. So I think looking at the Christian narrative 35 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:52,320 from a queer perspective would be really helpful and it has helped me a lot to bring acceptance 36 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:55,360 and peace to my life as it is right now. 37 00:02:55,360 --> 00:03:00,360 Within this episode I will speak from my own positionality, meaning that I am aware that 38 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:06,200 these things will mostly be relatable to those of us coming from evangelical Christian backgrounds. 39 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:10,760 I will definitely speak more about my healing journey in a future episode as I really want 40 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:15,600 to share up close and personal what has helped me along my healing journey. 41 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:21,580 Things like meditation, nutrition, working out, medication, therapy, all of these things 42 00:03:21,580 --> 00:03:27,040 that not many people know about me except for my close friends. 43 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:32,360 Last year I did research on conflicting identities and how queer theology might be beneficial 44 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:38,400 for those of us coming from an evangelical background. 45 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:42,160 Let me first explain what queer theology is. 46 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:47,640 It is an interdisciplinary field that explores the intersections of religion, spirituality 47 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:50,240 and queer identities. 48 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:55,680 Queer theology seeks to challenge and reimagine traditional religious teachings and interpretations 49 00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:59,800 that have often marginalized or excluded queer individuals. 50 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:04,720 And therefore it aims to create inclusive spaces for queer people within religious traditions 51 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:09,400 and it also wants to promote dialogue and understanding between queer communities and 52 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:11,760 religious institutions. 53 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:17,720 When we look at queer theology, a huge contribution to the development of this form of theology 54 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:20,960 has been made by Marcella Althaus-Reed. 55 00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:25,680 When it comes to the theological significance of her work, various authors have pointed 56 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:31,680 out the way in which she takes sexuality as a starting point to speak about God. 57 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:37,400 So this does not concern sexuality within the framework of church morality but is lived 58 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:41,340 among ordinary people, specifically the outcasts. 59 00:04:41,340 --> 00:04:47,160 She seeks and finds God in the gay bars and at drag parties and she even compares the 60 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:50,840 Trinity to an orgy and speaks about God as a drag queen. 61 00:04:50,840 --> 00:04:56,680 So these are all, what I think, very interesting ways of looking at theology and probably shocking 62 00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:59,480 to a lot of Christians out there. 63 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:04,640 According to her, God and religion has been taken over by those who impose heterosexual 64 00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:05,800 norms. 65 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:10,360 So for her, in the end, it's not only theologically about the consequences this has 66 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:15,120 had for people who are marginalized because of their sexuality or gender identity, but 67 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:19,880 also about how God has become oppressed by the heterosexual theory of knowledge of the 68 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:22,960 dominant biblical and theological traditions. 69 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:28,400 I think these insights are very interesting and helpful, especially for queer people as 70 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:36,680 religion is one of the main reasons why people are judgmental about us or the reason why 71 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:39,240 suffering is inflicted upon us. 72 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:46,640 At the same time, I think it's also a waste to throw away these wisdom traditions because 73 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:52,720 of that and because of misinterpretations of particular scriptures and I think that religion 74 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:59,840 can still offer us something valuable and I will come back to that later in this episode 75 00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:04,320 and explain to you what I think that religion could offer us. 76 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:09,200 As I've mentioned before, queer individuals with a religious background can struggle or 77 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:15,080 even fail to integrate their sexual or gender identity with their religious identity. 78 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:20,040 While religion is not inherently incompatible with one's sexual or gender identity, there 79 00:06:20,040 --> 00:06:24,160 are still many of us who leave our religion because of religious dogma and stigma surrounding 80 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:25,560 this topic. 81 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:30,640 And you see, especially in the evangelical church that queer people tend to leave, there's 82 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:38,520 not a lot of space for dialogue or for different interpretations of certain biblical scriptures, 83 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:42,920 of course in other denominations that might also be the case, but of course there are 84 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:47,160 also affirmative churches where queer people are welcome. 85 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:52,280 In my previous episode I also explained how our social environment can indicate that we 86 00:06:52,280 --> 00:06:56,480 cannot be both religious and queer in the eyes of God, which is what often happens in 87 00:06:56,480 --> 00:06:58,360 evangelical settings. 88 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:03,240 And according to theologian Robert Goss, who for example wrote books on queering Christianity 89 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:08,640 and queering Christ, these negative judgments are internalized and turned against ourselves 90 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:14,320 by many of us, which often results in feelings of deep self-loathing and self-rejection, 91 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:19,520 to this point that we fear our same-sex attractions or gender identity and we do everything we 92 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:22,780 can to hide, suppress or deny these feelings. 93 00:07:22,780 --> 00:07:27,000 In my research I've discovered that identity conflicts often go hand in hand with queer 94 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,960 individuals leaving the church or denying their own identity, they will struggle with 95 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:35,760 family, they will feel out of place, but also it goes hand in hand with wanting to discover 96 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:40,800 the new self and seek healing from emotional abuse and to change their beliefs and I think 97 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:46,160 for me all of these things I've experienced, you know, like first I was denying my identity, 98 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:51,120 I was struggling with myself, with my family, I felt out of place, and then on a sudden 99 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:58,240 moment that changed into wanting to discover my new self and wanting to find ways to heal 100 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:00,140 and change my beliefs. 101 00:08:00,140 --> 00:08:04,360 Often the individual is faced with a choice, to choose the sexual gender identity or the 102 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:06,240 religious identity. 103 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:10,000 That can cause a lot of tension, as you've heard from my personal point of view in my 104 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:11,440 previous episode. 105 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:16,680 And I cannot stress this enough, but giving up or not conforming to one's own biological 106 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:23,020 identity can often lead to depression, suicidality, hypocrisy and shady practices. 107 00:08:23,020 --> 00:08:27,800 I'm aware that many studies have been done on the origin of sexuality, so I also want 108 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:33,500 to recognize that this is a complex subject, as the result of various studies show that 109 00:08:33,500 --> 00:08:39,760 sexuality cannot be pinned down to biology, psychology or life experiences because human 110 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:43,160 sexual attraction is determined by all of these factors. 111 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:49,360 I have yet to meet evangelical queer people who are still members of an evangelical community. 112 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:54,280 Personally I don't know them, the queer people from my former evangelical environment, they 113 00:08:54,280 --> 00:09:00,280 no longer go to church and like me have had to adjust their beliefs in order to find wholeness. 114 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:05,440 So I notice there's still a lot to be gained in the discourse among evangelicals, especially 115 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:09,940 when it comes to the other members of the queer community, as from my experience the 116 00:09:09,940 --> 00:09:16,280 discourses are often on gay and lesbian individuals, but I cannot remember any dialogue on trans 117 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:21,680 or non-binary individuals for example, so there's still a lot to be gained inside the 118 00:09:21,680 --> 00:09:23,540 evangelical church. 119 00:09:23,540 --> 00:09:28,360 Since evangelical Christians are mainly concerned with the role of Jesus for the healing process 120 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:32,880 of religious trauma in this setting, it could be helpful to look at Jesus in a different 121 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:33,880 way. 122 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:38,160 Especially for those of us who have given up on the message of Jesus because he has 123 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:42,600 been portrayed as someone who condemns us because of our sexual or gender identity. 124 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:46,240 During my research I stumbled upon the term queer Christology. 125 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:52,320 Christology is that part of theology that is concerned with the nature and work of Jesus, 126 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:55,960 including such matters as the incarnation and the resurrection. 127 00:09:55,960 --> 00:10:00,960 I think it's important to mention that for most of Christian history this Christology 128 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:06,760 has been articulated by those of the dominant class in church and society, that is, white 129 00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:08,880 educated heterosexual men. 130 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:14,000 However 50 years ago several marginalized groups started to design their own Christology 131 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:19,540 based on how the Christ figure intersects their own social location. 132 00:10:19,540 --> 00:10:24,480 So as a result of that different Christologies have been developed through the lens of race, 133 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:29,360 ethnicity and class, gender or a combination of all of these. 134 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:34,280 One perspective that had been missing was the voice of those whose social location is 135 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:40,480 determined by sexual orientation or gender identity, and that is what is called queer 136 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:42,320 Christology. 137 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:48,800 For evangelical Christians the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is of great importance, 138 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:52,360 as you know, that is the way to be saved. 139 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:57,840 For evangelical Christians there is a moment in which they decide to accept the offer that 140 00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:03,320 Jesus made on the cross in order for them to be saved. 141 00:11:03,320 --> 00:11:09,720 So because of the importance of Jesus and the crucifixion and the resurrection, I thought 142 00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:14,400 as a part of my healing journey it would be interesting to see how these events could 143 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:19,880 be read through the hermeneutical lens of the queer community, in other words, a queer 144 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:21,240 interpretation. 145 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:25,200 And even though I'm not a Christian anymore, I've still experienced this new view to be 146 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:30,080 helpful to me personally, and it has also helped me navigate towards what I believe 147 00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:33,200 and where I am standing now. 148 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:38,760 The theologian Goss that I mentioned before, one point that he makes is that he is convinced 149 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:43,740 that it was not God's will that Jesus died to redeem people from their sins, but according 150 00:11:43,740 --> 00:11:49,840 to him, the cross rather symbolizes the violent and cruel end of Jesus in the context of his 151 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:52,400 political praxis for God's rule. 152 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:59,160 So Jesus was executed by the political framework of Jewish Palestine as a political rebel. 153 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:04,440 Jesus did not accept rightfulness based on control of the temple and social exploitation, 154 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:09,480 nor did he accept the logic of social and political hierarchy built on a foundation 155 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:13,000 of wealth, privilege, status, power, and violence. 156 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:19,040 So basically because of his message, Jesus came into deadly conflict with the powerful, 157 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:24,400 and according to Goss, it was inevitable that Jesus' revolutionary vision and practice 158 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:28,680 of God's rule resulted in his political execution. 159 00:12:28,680 --> 00:12:33,400 In other words, he was murdered by the structures of social control and political suppression 160 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:35,280 because he refused to keep quiet. 161 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:40,520 And next to that, Goss explains that Jesus spoke of a God who did not side with the rich, 162 00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:45,300 the privileged, and the powerful, but he sided with the poor and the oppressed and the weak, 163 00:12:45,300 --> 00:12:52,280 the outsiders and the undesirables, which I think often a lot of queer people like me 164 00:12:52,280 --> 00:12:53,960 can relate to. 165 00:12:53,960 --> 00:13:00,520 And also when we look at the definition of the word queer, it means odd or strange, basically 166 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:06,040 not conforming to normality, then we can conclude that Jesus was pretty queer. 167 00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:09,880 Of course, there's also dialogue on if Jesus was gay or not. 168 00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:14,700 Like for me, that is out of the question, and honestly, I couldn't care less. 169 00:13:14,700 --> 00:13:20,440 But I do think it's an interesting point to see how Jesus was challenging the status quo 170 00:13:20,440 --> 00:13:22,640 by his words and his actions. 171 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:27,300 In that way, he was queer, which I think is a very nice conclusion. 172 00:13:27,300 --> 00:13:32,560 When Goss looks at the resurrection, which as I explained before is a big deal, particularly 173 00:13:32,560 --> 00:13:37,640 for evangelical Christians, he states that by raising Jesus from the dead, God set known 174 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:39,320 to human oppression. 175 00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:43,900 And because of this interpretation, the risen Jesus is the hope for justice. 176 00:13:43,900 --> 00:13:49,520 So according to Goss, he is a parable of God's strong claim that human brutality, political 177 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:52,840 oppression and the dominant power relations will not prevail. 178 00:13:52,840 --> 00:14:00,280 So in itself, I think that's a very powerful and beautiful way to look at the Jesus story. 179 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:05,820 Queer Christology looks at Jesus as someone that counteracted oppression so far as to 180 00:14:05,820 --> 00:14:07,560 result in dying on the cross. 181 00:14:07,560 --> 00:14:13,280 There's not so much about a literal personal salvation and the ultimate eternity in heaven. 182 00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:17,920 What is emphasized and is seen as super important to evangelical Christians. 183 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:23,000 I do understand that for evangelical Christians, this view of Jesus would probably clash with 184 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:29,040 their beliefs and their literal reading of the Jesus story and how their personal salvation 185 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:33,320 took place when Jesus died on the cross and the resurrection that followed. 186 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:39,680 And I think if you are still really into the evangelical church, then you will probably 187 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:44,840 not agree with this interpretation, which is fine, even though I very much appreciate 188 00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:46,080 a queer reading of Jesus. 189 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:50,760 However, I don't think I would have been ready to accept these ideas, especially in 190 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:54,280 the beginning of my process of letting go of these beliefs that no longer worked for 191 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:55,520 me. 192 00:14:55,520 --> 00:15:01,120 Most of all, because of the idea that everything that was going against the theories that had 193 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:07,080 led to my indoctrination was considered heretic and wrong and unsafe territory. 194 00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:10,600 So you have to be really strong to accept these ideas. 195 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:16,160 I'm thankful that many years later I stumbled upon these ideas and I was ready to relate 196 00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:19,680 and appreciate them, even though I don't consider myself a Christian anymore. 197 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:24,560 I still think that this new reading of Jesus, it makes a lot of sense to me because for 198 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:29,280 a long time, I, especially when I was letting go of my religious belief, when I was changing 199 00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:35,680 my views on Jesus and the Christian narrative, I would always be like, yeah, but what about 200 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:37,000 the cross? 201 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:40,480 Because that was such an important part of my upbringing. 202 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:45,120 And I think also in my conversations with other people who were still evangelicals or 203 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:50,120 with family members, that would always be the question like, but then why did Jesus 204 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:51,120 die on the cross? 205 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:55,880 If it wasn't for our personal salvation and an eternity in heaven. 206 00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:59,760 And then when I read this, I was like, yeah, well, basically this would be my answer to 207 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:00,760 that. 208 00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:05,480 I also want to address that a queer reading is not going to suddenly solve our religious 209 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:12,320 trauma, obviously, but I really hope that it might soften the damage done by these toxic 210 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:13,320 environments. 211 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:16,120 At least that is what it has done to me. 212 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:20,720 I think that queer theology can take care of it, that queer people can find comfort 213 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:25,240 and strength in their oppression through biblical stories and the story of Jesus. 214 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:30,060 It's important that we experience a queer theology and a queer Christology in order 215 00:16:30,060 --> 00:16:34,720 to bring a piece of healing to the brokenness that for many of us came forth from our religious 216 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:36,080 environment. 217 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:41,680 I think that religion fulfills many functions and one of them is to console, to explain 218 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:48,160 why human beings suffer, why we die and why despite these facts, we should live in hope. 219 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:51,800 And honestly, for a long time, I didn't feel hopeful about the future or hopeful about 220 00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:53,480 life in general. 221 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:57,320 And I'm reading this book on consolation and finding solace in dark times. 222 00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:00,880 And it's basically a meditation on loss and mortality. 223 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:05,720 And the book looks at thinkers who came through the darkest experiences and what they can 224 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:09,720 tell us about holding on to hope and believe in life's possibilities. 225 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:13,840 So I read the following and I thought it might be helpful to look at religion in another 226 00:17:13,840 --> 00:17:15,680 way. 227 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:19,120 Consolation is possible only if hope is possible. 228 00:17:19,120 --> 00:17:22,760 And hope is possible only if life makes sense to us. 229 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:28,320 The hope we need for consolation depends on faith that our existence is meaningful or 230 00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:31,440 can be giving meaning by our efforts. 231 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:36,540 This is the faith that allows us to live in expectation of recovery and renewal. 232 00:17:36,540 --> 00:17:42,560 Consolation depends on that faith and because of it, it is an unavoidable religious idea, 233 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:47,120 even though the meaning that gives us hope can take non-religious or even anti-religious 234 00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:48,160 forms. 235 00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:52,760 But the very fact that these texts have been saved across thousands of years, resided, 236 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:57,220 copied out, rescued from the flames, affirms that we are not alone in our search to give 237 00:17:57,220 --> 00:18:00,100 meaning to the world and to our existence. 238 00:18:00,100 --> 00:18:04,360 We do not have to believe in God to believe this, but we need faith in human beings and 239 00:18:04,360 --> 00:18:07,680 the chain of meaning that we have inherited. 240 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:11,540 So I think that is a very interesting way to look at religion. 241 00:18:11,540 --> 00:18:16,800 And I think especially for queer people and other minorities who have been facing a lot 242 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:23,480 of hardships, it's a shame because of the fact that we've been rejected by churches 243 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:30,920 or other religious communities to throw away all the wisdom that can be found in these 244 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:31,920 wisdom traditions. 245 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:37,220 And I like the idea of having faith in human beings and the chain of meanings that we have 246 00:18:37,220 --> 00:18:43,280 inherited and that it would be nice to find ways in order to read this from our own social 247 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:45,640 position. 248 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:50,140 Like I said in the beginning, healing is a very complex and broad topic and I will definitely 249 00:18:50,140 --> 00:18:53,320 come back to the topic of healing in my next episode. 250 00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:58,560 I will be talking about chosen family, which is also a part of our healing journey and 251 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:00,600 it is something that contributes to our well-being. 252 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:06,400 Thank you for listening and if you have any questions, feel free to send me a DM on Instagram 253 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:12,280 at QueerlyHavingIssues or leave a comment below this episode in the Q&A. 254 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:27,280 Take care.