Last Updated on March 10, 2024 by Jason Harris It’s been over five years since I submitted my formal resignation from the Mormon Church. The time before and since has been full of events shattering and busting my heart wide open. Both to happy and exciting vistas as well as to immense pain and grief. There have been separations, reconciliations, clarifications, deepenings. Messy and non-linear. It’s said God is Love. A force everlasting. I still believe this. Part of love is identifying and empathizing with the complex and often contradictory host of emotions, experiences and beliefs that are ..read more

Last Updated on September 4, 2023 by Jason Harris https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sky_Meadows_Bald_eagle_soaring_%2826378727905%29.jpg So far the bulk of my blog has been sharing portions of my journey with the deconstruction and reconstruction of my childhood beliefs. This post and many future posts will be discussing some of the cherished values, lessons and beliefs that I learned in Mormonism as a child, and that I still carry with me, though in many cases now in a more nuanced fashion. I will always be grateful for my Mormon upbringing. Mormonism has much that is good. Here is a b ..read more

Last Updated on June 17, 2023 by Jason Harris https://picryl.com/media/dying-star-creates-fantasy-like-sculpture-of-gas-and-dust-fbc574 There was recently a discussion in a physician’s FB group I’m part of about patients seeing loved ones shortly before they die and what to make of this. The poster was agnostic. Some weighed in with their religious beliefs. Others with non-religious explanations. Some shared near-death experiences from loved ones or patients. This was my response, and is a snapshot of where I’m currently at in my own journey: I grew up devout Mormon. Left the faith a few yea ..read more

Last Updated on January 8, 2023 by Jason Harris Taken from the peak of Haleakala, Maui. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sunrise_over_Haleakala.jpg There is no doubt about it, a faith transition can be a growing and learning experience. At least it has been for me. As well as my family. And everything is NOT roses. In the growth there is pain and suffering along with joy and beauty. It’s both brutal and beautiful. “Brutiful” as Glennon Doyle would say. Happy and sad, sorrowful and full of optimism and hope. A complex mixture of emotions and contradictions, often simultaneously true and ..read more

Last Updated on September 25, 2022 by Jason Harris http://www.moniquebreault.com/the-enneagramThe Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery A friend recently convinced me to read “The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery.” At first, I really resisted. Like Myers-Briggs, another very popular personality typing system, it has not been scientifically validated to clearly represent reality. Many personality researchers regard the Enneagram as somewhat similar in character to a horoscope. I mentioned to him that “The Big Five” and HEXACO personality typing systems ..read more

Last Updated on September 5, 2022 by Jason Harris From my earliest memories, I wanted to be a drummer. It was and is an intrinsic and fundamental expression of and part of me. I was so excited to get a drum set for Christmas when I was about 10 along with drum lessons from Lana Hawkari, the local band teacher’s spouse (and a phenomenal kick-ass drummer). For whatever reasons, it was something I really seemed to excel at, which really helped my self-esteem at the time as I really struggled with basketball especially, the most prominent currency of young male social cohesion and bonding in the ..read more

Last Updated on September 4, 2022 by Jason Harris What are the destinations of my mind? Are they places of mindful and compassionate curiosity? Or are they places of absolute surety? Which is my initial default? Can both exist simultaneously? Especially regarding the same area of thought? Is my “knowingness” when present in fact backed by sufficient objective evidence? If so am I open to new objective evidence? How “objective” is the evidence? Is there room for new paradigms? Are my paradigms facilitating or impairing movement? Or both? How does this impact my relationships with my children ..read more

Last Updated on July 28, 2022 by Jason Harris https://publicdomainvectors.org/en/free-clipart/Tree-branches-and-root-vector-drawing/30741.html Abuse grows from attitudes and values, not feelings. The roots are ownership, the trunk is entitlement and the branches are control. Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men, Lundy Bancroft Growing up in Mormon culture, there is an attitude that the most important quality one can have in one’s approach to another human being is an attitude of caring, love and kindness. I once fully embraced and believed this. I now STRONGLY di ..read more

Last Updated on May 19, 2022 by Jason Harris Washington DC Temple, where Shandra and I were married in 1998I was Taught about the Temple from Childhood As a boy, one of my favorite songs was “I love to see the Temple.” I sang and hummed it regularly to help fall asleep, internalizing its soothing melody (and what I later recognized as an indoctrinating message. Bonus!). I love to see the temple I’m going there someday To feel the holy spirit To listen and to pray For the temple is a house of God A place of love and beauty I’ll prepare myself while I am young This is my sacred duty I love to s ..read more

Last Updated on May 15, 2022 by Jason Harris https://publicdomainvectors.org/en/free-clipart/Ying-yang-dragon-sign-vector-image/9315.htmlA Life-Changing Dream Major transitional events started in my life in 2012 when I was deployed to Afghanistan as an active-duty Army neurologist taking care of patients with brain injuries. Due to events put into motion by this experience, I realized I needed emotional healing, much of it from ways I had been wired for decades. As part of this journey, in the Summer of 2015 I started embracing my inner emotional world with compassionate curiosity. I talk more ..read more