“Religion of Trauma” with Andrew Jasko
Channel: The Life After Podcast
Date: 2019-03-28

Andrew Jasko (lifeafterdogma.org) joins Chuck and Brady. He tells his story growing up passionate about Christian Fundamentalism and leaving it all behind. They discuss the Charismatic Movement, damage of sexual repression, the mind-blowing origins of Yahweh and El, how humans respond to suffering, and how the Bible seems to have been been pieced together as a response to societal trauma.

Andrew ends by talking about the healing he is finding in psychedelics, meditation, and Eastern Spirituality.

Andrew's Story: Andrew's father was an Assembly of God pastor. Before he was born, Andrew was prophesied to be a spiritual warrior. As he grew up, he planned to win 1,000,000,000 souls to Jesus. His whole life pointed toward a future as a pastor or missionary. He got a Theology degree from Wheaton College and worked on another at Princeton. He had plans to go to India and start saving the world. But things weren't adding up.

A faith that promised joy was exhausting him. His doubts got louder, but most of all, he clearly saw how the faith, despite its use of language about peace, produced never-ending anxiety.

Andrew reluctantly studied and gave air to his doubts. Though losing one's faith feels like dying, he kept going. Driven to improve his mental health, he sought to understand how the faith kept him for so long and how he can heal.

Understanding how humans respond to trauma changed his life. He saw similar patterns in the Bible's history. Psychedelics and Eastern Spirituality gave him a new sense of purpose and understanding his life after dogma. He writes about spiritual healing on his blog and coaches others healing from spiritual trauma.

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