Journal of Sacred Work

Caregivers have superpowers! Radical Loving Care illuminates the divine truth that caregiving is not just a job. It is Sacred Work.

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Former President & CEO of multiple hospital systems and founding president & CEO of 20-hospital OhioHealth, best selling author, film artist, ordained minister, composer, published poet, syndicated T.V. host, trial attorney, federal prosecutor and Municipal Court Judge. Erie is internationally known as the founder of the Radical Loving Care(R)movement. He also heads Erie Chapman Foundation, Dane Dakota Productions, LLC, and Chapman Health International, Inc.

Recent Posts

About

Former President & CEO of multiple hospital systems and founding president & CEO of 20-hospital OhioHealth, best selling author, film artist, ordained minister, composer, published poet, syndicated T.V. host, trial attorney, federal prosecutor and Municipal Court Judge. Erie is internationally known as the founder of the Radical Loving Care(R)movement. He also heads Erie Chapman Foundation, Dane Dakota Productions, LLC, and Chapman Health International, Inc.

Open Forum – Passion & Spirituality

   Over the past two weeks we have considered the role of passion in the Garden of Love. Some well known historical figures report a passion so great that it led to an encounter with God. Clearly, the feeling of being in the presence of God as Love is not an experience reserved exclusively for the famous. On two specific occasions, I have felt this sense in my own life – when I was four years old, and then again more than fifty years later.
   Do you feel as though you have ever had one of those most sacred encounters?
   To share your thoughts, click on Comments, below.

-Erie

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2 responses to “Open Forum – Passion & Spirituality”

  1. liz Wessel Avatar
    liz Wessel

    First, I have to say that I find it difficult to write about a spiritual experience as words seem so inadequate to capture or give expression to the occurrence, but I will attempt this.
    I was 18 and I was visiting friends in New York City when I had a profound awakening. I filled with an immensity of Love and it was as though I saw my true self for the first time, the mask I had learned to wear all my years suddenly fell away. I was very tearful and I felt quite joyful.
    The next day, I had to find my way to my sister’s home in a town outside of Newark, New Jersey. I had no idea how to get there, I have a poor sense of directions, and I get lost very easily. I needed to take trains, a ferry, and buses (before cell phones) to get to my destination. Normally, I would have been anxiety stricken and filled with fear but instead I felt a great sense of peace. I was alone waiting for a bus in a very bad neighborhood in Newark, yet I knew I was safe and completely surrounded by this Loving presence that guided me.

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  2. Tom Knowles-Bagwell Avatar
    Tom Knowles-Bagwell

    Like you, Liz, I find it difficult to put this sort of thing into words. Every time I have attempted to do so I have felt as though I missed the heart of the experience and cheapened it in some way. But the sense of the mask being pulled away and my true self being revealed was also a part of my experience as well. There was also the sense that everything was connected and made sense, and that I was a part of all of that (not the center, but a part). I can’t say how long the experience lasted, because it was as if there were no passing of time — all time was still. It was an amazing experience that I have revisited in my memory many times since as a reminder to myself.
    Hope all are having a peaceful and joyous holiday season!

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