The labyrinth as a symbol of life: A journey with God and chronic pain

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title The labyrinth as a symbol of life: A journey with God and chronic pain
 
Creator Els, Lishje
 
Subject — Auto ethnography; discourse; spiritual; religion; panetheism; narrative writing; narrative living; labyrinth; chronic pain; spiritual journey; contemplative
Description This article is written in the style and method of an autoethnography that focuses on the author’s spiritual journey with God while living with chronic pain. The labyrinth is used as a metaphor and spiritual tool to describe this journey. The author’s personal experience with religion and spirituality is described as well as the choice of moving from thinking about God being ‘out there’, far away and looking upon God’s creation (supernatural theism) to discovering God within – God ‘right here’ (panentheism). The affects and effects of living with chronic pain are discussed in reference to the process of walking the circuits of a labyrinth. The role of different people who played a part in this journey is highlighted. This way of writing corresponds with a narrative way of living which concentrates on deconstruction of dominant discourses and looking for outcomes that may lead to hope and transformation. The difference between rainbow hope and reasonable hope is explained and the consequence of choosing reasonable hope is discussed. Transformation of the person through the journey becomes apparent in the article.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2017-06-23
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/hts.v73i4.4582
 
Source HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 73, No 4 (2017); 11 pages 2072-8050 0259-9422
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/4582/9654 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/4582/9653 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/4582/9655 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/4582/9624
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2017 Lishje Els https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
ADVERTISEMENT