Spiritual Survival Guide
1: Starting Well: Surviving Spiritually on the Inside
prison easier to swallow. It gives me hope for all of humanity when I witness the strong fellowship between brothers in here. What didn’t go so well? Being sent so far away from my fam- ily and struggling when classes and programs got put on hold or were canceled entirely. Classes and the fellowship through programs give people in here confidence and also self-worth. –James My first year in prison I was just trying to relate to my new environment. I’ll be honest: I hated Christians and the Bible. My father sent me books on new age philosophy, psychology, and self-help. At one point the Catholic priest from my parish wrote to me. Surprisingly, I found myself beginning to move in the direction that God wanted. —Jose I thought that because I’d made a decision to live a spiritual life, that all or most of my pain would go away.That didn’t happen. I’ve learned to keep going—one day at a time—doing my best. —Dan What most guys in here need is hope, encouragement. What they need to see is “the walk,” somebody showing on a daily basis a different way to live.That speaks the loudest to guys. Only then is a guy eager to hear the “talk,” the reason behind the walk. He wants to know the story. “What happened to you? I can see the after. What was the before like? And what made the change happen?” When I tell my story, I tell them that they can think about it a couple of ways.They can think of it as a story of liberation—from “wilderness” (or slave mentality) to “freedom.” Or, as a story of healing—from a crippling, cancer- ous mindset (an internal emptiness) to a healthy mind. And then I tell them that freedom and healing can be theirs, too, if they want it for themselves.They don’t have to be defeated by their past. –James
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