{"id":18037,"date":"2025-06-27T03:24:33","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T03:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop-cili.com\/?p=18037"},"modified":"2025-06-27T03:24:33","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T03:24:33","slug":"8-life-changing-spiritual-questions-for-you-to-contemplate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shop-cili.com\/?p=18037","title":{"rendered":"8 Life-Changing Spiritual Questions for You To Contemplate"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Recently, I was interviewed about my new book Humanity\u2019s Spiritual Rebirth: Wisdom to Transform Struggles into Strength<\/em>. What follows are the profoundly rich and perennial spiritual questions that Linda Mackenzie (host of the Linda Mackenzie Show<\/em>) asked me and the responses I wrote the evening before calling into her radio show.<\/p>\n

I wish to share this transcript with you, with Linda\u2019s permission, because I humbly believe there may be some nuggets of inspiration tucked within that may help you on your own journey of awakening.<\/p>\n

Peace and love,<\/p>\n

Forrest<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

On suffering<\/h2>\n
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Linda Mackenzie (Host): As it pertains to suffering, what do you mean when you write in your book that we must \u201cRewrite the Narrative\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Forrest Rivers:<\/strong> By \u201crewrite the narrative,\u201d I mean to say that suffering doesn\u2019t have to be looked at as something inherently negative, as most of us in Western culture are conditioned to believe. Rather, from a spiritual perspective, suffering can become the sandpaper for our own awakening. Our experience with suffering can strengthen our inner resolve, humble us, build greater courage and help open our hearts to the very possibility of growing in our wisdom and compassion.<\/p>\n

I think many of us have endured excruciatingly difficult experiences in our lives that at the time seemed like the worst things imaginable to bear. But then through the passage of time and after much inner reflection, maybe we came to gain a deeper understanding of how those periods of suffering served to expedite our own spiritual growth in the ways outlined above.<\/p>\n

Looking back at my own life, I can say with absolute certainty that enduring suffering strengthened my inner resolve, grew my humility and courage, and hopefully made me a wiser and more compassionate person. This is what I mean by rewriting the narrative: shifting our own perspective of our relationship to suffering from one that is wrapped up in our ego\u2019s reactions to the very real feelings of fear, despair, pain, sadness and shame that we feel when we suffer; to that which soulfully acknowledges how our struggles are transformed into wisdom and strength.<\/p>\n

On death<\/h2>\n
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Linda: How do we transcend our fear of death?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Forrest:<\/strong> One way that we can transcend our fear of death is through embracing the impermanence of all things in this physical world. Everything in our universe is always in flux, is always changing. Yet, there is this eternal seed embedded within us that we may call our spirit, our soul or our deathless self. And it\u2019s unchanging and infinite in its essence.<\/p>\n

So if we look at death in this way, what is there really to fear? Our souls take birth in these bodies. And after a certain amount of time, our bodies die, but our spirit\/soul\/deathless self lives on. Then we take birth in another body to continue our work. It\u2019s not altogether different from the cycle of the seasons.<\/p>\n

Through embracing this sense of impermanence, we learn to relate to death as not only a very natural process, but as a profound transition of form merging back into the formless spirit\u2014our original nature.<\/p>\n

On gratitude<\/h2>\n
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