Cultivating Faith - From Welfare to Systems of Internal Reliability
Everything seems to be collapsing, and the future is unknown. How can we embrace the challenge of transition by cultivating a relationship with a reliable internal system of sustainability?
As society has a continuing dark night of the soul, with governmental infrastructure failure, financial advantages for nonprofits collapsing, and unemployment on the rise, we have the opportunity to embrace a new future. This new future can be filled with potential, but are we allowing ourselves to dream and align with God, or are we focused on the problem needing to be fixed?
Mainstream society focuses on the ability to solve problems from the orientation of the problem itself. Inherently there are no issues with solving problems, but when it comes to identifying problems within faith, they technically don’t exist. By falling into faith, we are identifying the solution to the problem as alignment with God, and His understanding that it’s all included within the auspice of agape, unconditional love. Our responsibility becomes one of remembering of His perspective, allowing the movement of Spirit to provide us with an internal process of reconciliation.
Within current existing support systems such as welfare, we see people utilizing many services. These individuals have first-hand experience of what it’s like to have the assistance of governmental services, yet these support services are all crumbling. And we have lacked positive discourse surrounding how we all navigate to what comes next.
There is another system that can prove reliable. It may require some unlearning and backtracking to remember, but it also comes inherent for quite a few of those who have been disenfranchised by systems like welfare. This is the creative, intuitive, faith based system of trust. It provides the opportunity for giving, receiving, and finding balance between the two so no one is excluded.
Let’s start out where society seems to be currently, by identifying intellectual intelligence. We’ll then introduce the idea for an internal faith-based system of reliance by integrating intellectual & emotional intelligence, and providing space for God through spiritual intelligence.
Intellectual Intelligence
The internal logical system is one most of us are familiar with, commonly referred to as intellectual intelligence or IQ. There exists a problem, and we need a solution to overcome it. This solution is found by focusing on the problem and attempting to solve it. Oftentimes this orientation can prove limiting, simply because the parameters for a solution are the beginning and end of the problem. It’s close to impossible for a solution to be creative enough to expand beyond cognitive understanding of the problem when we’re logically working towards a solution.
It’s also very possible that any solution from an intellectual, logical perspective can prove to be a band-aid fix rather than truly revolutionary. By viewing the government as a system needing fixed, we are logically assessing a system that is failing, and attempting to “fix symptoms”. Maybe we are doing this without the necessary zoom-out to appreciate and comprehend the expansiveness humanity has the potential to actualize. Is it possible for our human family to have aspirations falling outside of what a government-based system can allow for? Are there opportunities for human nature to grow beyond what we cognitively know as possible because we cannot imagine a system without hierarchical control? Or maybe we have fear around this transition and what life may look like on the other side?
Internal Systems - Intelligence beyond Intellect
Welcome to the creative approach to systems! This is where we can provide the opportunity for each individual to find solutions for themselves, and build systematic support from their own chosen grassroots approach. If our current systems continue in the direction of complete destruction, how is it that each individual and their subsequent community would choose to build out systems of support for themselves? Imagine values as the basis for construction, which can differ from community to community to support the vast diversity of humans living here in the United States.
If we are inspiring individuals to trust their own internal system of faith, intuition, and creativity, our job is to empower them to understand how they can listen and receive this guidance. As Christians, our internal relationship with God holds the wisdom necessary for knowing what’s possible for our future through calibration to the stillness and silence through which God speaks. Individuals currently on welfare and other assistive services have this internal calibration, too, and may not be aware of the intricate way it works and how to cultivate space to listen but lack the understanding that it’s possible to rely on God as a reliable trauma-informed therapist.
Orienting to this inner space where silence speaks requires an exploration of all inner processes. This includes discovering thoughts and the ways we think, emotions and our feelings, and the movement of the Holy Spirit. Ultimately finding a balance in approach, where recognition of thought, corresponding feelings and emotions, and surrendering to an understanding beyond our cognition are necessary.
Sadly, this internal listening has been stripped from most of the systems in place within society; education, employment, family life, etc. Most of us have our own limitations surrounding emotional intelligence and spiritual intelligence, because the inherent functioning of society was founded on logical processes. Schools teach problem solving from identification of the problem, and have shifted away from critical thinking and creative arts based perspectives. By including emotional and spiritual intelligence, we are empowering each individual to choose what is correct for themselves while maintaining integrity for those affected by their choices.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence, also known as EQ, is the ability we all have to learn how our internal emotional states work. When we are limited in EQ, we are unaware of how our emotions control our reality, and we live on auto-pilot. Increasing emotional intelligence provides the opportunity to break free from these shackles of limitations. Emotions are able to be felt internally without impacting those around us, and can even increase the quality of our life because we see these emotional energies as an enhancing factor within our day-to-day experience.
When our emotional intelligence (EQ) and intellectual intelligence (IQ) are working together, we may be able to perceive a relationship between our thoughts and emotions. Thoughts influence emotions, and emotions influence our thinking. The last intelligence is important to address, especially because it allows for the bias of IQ and EQ to be removed from the equation. This bias unequivocally influences our life until we are able to integrate a spiritual intelligence, the presence of God.
Spiritual Intelligence
Spiritual intelligence, or SQ, is the ability to allow a presence beyond cognition to hold space for our thinking and emotionality while making a decision. Because presence is all-encompassing, the choices naturally remain respectful to ethics and other individuals during decision making (Griffiths, 2025).
When integrating spiritual intelligence, we are providing the opportunity for individual decisions to be made from a cognition that includes, but is greater than intellectual and emotional processes. Finding this “God perspective” takes practice to cultivate, but can be monumentally impactful in navigating life. This is the creative, intuitive process, guiding each individual to a fulfilling life for themselves while providing integrity & empowerment for anyone they come into contact with.
Practice - Alignment of the Internal System
Thinking naturally happens, as do emotions. Cultivating space for God’s presence to hold the container for it all to exist takes practice. This practice requires us to explore the ways in which we think and feel, so we can more deeply surrender the thoughts and emotions where we remain in control of our life. Through active participation and exploration of these internal experiences, we have the ability to nurture the relationship with God by humbly engaging with our own journey. God wants to guide us through a process of unwinding these limiting psychological and emotional states, but we have to be willing to become fully aware of how they’ve been impacting our relationship with Him.
If Heaven on Earth is not only a possibility, but God’s will, how is it that we are choosing to align our will with His?
If you’d like to learn more about the work we do within the Church surrounding Spiritual Mental Health, please check out the Return Home website:
References:
Griffiths, R. (2025, August 21). The definition of spiritual intelligence. Spiritual Intelligence. https://sqi.co/definition-of-spiritual-intelligence/)