In this first Through the Portal live session, I sat with Jim Palmer, founder of the Center for Non-Religious Spirituality and author of Deconstructionology.Together, we explored the journey of leaving religion, healing from spiritual wounding, and rediscovering a form of spirituality that feels alive, embodied, and self-authored.
It began gently—two voices meeting across a digital threshold.The soft sound of a dog in the background, laughter, and the warmth of welcome.A shared breath before stepping into a conversation about loss, liberation, and the quiet courage it takes to rebuild the sacred from within.
Currents of the Conversation
00:01 – The Call to BeginJim shares how his own search for belonging began in chaos — an abusive, alcoholic home — and how religion first appeared as refuge. Yet that same system later became constricting, a framework that could not soothe the ache within.
00:06 – The Crisis and the CrossingAs a megachurch pastor, Jim confronted the limitations of theology. Despite all the teaching and programs, people still suffered — and so did he. This honesty led to walking away from both religion and ministry, allowing him to rediscover what was truly real.
00:09 – The Compassionate RebuildingThrough years of listening and guiding others, Jim founded the Center for Non-Religious Spirituality — a space for those untethering from doctrine to heal, explore, and cultivate authentic spirituality.
00:11 – The Embodied TurnJim speaks of realizing that deconstruction isn’t just cognitive — trauma lives in the body. True healing requires embodiment, creativity, and somatic awareness. This recognition became the bridge to our collaboration: bringing art and embodied vision into spiritual reconstruction.
00:32 – The Visioning MomentWe entered a short visioning meditation, crossing an inner portal to glimpse Jim’s symbolic landscape. What emerged was a world of regeneration — composting pain into fertile soil, stepping from numbness into color, from despair into creative renewal.
00:42 – The Design SpaceJim shares images of composting and rewilding, of faith in life’s regenerative cycles. He describes a “design space” where people can metabolize suffering into wholeness — co-creating with life itself, rather than collapsing into meaninglessness.
00:50 – Words from the VisionIn his inner landscape, the words arose like seeds: rewild, regenerate, reconstruct, freedom, wonder, liberation. The sacred, he says, is no longer confined to belief but found in relationality — the mycelial networks of life itself.
Echoes from the Circle
“Trauma is stored in the body. Leaving religion isn’t just a change of mind—it’s a reclamation of self.”
“What’s missing for many is not belief, but belonging—to their own body, their own truth.”
“The most important reconstruction isn’t about forming new doctrines, but cultivating a new relationship with yourself.”
“All the hardship we experience can be composted into growth, if we trust life’s regenerative cycles.”
Roots and Realizations
Through Jim’s story, a deeper rhythm emerged: the truth that spiritual healing mirrors the patterns of nature.What decays is not lost.What falls away becomes nourishment for what is to come.
Leaving religion, for many, is a sacred composting. The breaking down of inherited beliefs, the grief of lost community, and the long, tender work of re-rooting in authenticity. Jim spoke of this as a design space for wholeness—a fertile field where people can metabolize pain, not bypass it.
Our guided meditation opened a vision of that regenerative landscape:the soil rich with the remains of old certainties,new shoots of curiosity rising through.Color returning.Life humming again.
It was here that the essence of the work came into view—not a rejection of spirit, but its rewilding.Not a turning away from meaning, but a re-entry into it, grounded, embodied, free.
Offerings & Mentions
* Center for Non-Religious Spirituality — a sanctuary for those deconstructing from organized religion.
* Deconstructionology — Jim’s Substack community for exploring post-religious spirituality.
* Upcoming six-week workshop series co-facilitated by me & Jim: Creative Reconstruction — an embodied, intuitive complement to the deconstruction process.
Meet Jim Palmer
Jim Palmer is an author, spiritual director, and founder of the Center for Non-Religious Spirituality. His work supports individuals healing from religious trauma and discovering a spirituality rooted in freedom, empathy, and self-connection.You can find his writings at Deconstructionology or learn more about his programs at nonreligiousspirituality.com.
Closing Blessing
May this conversation remind us that faith does not belong to any one system.It is the quiet pulse of life renewing itself through us—again and again.
The doorway we opened together still shimmers,waiting for the next travelerready to cross into their own rewilded becoming.
With Love,Maria Visual Bard | Creator of the Embodied Vision Portal livelovemaria.com
Subscribe to My Secret Garden newsletter, weaving art, mindfulness, storytelling, and insights toward a vision of a better life and world. Rooted in values like interconnection, reciprocity, and abundance. Reflections and gentle guidance for visionary individuals and regenerative groups who seek to bring depth, beauty, and belonging into their work.
Rooted in connection, guided by vision—here’s how we can co-create to nurture and embody transformation, vision, and the community connection that elevates it:
* Discovery Call
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* Through The Portal - Susbtack Lives
Join me live as vision, creativity, and conversation unfold through meditation, dialogue, and intuitive painting. Guests share their work while experiencing their vision in a new way.
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* Visual Essence Scribing
During your gathering, I quietly create a sketch that captures its essence—leaving you with a poetic visual reflection to share and remember.
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* Embodied Vision Portal for Groups
A 90-minute session with grounding meditation, a sharing circle, and live vision painting to strengthen bonds and anchor your shared purpose.
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* Embodied Vision Portal for Individuals
A deeply personal three-part journey to clarify, embody, and stay aligned with your vision. Includes:
– A 60-minute guided session with visualization and reflection
– A personalized integration journey, with postcards along the way
– A final detailed watercolor painting as your lasting visual portal
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Land Acknowledgement
I acknowledge that the land on which I live is the ancestral home of the Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk, and Menominee peoples. These Indigenous communities cared for this land long before the arrival of European settlers and continue to contribute to its cultural and ecological richness today.
I invite us to honor the enduring presence and sovereignty of Native peoples and commit to learning from and supporting their voices and leadership.
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