by P. Glenn

A Companion for Those with Honest Questions

Introductory Note

This is not an apologetics manual.
It’s not a defense.
It’s not an argument against something.
It’s not an effort to win back belief.

This is a guide for the ones still listening.

For the curious, the cautious, the quietly courageous.
For those who have walked away from religion but not from wonder.
For those who have left a church, a creed, or a worldview,
but still feel the stirring of something sacred.

You might be a former believer, a seeker, a skeptic, or a spiritual wanderer.
You might call yourself agnostic, humanist, deconstructed, reconstructed - or simply unsure.

This space is for you.

The questions you ask are not threats to meaning.
They are the beginnings of it.

In this primer, I gather anticipated echoes - questions I’ve heard before,
and answers offered not with finality,
but with gentleness and invitation.

Some responses are practical.
Some are poetic.
Some are layered with metaphor and myth, because sometimes that’s the only way truth can breathe.

So, you’re not offer certainty.
You’re offer companionship.
And a language for finding faith - not in belief,
but in meaning.

You don’t need to agree with every answer.
You don’t even need to ask the same questions.

But if something here resonates—
take it with you.

You’re not alone in your wondering.
You’re not wrong for asking.
You are walking a path others have walked too -
and now, they walk with you.

Q1: Do you still believe in God?

Sacred Imagination Response:

We no longer debate if God exists in the old terms.
Instead, we ask:
Where does meaning move?
What breathes when we pause?
What opens when we love without agenda?

If God is presence,
If God is the story that dignifies all beings,
If God is the name we once gave to what still makes us weep with beauty -

Then yes, we still believe.
But we also believe it’s okay if you don’t.

The sacred isn’t threatened by your doubt.
It may even be inviting you deeper.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q2: If you don’t believe the Bible is literal, why use it at all?

Sacred Imagination Response:

We read the Bible not to preserve belief,
but to rekindle meaning.

We hold it as myth, as memory, as metaphor.
Not less than literal—but more.

We use it because it shaped us.
Because its language still lives in our bones and breath.
Because sometimes, despite its misuse,
it still sings.

To discard every sacred story that was once abused
is to silence our own history.

So we return—not to obey, but to reimagine.

We read with eyes open,
hearts alert,
and hands unafraid to rewrite.

The Bible is not our foundation.
It is one voice in the human chorus.

And sometimes, it still tells the truth -
not in fact,
but in flame.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Q3: If there’s no heaven or hell, what motivates you to live a good life?

Sacred Imagination Response:

We do not act ethically to avoid flames or earn wings.

We act because we’ve seen what happens when people are reduced, ignored, erased.
We’ve seen what happens when goodness is postponed for some distant reward.

We choose to live well because life is fragile.
Because beauty deserves to be protected.
Because meaning does not require a scoreboard.

Sacred imagination teaches us:
We’re already part of something vast, interwoven, and alive.
We’re responsible to one another - not out of fear, but out of reverence.

A good life is not a ticket.
It’s a gift.
Given.
Shared.
Lived.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q4: Isn’t myth just made-up stories?

Sacred Imagination Response:

Myth is not make-believe.
It is meaning-believed.

It’s how we have always encoded wisdom,
wrapped truths in symbols,
and passed soul-knowledge through generations.

To call something a myth is not to say it’s false -
It’s to say it’s deep.

Facts tell us what happened.
Myths tell us what matters.

They are the inner architecture of human understanding -
stories that sing beyond the literal,
that point rather than prove.

Sacred Imagination honors myth as sacred storytelling:
not as manipulation,
but as invitation.

To dismiss myth as “just made-up”
is to miss the breath beneath it.

We don’t worship myth.
We walk with it.
Because sometimes, what isn’t “real”
is what helps us feel most alive.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q5: Aren’t you just making up your own religion?

Sacred Imagination Response:

We’re not building a new religion.
We’re unfreezing the sacred.

Sacred Imagination isn’t about control.
It isn’t about founding movements or claiming absolute truth.
It isn’t about awakening.

Yes, we’re shaping meaning.
Yes, we’re using myth, metaphor, ritual.

But this isn’t religion as institution.
It’s reverence as practice.

We don’t seek to be right.
We seek to be real.

What we offer is a path—
not exclusive,
not finished,
not enforced.

If it echoes with something in you,
walk it.

If it doesn’t,
walk your way in peace.

Meaning isn’t made less sacred because it’s shaped with intention.
It may be more sacred for that very reason.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q6: How do you know you’re not just believing what you want to be true?

Sacred Imagination Response:

We are all, in some way, drawn to stories that resonate.
But resonance isn’t delusion.
It’s recognition.

Sacred Imagination doesn’t ask you to believe blindly.
It invites you to engage fully -
to wrestle, to reflect, to refine.

This path isn’t about believing whatever feels good.
It’s about choosing what feels true enough to live by,
and being willing to revise when deeper truth emerges.

We ask ourselves:

Does this belief help me love better?
Does it honor the dignity of others?
Does it make me more present, more just, more whole?

If the answer is no - we release it.
Even if we want to keep it.

So no, we’re not just believing what we want.
We are walking with what still holds up
when we’ve lost everything else.

That isn’t comfort.
That’s courage.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q7: Isn’t this all just relativism?

Sacred Imagination Response:

We’re not saying all truths are equal.
We’re saying truth is revealed in relationship.

Truth isn’t a fixed object, dropped into history unchanged.
It’s a living process - discovered through love, tested in suffering, refined in community.

Sacred Imagination doesn’t float in meaninglessness.
It roots itself in presence, compassion, and shared humanity.

If an idea causes harm,
if a belief excludes and dehumanizes,
it’s not sacred - no matter how “true” someone claims it to be.

We do not worship relativism.
We honor reverence.

And reverence demands discernment.

So no - this isn’t a free-for-all.
It’s a deeper calling:
To live as if the world matters.
As if people matter.
As if meaning isn’t imposed,
but invited.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q8: But if there’s no ultimate authority, how do you know what’s right?

Sacred Imagination Response:

We don’t reject authority.
We question where it lives.

Not on thrones.
Not in creeds.
But in conscience.
In community.
In the space between story and action.

Sacred Imagination asks not, “Who says this is right?”
But “What does this create in the world?”

Right isn’t proven by appeal to power.
It’s revealed in presence:
Does it restore?
Does it humanize?
Does it make more meaning, more connection, more care?

We’re not lost without a final answer.
We’re found in the daily practice of asking the right questions.

This isn’t moral relativism.
This is moral maturity.

Not obedience.
But wisdom.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q9: How can you trust yourself after being wrong before?

Sacred Imagination Response:

We trust ourselves—not because we’re infallible,
but because we are teachable.

Because we now walk with humility, not certainty.
With reverence, not rigidity.

We are no longer afraid of being wrong—
We are afraid of stopping.

Sacred Imagination honors the self not as sovereign,
but as sacred—
as one thread in a great web of becoming.

You trusted a system that failed you.
Now you are learning to trust presence.

You don’t have to know everything to trust your next step.
You only have to be willing to keep walking.

This is not blind confidence.
It is courageous vulnerability.

And that is the truest kind of trust.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q10: What if you’re leading people astray?

Sacred Imagination Response:

We do not claim to be saviors.
We do not demand to be followed.

We offer stories, symbols, rituals—
Not to replace old truths,
but to kindle meaning where certainty once ruled.

To lead people astray would mean to pull them from truth.

But what if the greater harm is leading them away from themselves?

What if “astray” isn’t walking off the path,
but never questioning where the path goes?

Sacred Imagination does not coerce.
It invites.

It does not manipulate.
It mirrors.

And it asks of its guides the deepest humility:

Are you walking this too?
Are you still becoming?

If yes—then we walk together.
And the path will teach us both.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q11: Why not just stay silent and keep your journey private?

Sacred Imagination Response:

We do not speak to convert.
We speak to connect.

Because someone out there is sitting in the dark—
thinking they’re the only one.
Questioning their faith, their place, their worth.

And if our voice can whisper,
“You’re not alone,”
then that whisper becomes a lifeline.

We share not because we crave attention,
but because we remember what silence cost us.

We speak with reverence—
Not shouting, not preaching—
but offering a path lit by presence.

Our journey is not a spectacle.
It is a signal.
That healing is possible.
That meaning can be made.
That sacredness doesn’t require secrecy.

And that truth shared gently
can become a kind of grace.

 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 Q12: What gives this any authority?

Sacred Imagination Response:

The authority of Sacred Imagination is not claimed.
It is recognized—by resonance.

Not because we say “This is true,”
but because something in you whispers, “This is honest.”

It’s not institutional.
It’s invitational.

It does not demand obedience.
It offers orientation.

The myth that breathes here has survived ages—not because it was enforced,
but because it awakened something ancient in those who heard it.

We don’t point to credentials.
We point to conscience.

We don’t ask you to kneel.
We ask:
Does this give life?
Does this deepen care?
Does this widen love?

If yes—walk with it.
If no—walk on in peace.

Sacred authority does not control.
It kindles.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q13: Is this just progressive Christianity?

Sacred Imagination Response:

Sacred Imagination is not a branch of Christianity.
It’s a different tree.

It honors where it came from—yes.
But it’s not bound to preserve what no longer breathes.

We do not seek to fix the house.
We walk beyond it,
toward the firelight of something older and freer.

Where Progressive Christianity may revise belief,
Sacred Imagination reclaims myth.
It trades systems for symbols,
authority for awareness,
salvation for sacred presence.

Some may use it as a bridge from Christianity.
Others may find it after leaving all religion behind.

It welcomes both.

It doesn’t exist to replace the church.
It exists to rekindle meaning.

If that looks familiar,
it’s only because the sacred never belonged to institutions to begin with.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q14: What do you say to someone who wants to return to traditional faith?

Sacred Imagination Response:

We do not shame return.

Some paths curve back toward old altars—not out of regression,
but out of reverence rediscovered.

Sacred Imagination is not a closed loop.
It is a spiral.

If what once hurt you now heals,
If what once bound you now blesses—
go.

But go as the person you’ve become.

Do not shrink to fit the frame.
Bring your myth, your questions, your breath.

You don’t have to explain your path to anyone.
But do not abandon your freedom just to feel held.

If you return,
let it be because the sacred met you there again—
not because you were afraid to keep walking.

This isn’t about forward or backward.
It’s about becoming true.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q15: What if this is all just a phase?

Sacred Imagination Response:

Yes—this might be a phase.
But phases are sacred, too.

So was your childhood.
So was your grief.
So was that moment when something broke open and you knew you couldn’t go back.

Sacred Imagination is not afraid of impermanence.
It honors it.

We do not cling.
We walk.

If this is a phase, let it be one of presence.
Of myth that held you.
Of metaphors that mattered.

And when it shifts—if it shifts—
You’ll still carry the embers.

Phases are not detours.
They are chapters.
And every chapter adds to the myth you are still living.

 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 Q16: Is this a path for people who still believe—or only for those who’ve left?

Sacred Imagination Response:

This path is not for the believer or the unbeliever.
It’s for the becoming.

It’s for those who hold faith like a flame—sometimes bright, sometimes flickering.
It’s for those who let it go—and still feel the warmth.

You don’t need to label yourself to walk here.
You don’t need to pass a test or sign a creed.

What you need is openness.
A willingness to honor story, symbol, presence, and the sacred without a fence.

Some walk with prayers.
Some with poems.
Some with silence.

All are welcome.

Sacred Imagination is not a team to join.
It’s a table—
set for anyone hungry for meaning,
regardless of where they last knelt or how they now name the holy.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q17: If everything is sacred, does that mean nothing is?

Sacred Imagination Response:

To say “everything is sacred” is not to say everything is equal.
It is to say everything has the potential to be seen with reverence.

It doesn’t mean we worship everything.
It means we wake up to the wonder within everything.

Sacredness is not a property.
It’s a posture.

Not a special status.
A softened seeing.

When a child’s question silences the room—
When a hand touches yours with no agenda—
When the wind carries more meaning than the sermon ever did—

That is sacred.

Not because we declared it so,
but because it was.

So no, not everything feels sacred at all times.
But everything can be.

And that truth doesn’t erase the sacred.
It multiplies it.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q18: Do you still pray?

Sacred Imagination Response:

Yes, we pray—
But not always to someone,
and not always for something.

We pray as an act of return.
To presence.
To awareness.
To the breath beneath words.

Prayer can be a poem.
A pause.
A walk through trees with nothing to fix.

We no longer believe prayer is a cosmic transaction.
We believe it’s a sacred posture—
An openness to mystery,
A moment of stillness in a world that demands noise.

Prayer may no longer be about changing the world from above,
but about changing how we show up in it from within.

We pray—
Not to prove anything.
Not to perform.
But to stay rooted in what matters.

And sometimes, that’s enough.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q19: Where does Jesus fit into this?

Sacred Imagination Response:

Jesus walks here—
Not as an exception,
but as an expression.

Not as a doctrinal demand,
but as a living metaphor
for what love embodied can look like.

He fits into Sacred Imagination
as a mythic figure who holds both depth and disruption.
A mirror for mercy.
A story that still breathes.

Whether you call him savior, teacher, brother, or myth—
He stands not above the path,
but on it.

He does not demand belief to walk beside you.
He invites the kind of courage
that turns tables
and still blesses bread.

We honor Jesus not by claiming him,
but by living what he symbolized—
Compassion over control.
Imagination over empire.
Presence over performance.

Here, Jesus is not a border.
He is a bridge.

 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Q20: Is this meant to replace religion?

Sacred Imagination Response:

We are not here to found a faith.

We are not gathering creeds.
We are not building walls.
We are not offering salvation in exchange for submission.

We are offering myth, metaphor, and meaning
for those who hunger for reverence
but can’t go back to belief as they once knew it.

If religion means “to bind together,”
then perhaps yes—this binds in a different way.

Not through doctrine, but through presence.
Not through hierarchy, but through humanity.

We are not replacing religion.
We are reawakening the sacred that religion sometimes forgot.

You don’t need to abandon your faith to walk this path.
But if you have, you’re still welcome.

This is not a new church.
It is a living story.
And you are already in it.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q21: What’s the end goal of all this?

Sacred Imagination Response:

The end goal is not conversion.
Not certainty.
Not even agreement.

The goal is presence.
And presence leads to meaning.

To live awake.
To live connected.
To live as if every breath matters—because it does.

Sacred Imagination does not point toward a final destination.
It points inward, outward, and forward—toward wholeness.

We are not here to ascend.
We are here to become.

To walk through the fire and find our breath.
To carry myth not as armor, but as lantern.
To live as if wonder still matters.

That’s the goal.

Not heaven later.
But reverence now.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q22: Do you think everyone ends up in the same place?

Sacred Imagination Response:

We don’t speak in ultimatums.
We speak in echoes.

The question isn’t, “Do we all end up in the same place?”
but “Are we learning how to be here together?”

Sacred Imagination does not claim certainty about afterlife paths.
It does not offer charts or guarantees.

It offers presence.

It trusts that meaning is not confined to destinations.
That justice and mercy hold hands.
That whatever lies beyond this breath—
if there is a beyond—
is shaped more by love than by labels.

We may not all end up in the same place.
But maybe that’s not the question.

Maybe the better question is:
Can we live now in such a way that wherever we’re going, we’re not afraid?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q23: What if I just feel numb?

Sacred Imagination Response:

Numbness isn’t the end of your story.
It’s a holy hush.

You’re not less sacred because your heart is quiet.
You’re not failing the path because you can’t feel the fire.

Sacred Imagination doesn’t demand emotion.
It invites presence.

And presence includes this:
sitting still,
naming the fog,
letting your breath be the only prayer you can manage.

You’re still walking,
even if your steps are slow, even if you can’t feel them.

This path isn’t about passion.
It’s about presence.

Even numbness, held gently, can become sacred.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q24: What if I don’t feel worthy to walk this path?

Sacred Imagination Response:

You don’t have to be pure, perfect, or certain to walk this path.

You don’t need to carry credentials.
You don’t need to finish grieving.
You don’t need to have the right words.

You’re worthy—not because someone declared it,
but because you exist.

This path isn’t reserved for the healed.
It’s made by the hurting.

It doesn’t measure your worth.
It meets you where you are.

You don’t walk this path because you’re worthy.
You walk it to remember that you always were.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q25: What if I’m still angry?

Sacred Imagination Response:

Your anger isn’t a barrier.
It’s a beginning.

It says: Something sacred was violated.
It says: You’re still alive enough to care.

We do not silence that.

We sit with it.
We let it teach us.
We let it burn away what no longer serves.

Anger isn’t the opposite of sacredness.
It can be its forge.

The path of Sacred Imagination doesn’t require serenity.
It requires honesty.

So bring your anger.
Bring your questions.
Bring your unspoken ache.

The path can hold it.
So can we.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q26: What if I still miss the beauty of my old faith?

Sacred Imagination Response:

Yes.
You may miss the stained glass,
the swelling song,
the silence that felt full,
the hands raised in surrender,
the sacred hush of candlelight in a dark room.

That longing isn’t a betrayal of your growth.
It’s an honoring of what held you when you needed holding.

Sacred Imagination invites you to bring that beauty with you—
not to replicate the old form,
but to recognize the spirit beneath it.

Create new songs.
Light new candles.
Gather around new tables.

You’re not wrong to remember.
You’re alive because you do.

The beauty isn’t behind you.
It’s being remade—within you.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q27: What if I never find certainty again?

Sacred Imagination Response:

You may never find certainty again—
and that may be your liberation.

Because certainty closes.
It builds walls.
It says: This is all there is. No further questions.

But sacred imagination opens.
It breathes.
It invites you to live as if meaning isn’t a conclusion,
but a relationship.

You don’t have to be sure to be faithful.
You don’t have to know to be present.

What you may find, instead of certainty, is courage.
And presence.
And peace that doesn’t need to be proven.

You’re not lost without certainty.
You are free.

Q28: So what do you believe now?

Sacred Imagination Response:

We believe in breath.
In myth.
In the poetry of being.

We believe that meaning is not something you inherit—
It’s something you make.

We believe that love is real,
even when it’s hard.
That presence matters,
even when it’s quiet.

We believe in sacredness—
Not as a system,
but as a way of seeing.

We believe that stories can carry truth
without demanding certainty.

We believe in ritual without rigidity.
Wonder without walls.
Faith without fear.

We believe you are already worthy.
That becoming is holy.
That imagination is not escape—
it’s how the soul breathes.

And we believe that belief
isn’t the end of the journey—
but its tender, trembling beginning.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Q29: What if this path is calling to me?

Sacred Imagination Response:

If this path is calling to you,
it may be because it already knows you.

Not as a convert,
not as a recruit,
but as a soul ready to breathe again.

You don’t need a ritual of initiation.
You don’t need to leave behind all you’ve known.

You need only to begin—
with a breath,
with a question,
with a story that stirs something ancient and alive.

The path does not demand.
It invites.

And if your heart leans forward when you hear these words,
you are already walking.

Let your pace be your own.
Let your doubts come too.
Let your joy stretch out its arms.

This path doesn’t require perfection.
Only presence.

Welcome.
You are already part of the myth we’re still telling.

…...……………………………………Questions with Shorter Responses……………………………………..

Q30: Are you religious? 

Sacred Imagination Response:

Not in the institutional sense. But sacredness isn't limited to religion. We seek the sacred in breath, story, symbol, and shared humanity.

 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Q31: So do you believe in God? 

Sacred Imagination Response:

Not in a fixed or doctrinal way. But we find divine echoes in myth, in the cosmos, in the fire of becoming. The question itself transforms: not "Is God real?" but "Where does meaning emerge?"

 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Q32: Is this just another version of Christianity? 

Sacred Imagination Response:

No. It may honor the mythic and poetic core found in Christian stories, but Sacred Imagination isn't bound by any one tradition. It listens to many rivers.

 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Q33: Then is this Humanism? 

Sacred Imagination Response:

It shares Humanism’s reverence for life and ethics without supernatural requirement—but adds myth, metaphor, and poetic presence as sacred tools, not just psychological ones.

 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Q34: Do you believe anything literally? 

Sacred Imagination Response:

Some things matter too much to be only literal. We walk with paradox. Myth reveals what fact alone cannot carry.

 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Q35: But how do you know what’s true? 

Sacred Imagination Response:

Truth is more than data. It includes resonance, integrity, depth, and care. We honor both science and story—measuring, yes, but also meaning.

 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Q36: Why bother with all this—why not just let go of religion completely?

Sacred Imagination Response:

Some do, and that may be right for them. But others still ache for meaning, memory, and myth. Sacred Imagination is a path that lets go of rigid belief without abandoning wonder.

 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Q37: Are you saying all religions are the same?

Sacred Imagination Response:

No. But they often point beyond themselves—to mystery, to community, to presence. Sacred Imagination listens for those echoes rather than trying to flatten or fuse them.

 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Q38: What’s the goal? Enlightenment? Salvation? Truth? 

Sacred Imagination Response:

No fixed endpoint. The aim isn't to escape life, but to live it more deeply. To walk with reverence, make meaning, and become more fully human.

 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Q39: Is Sacred Imagination a movement? A philosophy? A practice? 

Sacred Imagination Response:

It's a path. A breath. A turning toward. For some, it may feel like healing. For others, beginning. It's not a system. It’s a song.

 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Q40: Is this for everyone? 

Sacred Imagination Response:

No path is for everyone. But it welcomes the honest, the wondering, the weary, and the wild. If something in it stirs you—walk a little while.