Becoming Me How Moral Injury Can Lead to Deconstruction
Episode 164
In this episode, I talk about how moral injury can be connected to or trigger deconstruction. This is a topic that has been deeply significant in my own journey of interior integration and healing.
Moral injury is the damage done to one's conscience or moral compass when we perpetrate, witness, or fail to prevent acts that transgress our own moral beliefs and values. Originally studied in war veterans, this concept has helped me understand the trauma I've experienced in relation to the Catholic Church and spiritual harm.
I share how moral injury doesn't just happen when we're directly involved in something wrong—it can occur when we're spectators to injustice, when institutions we trust betray their stated values, or when spiritual leaders remain silent in the face of harm. I also explore how we often defend ourselves against moral injury through rationalisation, and how the journey of interior integration requires us to become more embodied and truthful about reality.
This episode is deeply personal as I reflect on my own experiences of deconstruction—not as a total loss of faith, but as a necessary dismantling of religious frameworks that could no longer hold the truth I was encountering in my relationship with God.
Watch this recording on YouTube.
CHAPTER MARKERS
0:00 Introduction: Moral Injury and Deconstruction
2:41 What is Moral Injury?
3:26 Origins in War Veterans Studies
5:13 Moral Injury as Spectators
7:45 Current Events and Personal Experience
10:57 Betrayal by Spiritual Leaders
22:54 Cognitive Dissonance and Defense Mechanisms
31:23 Interior Integration Journey
33:42 Naming Harm in Family Relationships
42:39 Becoming Embodied and Seeing Truth
46:09 Deconstructing the Church
51:25 Relationship with God Through Deconstruction
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