Don’t Let Anyone Else Tell You What God Is

Judith A. Swack • January 9, 2024

Many people carry negative or aberrant definitions of God. They believe that God is cruel, punishing, uncaring, critical, weak, a monster, an idiot, nonexistent, etc. Some people believe that God has gender (ie.God/Goddess) or age (old man with a beard). These definitions are caused by damage patterns such as traumas, layers of the Enneagram wound, or family or religious teaching. In every case that I have tested, the client’s deepest wisdom tells us that these negative or absent definitions of God do not serve them. Many people are unaware, ashamed or afraid to admit that they have these negative beliefs because they were taught to think of God as loving, forgiving, kind, generous, all-powerful, etc. Individuals may not relate personally to the positive representations of God that are present in the culture and feel guilty, pressured, or isolated when they don’t agree. Thus, it is important for people to find an internal representation and personal way of experiencing God that serves their highest good and to notice when a representation comes from a damage pattern.


I, myself, think of God as a giant semitransparent amoeba of energy in space. This amoeba contains the totality of life force energy in the universe spanning the matter/energy continuum. I think of all of us embodied folks as pseudopods, i.e. living extensions of God that act like fingers that receive and transmit sensory information to the whole organism through a nervous system of spiritual energy. I wonder whether this amoeba would be sentient without some part of it being embodied in physical form. I feel that the information we share about life while we are in the material world either contributes to or collectively comprises the sentience and ethical system of the Divine. I experience the presence of God when I feel excited about being alive, when I feel love and energetic connection with others, when my angel and guide talk to me, and when my clients heal before my eyes. On the other hand, some people simply experience God as the feeling they get when they are out in nature.


In her research of near-death experiences, P.M.H. Atwater describes several cases in which people met angels, Jesus, and other friends and relatives after passing through a tunnel (1). These beings dissolved into pure light when the people no longer needed these shapes or forms to put them at ease. As the people were absorbed into the light they experienced the ecstasy of unconditional love. I interpret this to mean that God is the universal energy of joy and love and that God is flexible in the forms It takes to establish rapport with individuals. So, don’t let anyone else tell you what God is. Find your own comfortable way of representing and noticing/feeling connection with the Divine.


Atwater, P.M.H., Beyond the Light, Avon Books, NY, 1994.


Copyright 2000 Judith A. Swack, Ph.D.


September 2000 Judith A. Swack and Associates, Inc. Newsletter

By Copyright 2025 Judith A. Swack, Ph.D. January 31, 2025
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A woman is sitting on a couch talking to a psychologist.
By S.C. LICSW November 20, 2024
It’s that time again, where I get to shout out another amazing woman. Dr. Judith Swack has changed my life! In fact she has changed our family’s life. I found her in summer of 2023 . There was so much unhealed shit and my body was paying for it. I am 46 years old, and I have been in therapy on and off since I was 13. I’ve had some lovely therapists. I’m also a therapist myself. And I can honestly, wholeheartedly say, NOTHING has ever helped with lasting changes as much as Judith. She’s one of the smartest women I’ve ever met - she’s a neuroscientist + an energy healer. And the work she does - what we do in session - cannot even really explain it. It’s weird as f*ck. And it works!! In the past little over a year, I have managed to change a couple of behaviors I have not been able to change in 20 years. no exaggeration, and not for lack of trying. One of my 11 year old sons was paralyzed by fear of spiders - had a phobia, happened to be with me one day when I had an appointment and was going to wait in the waiting room, she said he could come in even though she doesn’t work with kids. I kid you not, she fixed that sh*t. In one session. He still doesn’t like spiders, but he isn’t frozen in fear anymore - he can get a tissue and pick it up and move on. This is unbelievable. And remember last week when I Saturday spotlighted my financial coach and how my husband’s feeling lonely in that part of our marriage is now getting resolved? Well, before I reached out to my financial coach to begin with, my husband and I had a joint session with Dr. Swack, where she helped heal a piece of our relationship which we’ve been stuck, going in circles for years! That clearing gave me the energy and thought to reach out for financial coaching to begin with… And if you need any convincing that this is the person for healing from trauma, I invite you to reach out and speak with my husband himself…. I % believe in all this energy healing etc, but he is a very logical, rational, no bullshit guy. He doesn’t do therapy. Talk therapy never worked for him, and he thinks it’s a complete waste. And I couldn’t explain this to him - how this is different or what it is. Nor did I try. I didn’t even ever suggest he should go… But when he saw our son get cured of the arachnophobia, and our son is very similar to him, no bullshit, rational, logical, and he said it worked, and we saw it worked he decided to try it… He decided to give it sessions… I think to prove to both of us it was all bullshit. He came home from the first session livid. But decided he would go back. He also came back from the second session angry, and told me all about how he yelled at Dr. Swack and told her it was bullshit… AND how she didn’t give a f*ck what he thought …”it doesn’t matter if you believe it or think it’s bullshit, I’m not talking to your rational mind, I’m talking to your subconscious” she’s told him numerous times… And suffice to say, he’s been about 9x now, and he too, is operating fundamentally differently. Our marriage is operating fundamentally differently. Traumas and patterns we have both carried and acted upon for years seem to be being dissolved. It’s really wild. If you are seeking a trauma healer or healing for anything, I can’t recommend Dr. Swack higher. I once asked Dr. Swack how to explain what she does to people, and she said “tell them I work with your subconscious”. I don’t think that really explains it fully… or maybe it does… either way it’s amazing. S.C. LICSW
By Judith A. Swack, Ph.D. April 8, 2024
One of my favorite projects is getting people happily married. To do that I did quite a bit of original research and discovered that just as there are psychological child development stages, there are 3 psychological relationship readiness stages.
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