Patricia Panahi

God Outside the Box: a Story of Breaking Free Patricia Panahi

Born of a Catholic mother and Moslem father, Patti is never sure what religion to follow, or any at all for that matter. In her youth and early twenties, she explores numerous religions, but none speak to her soul. She can't accept the idea that one group has the whole truth and everyone else is wrong, or confused, or infidels, or a cult, or going to burn in hell for all time. To limit her thinking for religious purposes is like living in a cubicle and not being allowed to look over the wall and see what is going on outside. She wants to think for herself, to study, to analyze and to practice without inhibitions. Why would God only accept the practices and prayers of one particular group and not others? An omniscient God can't be that petty, can he-or she? She finally concludes that she just doesn't know and flounders in a spiritual void for a time. But when she is diagnosed with a serious illness and haunted by inner demons of her past, she cracks and falls apart. Deep, buried emotions erupt to the surface, shaking her to her core. Propelled to seek answers and find inner peace, she cries out to the heavens for help. Consequently, she tumbles into a spiritual adventure that explodes her concepts of reality and opens her to a brave new world where souls talk, trees emit energy fields, rocks have life, and God is everywhere.