People are in such a state of emotional disrepair that modern day spirituality has become a crutch of pretty words and hopeful ideas.
“You are love.”
“You are the universe and the universe seeing through you.”
“We’re all just walking each other home.”–Ram Dass
In the short term, it’s nice to read these things. Our general distress and anxiety is temporarily assuaged.
But it comes back.
Because our egos, attachments, and many unhealthy habits have not gone away.
If we are not serious about letting of go of attachments that cause suffering and making lifestyle changes to be healthy, then
these pretty spiritual words are
lies and distractions that
CONTINUE suffering.
And there are just so many lies.
Mix this in with what gets popular online.
This post will not be popular–not unless a bunch of you aggressively share it and encourage everyone else to share it. Even then, it is unlikely to get popular.
Why?
It doesn’t give people the sugar-coated truth that they think will make them happy. It’s not a quick-fix idea that you can implement today.
This post is an acknowledgement of the deep daily distress people are living in and that many are too numb to even acknowledge that that distress exists, despite the very obvious ways they are numbing.
What are ways that people numb?
- Alcohol, drugs, and all kinds of substances
- Parenting (You probably didn’t expect me to say that one, but some people escape through their children.)
- Work (particularly excessive work)
- Adventures/traveling/thrill-seeking
- Exercise and over-working out
- And so much more
Honestly, we can use just about anything to distract and numb ourselves, and that, of course, includes spirituality.
Are you ready to get serious?
If so, continue on with these blog posts:
1 Comment
Thank you, Jim, for writing this.
It is certainly true for myself, that although I know these spiritual truths, they won‘t take away my negative emotions or physiological discomfort. Unless I sit with those unpleasant feelings and sensations, allow them, and embrace them, the suffering won‘t end.
I observe a lot of „spiritual“ people using spirituality not only to bypass, avoid, or numb, but also as an excuse for not taking responsible action. This is really an abuse of spirituality. People say, „The universe prevented it“, and actually say that they didn‘t want to make an effort. Or they say, „We are always one on the transcendent level“, and actually say they don‘t want to commit. Or they say, „Suffering is not real“, meaning they don’t really care and don’t want to do anything about it. So in the end, they lie to themselves, and remain stuck. Nothing happens.
From my experience, unless you truly integrate these higher truths, they can become very harmful. We really need to integrate our human side and our divine side. Having lived from merely the human aspect of our existence before, there‘s a tendency to give that up entirely for the newly discovered divine aspect of existence. But then you just switch from one half of existence to the other half. We are truly both – human and divine. So we must fully embrace our humanity from being grounded in the divine, in oneness, because we are here to bring spirit, love, and truth to the world and our human existence. As long as we are here living in material bodies, we live in both worlds. So we cannot truly live from just one side, but have to bring both of them together.