Top Ten Spiritual Mistakes: Part One

Happy Thanksgiving Zaadsters!

Well, i was working on a more scholarly piece about the good the true and the beautiful, the contemporary spiritual renaissance, and the stage-wise progression of spiritual growth, but my computer ate my homework - which is my excuse for not having saved my work correctly!

So instead, here is a more off-the-cuff humorous bit on the common mistakes and confusions that are ubiquitous in spiritual circles:

Top Ten Spiritual Mistakes (Letterman style)


10) "You create your own reality" is proven by quantum physics.

This is like saying the meaning of Shakespeare is proven by my mathematics equation.
Worse, it's like saying my misinterpretation of Shakespeare's Hamlet is proven by my broken calculator. People who subscribe to this idea usually know very little about quantum physics and what it actually says. They are also trying to prove a misguided omnipotent fantasy to themselves while denying basic common sense and calling that "spiritual." The correct word is actually "childish".

In the words of Ken Wilber "you don't create your own reality - psychotics create their own reality..."

Medicine: Quantum Questions by Ken Wilber
Meditate more, fantasize less.

9) Change your thoughts intentionally and all else will follow.

There is a big confusion in the spiritual community about the difference between the psyche and the conscious intentional mind. The conscious mind is the surface, the psyche or unconscious mind is the depth. Genuine spiritual transformation happens in the psyche. Conscious intention is a wonderful way to gain entrance to the psyche, but it is just the first step. The whole point is that (by definition)  we don't know our unconscious psyche. Spiritual disciplines take us on that inner journey. Deep transformation does not have to do with just changing your thoughts - if only it were so easy! It has to do with a serious and deep process of insight and healing that occurs through engaging what lies beneath our conscious choices.

Didya hear the one about the person who, heartbroken from a failed relationship just decided to be happy and it "manifested"?.....or how about the kid in a famine ravaged third world country with a distended belly and flies on his face......but thats another issue.

Medicine: The Stormy Search for the Self by Stan and Christina Grof
Get real with yourself and develop compassion toward your beautifully intelligent feeling process. Therapy is a good place to start.

8) Everyone's opinion is equally valid because all truths are relative.

I'll bear that in mind next time I want an opinion on why my car is stalling. Maybe my next door neighbor's three year old could give me some input? Or try mentioning this one to that silly old college professor when he tells you your research is deeply flawed and not up to academic standards. The above idea actually sounds like something George Bush could have said about the non-exitsent WMDs!

People - there is nothing wrong with hierarchy as long as it is healthy. Some things are provably true and some things are not. Some people know more about certain things than others. There are sound reasons why we trust experts with our lives and our expensive equipment - why do we not carry this over into the who we trust with our spirits and souls? We do ourselves such a disservice when we pretend that spiritual insight and philosophical depth are equally present in everyone, not to mention common sense and critical thinking. There are stages of growth in spirituality, just like in anything else and there are discoverable truths that are in fact not subjective - they are enduring revelations of art, philosophy and contemplation. Hint: you won't find them in any of the well marketed but deeply superficial New Age books or movies. Oh and by the way I hope we can all agree that Hitler's opinions were plain wrong?

Medicine: Spiral Dynamics by Don Beck and Chris Cowan
Pay attention to public political debate and develop critical thinking more. CNN, The Nation, NPR.

7) All Religions are Really Saying the Same Thing: God Wants Us To Love One Another

I like the idea, really! But actually the Old Testament of the Bible, which is common to Christianity, Islam and Judaism is an extremely  bloody epic of God-endorsed rape, pillage, murder, animal sacrifice and slave taking, but we shouldn't let little details like that get in the way... Oh, and by the time we get to Christianity's New Testament we find that God's only son has to serve as a blood sacrifice to wash away our sins so we don't end up in Hell, which is where the all-loving God will send you if you don't accept Jesus as the only way - sounds like exclusivist extortion, but oh well... If you squint your eyes just so, it's actuallly about love, right?

Hindusim has at it's center the notion of the Apartheid-like caste system as a reflection of the cosmic law of karma and reincarnation. In other words if you are born an Untouchable with almost zero human rights this time around - you deserve it and you'd better accept it if you want to be higher up in this (genuinely oppressive) hierarchy in your next life! Buddhism, unlike the Hindu or Abrahamic religions has no God to speak of and is more concerned with psychological insight. Let's not forget the little matter of suicide bombings, inquistions, fatwahs and holy wars - all backed up tooth and nail by religious scripture.

Medicine: The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. The interpretation of Fairy Tales by Mary Louise von Franz.
Think more metaphorically and psychologically about religious symbols and consider too the socio-political climate in which different religions emerge. Religion is a creation of human culture, silly! God has a different socially constructed face everywhere - the question is who does he work for?

6) If I were Really Advanced Spiritually I Would be Wealthy, Healthy, In Love with my Soul Mate and Happy All the Time.

Hmmmm... D'ya think perhaps these things have to do with some addtional variables? I mean following this logic gorgeous wealthy movie stars with good genetics, amazing nutrition, personal trainers, and married to eachother would be the most enlightened people on the planet - right? Brangelina - the hemaphrodite messiah for the Aquarian Age - I just can't wait till 2012! Or maybe it would be Dick Cheney - wait sorry he's pretty grumpy, so he cant be enlightened. Very rich and empowered though..... 

Though this idea can sound empowering and spiritually accountable on the surface - it actually turns not only into a self-bludgeoning device, but also a glib and gross distortion of the complex realities we inhabit. The ramifications of merging all of these things: health, finances, happiness,, relationship into being a reflection of how spiritually advanced you are is such a terribly self-punishing and judgemental over-simplification. Some of the most despicable human beings live to be 100 and die with millions in the bank and smiles on their faces. Some of the most spiritually advanced and extraordinary people die young and poor and struggling against circumstance Sure work on these different aspects of your life, but don't confuse your success or failure there with some kind of karmic spiritual evidence, it's much more complex than that and much more beyond our control.

Medicine: Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning. Nelson Mandela's No Easy Walk to Freedom
See through the priviledged entitlement of bad New Age metaphysical interpretations of reality and take another look. The Buddha's First Noble Truth: There is Suffering.

5) Rationality and Spirituality are in Direct Opposition

From this point of view even the most crazy spiritual claims are beyond rational evaluation. This has allowed unethical charismatic charalatans throughout history to take advantage of gullible people who have not integrated their spirituality with their intellect, their minds with their hearts, their thinking with their intuition. Big problem, people! Was Jesus really born of a virgin? Does Sai Baba really "manifest" ash from the palm of his hand? Is the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl really coming back to South America someday?

We start from an inability to differentiate spiritual symbols from historic facts and then get suckered into thinking that it's "spiritual" to "believe" all manner of crazy things and that rational evaluation of this process is "unspiritual". This goes of course to the difference between prerational regressive magical fantasy (appropriate for 7 year olds) and transrational adult spirituality - but much more on that elsewhere...What if your adult rational intellect was your greatest ally on the spiritual path? People, there is a big difference between the transrational not-knowing of mysticism and the strung-out confusion of the whacky aliens and angels set, OK?!

Medicine: A Brief History of Everything by Ken Wilber
Excercise your intellect along with your body, heart and intuition - cross training will ensure the health of all the aspects of your being. The rational mind is not the problem, it's the foundation of healthy spirituality. There are a lot of charlatans out there waiting to confuse you out of your money, power and ability to think for yourself. Dodge them!

More to come in part two!

Adios.

www.julianwalkeryoga.com