It is a jungle out there, and it is no less true about spiritual life than any other aspect of life. Do we really think that just because someone has been meditating for five years, or doing 10 years of yoga practice, that they will be any less neurotic than the next person? At best, perhaps they will be a little bit more aware of it. A little bit.
It is for this reason that I spent the last 15 years of my life researching and writing books on cultivating discernment on the spiritual path in all the gritty areas--power, sex, enlightenment, gurus, scandals, psychology, neurosis -- as well as earnest, but just plain confused and unconscious, motivations on the path. My partner (author and teacher Marc Gafni) and I are developing a new series of books, courses and practices to bring further clarification to these issues.
Several years ago, I spent a summer living and working in South Africa. Upon my arrival I was instantly confronted by the visceral reality that I was in the country with the highest murder rate in the world, where rape was common and more than half the population was HIV-positive -- men and women, gays and straights alike.
As I have come to know hundreds of spiritual teachers and thousands of spiritual practitioners through my work and travels, I have been struck by the way in which our spiritual views, perspectives and experiences become similarly "infected" by "conceptual contaminants" -- comprising a confused and immature relationship to complex spiritual principles can seem as invisible and insidious as a sexually transmitted disease.
The following 10 categorizations are not intended to be definitive but are offered as a tool for becoming aware of some of the most common spiritually transmitted diseases.
1. Fast-Food Spirituality: Mix spirituality with a culture that celebrates speed, multitasking and instant gratification and the result is likely to be fast-food spirituality. Fast-food spirituality is a product of the common and understandable fantasy that relief from the suffering of our human condition can be quick and easy. One thing is clear, however: spiritual transformation cannot be had in a quick fix.
2. Faux Spirituality: Faux spirituality is the tendency to talk, dress and act as we imagine a spiritual person would. It is a kind of imitation spirituality that mimics spiritual realization in the way that leopard-skin fabric imitates the genuine skin of a leopard.
3. Confused Motivations: Although our desire to grow is genuine and pure, it often gets mixed with lesser motivations, including the wish to be loved, the desire to belong, the need to fill our internal emptiness, the belief that the spiritual path will remove our suffering and spiritual ambition, the wish to be special, to be better than, to be "the one."
4. Identifying with Spiritual Experiences: In this disease, the ego identifies with our spiritual experience and takes it as its own, and we begin to believe that we are embodying insights that have arisen within us at certain times. In most cases, it does not last indefinitely, although it tends to endure for longer periods of time in those who believe themselves to be enlightened and/or who function as spiritual teachers.
5. The Spiritualized Ego: This disease occurs when the very structure of the egoic personality becomes deeply embedded with spiritual concepts and ideas. The result is an egoic structure that is "bullet-proof." When the ego becomes spiritualized, we are invulnerable to help, new input, or constructive feedback. We become impenetrable human beings and are stunted in our spiritual growth, all in the name of spirituality.
6. Mass Production of Spiritual Teachers: There are a number of current trendy spiritual traditions that produce people who believe themselves to be at a level of spiritual enlightenment, or mastery, that is far beyond their actual level. This disease functions like a spiritual conveyor belt: put on this glow, get that insight, and -- bam! -- you're enlightened and ready to enlighten others in similar fashion. The problem is not that such teachers instruct but that they represent themselves as having achieved spiritual mastery.
7. Spiritual Pride: Spiritual pride arises when the practitioner, through years of labored effort, has actually attained a certain level of wisdom and uses that attainment to justify shutting down to further experience. A feeling of "spiritual superiority" is another symptom of this spiritually transmitted disease. It manifests as a subtle feeling that "I am better, more wise and above others because I am spiritual."
8. Group Mind: Also described as groupthink, cultic mentality or ashram disease, group mind is an insidious virus that contains many elements of traditional co-dependence. A spiritual group makes subtle and unconscious agreements regarding the correct ways to think, talk, dress, and act. Individuals and groups infected with "group mind" reject individuals, attitudes, and circumstances that do not conform to the often unwritten rules of the group.
9. The Chosen-People Complex: The chosen people complex is not limited to Jews. It is the belief that "Our group is more spiritually evolved, powerful, enlightened and, simply put, better than any other group." There is an important distinction between the recognition that one has found the right path, teacher or community for themselves, and having found The One.
10. The Deadly Virus: "I Have Arrived": This disease is so potent that it has the capacity to be terminal and deadly to our spiritual evolution. This is the belief that "I have arrived" at the final goal of the spiritual path. Our spiritual progress ends at the point where this belief becomes crystallized in our psyche, for the moment we begin to believe that we have reached the end of the path, further growth ceases.
"The essence of love is perception," according to the teachings of Marc Gafni, "Therefore the essence of self love is self perception. You can only fall in love with someone you can see clearly--including yourself. To love is to have eyes to see. It is only when you see yourself clearly that you can begin to love yourself."
It is in the spirit of Marc's teaching that I believe that a critical part of learning discernment on the spiritual path is discovering the pervasive illnesses of ego and self-deception that are in all of us. That is when we need a sense of humor and the support of real spiritual friends. As we face our obstacles to spiritual growth, there are times when it is easy to fall into a sense of despair and self-diminishment and lose our confidence on the path. We must keep the faith, in ourselves and in others, in order to really make a difference in this world.
Adapted from Eyes Wide Open: Cultivating Discernment on the Spiritual Path (Sounds True)
http://www.integralworld.net/scofield1.html
I was wondering what the article you mention has to do with the content of Mariana's contribution ? Why bring it up in this context ? Is it in best integral interests to disqualify a competent contribution by responding as you have, or are you pursuing other interests ?
spiritually transmitted disease... especially the Chosen People Complex? Mariana, you've hit on
some very valid points. I think your article should be in the Religion Section, wonder why it's not?
This was a great piece. Loved it, thanks!
Spindrift feels that the next hurdle for people who make spiritual claims for themselves or claim some intuitive ability relating to psychic things will be to get around one's own Defense Mechanisms and the human ego. Our sometimes pure and good spiritual experiences get spoiled as we get away from what actually happened to us. Spindrift found that a person has to "immediately" write down and get witnesses to your experience. Otherwise, these ten bad behaviors and our own Defense Mechanisms will rush in and ruin the details of what happened.
Bad behaviors and Defense Mechanisms are saboteurs to block us from spiritual growth. It's the idea that there is a mental inertia in us trying to keep us on the same level even when we desire higher spirituality and unusual moments of insight. When you delve into the strange spiritual and psychic areas of your life, that is when you will have the bad habits you may or may not notice creep in and misdirect your alertness to your spiritual path. One help is to do what Jesus suggested, "watch" as well as "pray."
I agree; I have no idea who Gafni is but the quotes about love at the end seemed off-putting to me.
-frown-
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It's no accident that Gafni targeted her for a partner; as a reputed "expert" on exploitative teachers, her support clearly benefits him. Unfortunately her credibility is being destroyed in the process.
Mariana is in for a very painful awakening ahead, when the weight of ongoing Gafni's deceptions leads him to crash and burn yet again. The good news is that she has a much deeper level of lessons ahead about how truly seductive and destructive spiritual teachers can be. I hope these lessons ultimately make her a wiser teacher on the subject.
Still, the whole situation is very sad, and frightening as well.
No one has all the answers. If they promote themselves as being in possesion of omniscient knowledge then I would urge anyone to run, don't walk, away from that person as quickly as possible. I remember a commercial that was on tv in the late 90's and this old woman who said she was psychic always ended her ad with the tag line "Call now. I got the answer!" yea, right...
The truly wise never seek followers, fame or money. Humility is essential for enlightenment. Only those who have learned to control their egos and live to serve humanity for no reason other than to be of service to others are truly enlightened.
Alarm bells should go off when you hear people using these words:
1. power/powerful
2. I have the answer
3. I charge 'x' amount for readings
4. me, me, me
5. I have been chosen/I am the chosen one...
You can do more good with a smile and a kind word than by letting your ego run wild and free.
PEACE AND LOVE