Spiritual Snobbery: the Dark Side of Light Workers.

[Fairyana]

I found this article very interesting and an important read! I believe mindfulness of our thoughts and actions are crucial for an honest spiritual development.

Here's the link:

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2015/05/spiritual-snobbery-the-dark-side-of-lightworkers/

Cheers!

[Free1]

Thanks!

If you want spiritual progress, do not associate exclusively with spiritual people.

[Celera]

Ah humility, that most difficult of virtues!

[Mr Interesting]

Recently it was quite the dismal day and I found myself in one of the better parts of town and after buying some nice food I still had a few bucks left and came upon a sweet shop and so walked with dreams of childhood falling upon me as wonderment took over and my tongue dragged along the floor. It was absolutely lovely with tier upon tier of colourful beckonings of sweetness and explosions of colour but I am too an adult and that which is older, more rational and somewhat refined wondered why within such gaiety of vision did I not have the senses of smell and taste jumping about as frantically.

I knew then that proper exploration would require pocket loads of money to actually start buying and with taste tests actually narrow down what might actually be of use to me. And I'd also read the proprietoress who came swinging in when the bell tinkled and she'd already weighed me up for gold, found me wanting, and was dismissive even whilst I felt empathy for her predicament of stock bought and sorted, rents paid and books and books of figures to denote her willingness to fill life with joy and happiness if the punters, bless there hearts, had their credit cards drawn and could cross the bar she's set to buy her smiles.

[naturesflow]

I noticed lately I decided to put my towel in the bathroom to the back rail allow my H to have his at the front. For some reason in the moment I did this, it felt symbolic to the state of my own becoming of late and how I am being mindful of him with awareness of this in myself.

Mindfulness is an inclusive state and when you understand this in yourself, its always nice to allow others to find their own by simply modelling how it can be through you.

My h probably didn't give two hoots about where his towel was placed, as long as he could reach it. But a mindful shared space with choice, always has choice to share mindfully of course in those little moments or bigger ones in both thought and deeds.

[Wandering_Star]

I thought the article was hilarious, myself.

Her participation in that Facebook community, by her own admission, was to occasionally Like posts/comments--and to post self-promotion of her own articles and events. Yes, the events were free, but those free events are intended to bring in prospective new students/clients, because she's set herself up as an expert and a teacher, and does this for a living.

So she wasn't actually participating in the community--starting or adding to discussions, or developing friendships strictly on their own merits. She was there to advertise herself as a teacher/expert. And now that she's been kicked off for spamming, I'm supposed to buy that she's the mindful, compassionate, innocent one who has been the victim of "spiritual snobbery"?:laughing6: Oh, please! :laughing6:

And it's too bad she's blind to that, because her article does make some very good points. Spiritual snobbery is endemic in the New Age/spiritual/Lightworker/yoga communities--because snobbery is endemic to all areas of human experience. I got a dose of snobbery from a barefoot trail runner last week because I wear Vibram Fivefingers instead of going fully barefoot. I caught myself yesterday dishing out my own snobbery over someone else's choice of what to feed her cats, and had to reel it back in--I try to maintain awareness, but I am by no means immune! And I can't think of a single soul who is immune to it either; we're all in the same boat.

If people are going to get snobby over silly things like running shoes and cat food, of course they're going to do it over spiritual practice, or personal ethics. If anything, I expect it to be worse among spiritual/religious communities because there's so much emphasis on transcending one's grubby, needy, animal human-ness and becoming some sort of "higher" or "more enlightened" being--which automatically creates a polarity between those who are "spiritual" and those who are not, and all kinds of intricate levels of inadequacy in-between. And from that inadequacy comes snobbery.

[Tobi]

I found this article very interesting and an important read! I believe mindfulness of our thoughts and actions are crucial for an honest spiritual development.

Here's the link:

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2015/05/spiritual-snobbery-the-dark-side-of-lightworkers/

Cheers!

Thank you very much for posting this link Fairyana. It's a very valuable article.

The hippies on the beach bit (raves etc) :D that made me LOL!!

It's very very limiting and growth-stunting for anyone to think they are better or 'higher', more pure or 'more advanced' than anyone else.

[Fairyana]

I thought the article was hilarious, myself.
[...]
So she wasn't actually participating in the community--starting or adding to discussions, or developing friendships strictly on their own merits. She was there to advertise herself as a teacher/expert. And now that she's been kicked off for spamming, I'm supposed to buy that she's the mindful, compassionate, innocent one who has been the victim of "spiritual snobbery"?:laughing6: Oh, please! :laughing6:


That's a good point!


If people are going to get snobby over silly things like running shoes and cat food, of course they're going to do it over spiritual practice, or personal ethics. If anything, I expect it to be worse among spiritual/religious communities because there's so much emphasis on transcending one's grubby, needy, animal human-ness and becoming some sort of "higher" or "more enlightened" being--which automatically creates a polarity between those who are "spiritual" and those who are not, and all kinds of intricate levels of inadequacy in-between. And from that inadequacy comes snobbery.

Another good point!
If a person gains more spiritual awareness, the outcome should be to view everyone else as their sister and brother on Earth, all spirits from the same source, instead of viewing the big picture as some spiritual hierarchy. I believe humility, humbleness and empathy to be a necessary train for those who are more enlightened (or more aware of spirituality).

[Greenslade]

If a person gains more spiritual awareness, the outcome should be to view everyone else as their sister and brother on Earth, all spirits from the same source, instead of viewing the big picture as some spiritual hierarchy. I believe humility, humbleness and empathy to be a necessary train for those who are more enlightened (or more aware of spirituality). I find this all very curious, you humans are strange creatures indeed. :smile::smile: Surely humility, humbleness and empathy comes with the territory of being Enlightened? If not then what of Enlightenment? And for those that seek humility, humbleness and partake in Spiritual practises - are they Spiritual even though perhaps they might never partake in Spiritual practices? When you step back from it often Spirituality is very human after all and being human is very Spiritual. But perhaps there's a difference between being Enlightened and what you are Enlightened to.

[Cheesus Toast]

There is another thread on here similar to this one. I would like to think that the more enlightened I become the more I appreciate that boundaries are illusions. I admit that I react harshly to, what I deem as, materialism. In this way it could be said that I am acting as the "spiritually superior" party.

I would like to think that I could reach the point where there is no one superior or inferior to me. I would like to think that I strive for that even though it may sound like a contradiction!

I reacted very strongly just recently to an article about altruism because I considered it shallow/ materialistic (I took the comment a bit far as well - suggesting that they study ants instead of humans). Maybe I am simply attacking a part of myself and deeming it the outside world.

If a person gains more spiritual awareness, the outcome should be to view everyone else as their sister and brother on Earth, all spirits from the same source, instead of viewing the big picture as some spiritual hierarchy. I believe humility, humbleness and empathy to be a necessary train for those who are more enlightened (or more aware of spirituality).

Agreed.

[Fairyana]

I find this all very curious, you humans are strange creatures indeed. :smile::smile: Surely humility, humbleness and empathy comes with the territory of being Enlightened? If not then what of Enlightenment? And for those that seek humility, humbleness and partake in Spiritual practises - are they Spiritual even though perhaps they might never partake in Spiritual practices? When you step back from it often Spirituality is very human after all and being human is very Spiritual. But perhaps there's a difference between being Enlightened and what you are Enlightened to.

My view of spirituality is very much based on the premise of a cosmic consciousness of sorts, from which the universe is a result of/expression of... So the quality of our consciousness in this sense, is what is important. Based on this perspective, a person who is vigilant of their thoughts, who manages to improve the quality of their consciousness and in so doing manages to be at peace with those around them too, can be said to be in the right path of spirituality (because their consciousness is ultimately the only thing that survives) even if they have no regard to so called Spiritual practices or religion.

[blackraven]

It's similar to a person that goes to a church or religious temple every Sunday, perhaps carrying over the good feelings from church for the rest of the day then acts hateful for the other 6 days of the week. I'll quote my 91-year-old father-in-law by saying "Humans are strange beings".

[froebellian]

This popped up on my Facebook page and I read it, but more interestingly the comments.

By the authors own admission she posted events that weren't allowed, because like this forum they redirected to a site where the person charged for her services. It doesn't matter whether she offering free healing (so many do), but the link was to a site with fees.

It did mention the snobbery about yoga and being vegetarian, but isn't that just human when you expect people to think as you do?

To me being spiritual is accepting people as there are, wherever they are on their path. When she was judging people drinking and smoking weed, you wonder why spiritual people are any different form others?

People may judge (and they do) when I say I don't meditate so I can't be very spiritual. I don't think it matters what we do or think, as long as respect others boundaries.

[GreenGazer]

I thought the article was hilarious, myself.

Her participation in that Facebook community, by her own admission, was to occasionally Like posts/comments--and to post self-promotion of her own articles and events. Yes, the events were free, but those free events are intended to bring in prospective new students/clients, because she's set herself up as an expert and a teacher, and does this for a living.

So she wasn't actually participating in the community--starting or adding to discussions, or developing friendships strictly on their own merits. She was there to advertise herself as a teacher/expert. And now that she's been kicked off for spamming, I'm supposed to buy that she's the mindful, compassionate, innocent one who has been the victim of "spiritual snobbery"?:laughing6: Oh, please! :laughing6:

And it's too bad she's blind to that, because her article does make some very good points.


AAAHHHHhhh!! SEE? I think this is part of the human problem. We add assumptions to things we observe and read based on our own rather narrow personal perspective. WE ALL DO THIS at some time. We don't know if this lady was ONLY posting self promoting things. Even if she was we don't know if the entirety of the motives of posting those things. People seem to misunderstand my intentions fairly often based on a preconceived idea of what they see in the "average person". I don't believe in "average people". Every person is as unique as each human experience is unique. When we assign motives to people it can really hurt their feelings. It always feels generalizing and more often than not the assumption is inaccurate. That being said I am always for speaking your mind. It feels good to be honest with your feelings. I think the article made some really good points of when these feelings or opinions are worth sharing with others. I have learned that unfortunately my opinion means the most to myself :laughing5: but when shared honestly at the appropriate time it can be beneficial. In my personal opinion people get offended waaaaay to easily and when someone feels offended or belittled it is always due to the value they place on pride and ego (again, just my personal opinion). But perhaps sometimes it is unnecessary for me to share the opinion that caused the animosity. I think we all can learn something in that regard.

Thanks Fairyana for sharing the article :smile:

"Namaste. Love and light." Hahahahaha

[MIND POWER]

Spiritual snobbishness, i would direct this mainly at ashtar command groupies! or Pleiadian groupies! yeh yeh yeh so you live for 3000 years! big deal, that's nothing.

I got this.....haha.

[Justme1981]

I found this article very interesting and an important read! I believe mindfulness of our thoughts and actions are crucial for an honest spiritual development.

Here's the link:

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2015/05/spiritual-snobbery-the-dark-side-of-lightworkers/

Cheers!

I read the article and I agree with the writer of the article but I take it further; my conception of things is that enlightenment is a state and not a behavior. Often times in these spiritual communities everyone is learning to mimic someone else's sense of enlightenment instead of trying to find a sense of enlightenment of their own.

I think the fundamental problem is that people have not come understand that every soul has a unique logic. Like a fingerprint, no two are alike. So, if being Vegan, doing Yoga, going to the East was one person's conception of enlightenment it doesn't mean if we mimic it then we too are enlightened or even will become enlightened. It could be possible the first person who did that was a Glutton with a rigid body and that's why it worked for him; it went against the fundamental core of his nature. It doesn't mean I or you struggle with the same issue and the same path will mean anything for us.

I will be honest, I've never encountered anyone who is enlightened. My only encounter with enlightenment is from texts of old, to me enlightenment ends at in the middle of the twentieth century. I don't suppose for me to drive down to LA and meet with Spiritual Groups I will meet anyone enlightened, especially if they will not regard me for what I am because I don't, nor desire to, look like them.