spirituality sucks

[running]

teachers and books can be exceptional tools. there is no denying that for many people.

but here is the pit falls that i see

1. you may become a people worshiper. somebody whom no longer values themselves as much as the one they follow.

2. you may become a book worshiper. somebody whom has a book replacing their brain. its all about the book. making their own life and experience of no value.

3. then you got a myriad of things that are equally messed up. like excuses to have no identity of your own. excuses to be lazy. and the list goes on and on. cause its what being spiritual is

its pretty weird. i saw this going in and made a promise to myself not to get all messed up. so i waded my way through what i needed to get what i want. and i didnt have to suck into the garbage can of nonsense for it to happen. to get what i was looking for.

my advice to people getting into spirituality. dont get sucked into the black hole of nonsense. see it for what it is. doesnt matter how many books were written. or how many people bowed to so and so. doesnt matter.

yes. bliss and silence is possible. but it doesnt require your head up somebodies azz. or a book for a brain. a loss of idenity. or anything else being sold for that matter.


teachers and books are great tools. but it is not there as a replacement to ones own identity, experience, and life. they are only tools to reference at times. if it helps.

my 2cent rant

Absolutely right. It's an exploration. Books are words - pretty useless unless they contain tokens and signifiers that a reader pre-understands.

We are full of maps. We must learn the ways. A book can't tell you what's on those ways. They'd have to BE the reader to do that.
But just running maps isn't enough. We have to learn from what we encounter.

Much of the problem is that so much "spirituality" and pseudo-spirituality has splattered on the world since the witchcraft laws were dropped that people looking for easy answers to their problems too often seize on the first thing that glitters.

One occultist said (in "7 Mistakes, avoid common pitfalls..."): "What do you want?
It’s a simple question, but most who enter the world of magick and alternative spirituality never ask it, or never fully define the answer. As a result, they’re caught up in the “dazzling lights” of the New Age Pinball Machine, and bounced around between experiences, groups and teachers, never finding themselves or getting to their core issues and drives."

♥

[Astro]

This sounds more like new age that you're describing than spirituality in general.

[lilith]

Spirituality or new age seems to me has become a tool for fulfilling ones desires. Books, especially really old ones are wonderful source of knowledge. I rather stay away from anyone who gives personal interpretations of those but secretly or not wants something in return for it or set conditions for receiving it. Also from those who abandon families and such as an excuse in order to ascend or whatever is their goal. I care about people who care about people the way I do. Not in a same form, but with same pure intent and emotion or energy. Having a heart full of love and being true to myself is spirituality to me. Critical and independent mind is also very important.

[SaturninePluto]

I tend to find most individuals capable of thinking and feeling for themselves despite what any book or certain faith or belief that is believed or held to states.

Or perhaps I merely over-estimate people and have an optimistic outlook on such things.

[running]

i dont see any difference to the context i bring up. whether its old or new. if somebody becomes manipulated and or disregards ones own direct experience it is a host for problems. at least in new age there seems some flexibility.

people wish to lose value in themselves due to peer pressure from the heads bowing. or to the popularity of something written down.

it is their right to become of less value to whatever it is. but its also the right for somebody to call bull. not that anybody is suggesting it isnt.

to me whats the point of even being here. if you become to have little to no value in ones own experience. and instead suck up to anothers forgetting your own.

all the time i suggest meditating with gurus and so on cause the shakti tbey can provide is helpful. so its not like i have sometbing against help. keeping tbings in context.

[Bohdiyana]

Originally Posted by running

teachers and books can be exceptional tools. there is no denying that for many people.
teachers and books are great tools.
all the time i suggest meditating with gurus

Not really sure what you are saying in your post but I get confused easy lol. So books and teachers and guru's are great exceptional tools for many people?

[running]

Originally Posted by Bohdiyana

Not really sure what you are saying in your post but I get confused easy lol. So books and teachers and guru's are great exceptional tools for many people?

yes. if you read further you'll see my opinion of how it also can be a problem if taken to far. many lose the value of their own experience.

[Shivani Devi]

Originally Posted by running

yes. if you read further you'll see my opinion of how it also can be a problem if taken to far. many lose the value of their own experience.

Human beings are social creatures, forever wanting their existence and experiences validated by another member of the species.

Problem being of course, that all spiritual experiences are self-validating. They have their own intrinsic worth and value which can neither be measured nor shared in the social environment.

This is why religions were thus created.

The spiritual journey is a solitary one, with alone-ness = all-one-ness, but people still require their emotional needs to be met in this regard...they hope somebody else will know or understand what it is they are going through, when that is impossible. In regards to spirituality, there is no frame of reference that can have a tangible, measurable effect.

This is why they bury their heads in books and engage in philosophical debates, instead of merely valuing themselves or their own experience.

I could write a treatise on the Bhagavad Gita and engender much interest, because it has been composed by a saint/sage who others would consider to be more 'self-realised' than what they consider me to be.

I could write my own tale about divine love and personal experience that would see no comment or reply whatsoever.

This is why such emphasis is placed on spiritual literature and personages with a great 'spiritual reputation' because it's hoped that they would know much more about the subject than a householder posting on a spiritual forum would.

The art of tradition is dying...some of us still try and keep the old myths and legends alive, to make the experience more personal...however, it is the impersonal, intellectual stuff that appeals to most in this current cycle.

In a way, spirituality 'sucks' because it's so full of concepts and teachings which have helped others...but when we try to apply them to ourselves, nothing seems to 'work'. Thus I am reminded of an old, wise saying;

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail". Ralph Waldo Emerson

[Baile]

Originally Posted by The Necromancer

This is why religions were thus created.

I could write my own tale about divine love and personal experience that would see no comment or reply whatsoever.

In a way, spirituality 'sucks' because it's so full of concepts and teachings which have helped others...but when we try to apply them to ourselves, nothing seems to 'work'.

I remember back in March you were speaking like this quite a bit, how people don't seem to care about what you share, and never reply to your posts, and so forth. I'll share why I seldom reply, if you're truly wondering why. This post of yours is the prefect example really. You're pushing a particular agenda, one I personally can't relate to at all. You feel spirituality is wrong somehow, and that religion is the proper path. You constantly rail against "I AM" consciousness and all things new-age. And you're doing this is a Spirituality forum. So of course many people are not going to feel particularly attuned to any messages promoting religion.

And I pretty much think the opposite of you, yet I get the exact same non-response most of the time. Religion is a decayed and dying system of belief, a relic of the Pisces Age consciousness. It's time has come and gone This is why churches are closing, why 60-70% of people in Europe according to polls have no religious affiliation. Religion will have all but disappeared in another several decades. Whereas spirituality is the new consciousness form for the Aquarian Age. But while I promote spirituality as a self-realization path (the I AM path!), most people just want to talk about true flames, ascension and weird shadows in their room at night. Me, I say all shadows at night are weird and spooky, and now what meditative, self-realization work did you do today?

Point of all this: if you can't laugh about it all, you're taking it way too seriously.