Is it possible to take spirituality too far?

[Mystik]

So I went to this place that was supposed to have meditation. However, I got more than I bargained for. I just wanted to see what it was all about and there was no charge. However, the "teacher" went on about all these deep spiritual things that don't really have much to do with meditation. At one point he asked if I was a space man or something like that and told me that aliens were standing behind me. I didn't really know what to say.

Anyway, he also said something like there's no such thing as time and everything is happening at once and that things just bounce around. I've heard the time is not linear thing before. Fine. But when he said Jewish people were volunteering for the holocaust and stuff like that(I guess he saw it as karma) as well as the aliens are standing behind me and abduct me in my sleep I think that's maybe just going a bit too far. Maybe this guy wants an emotional reaction out of people I'm not sure.

My point is that although I consider myself spiritual I get frustrated when I go to events like this and hear people say stuff that just seems to go too far and seems too far out there. Does anyone else on here think it's possible to take things too far and be so far into spirituality that you lose touch with reality?

[John32241]

Hi,

Any one can lose touch with reality. Not ever one who claims to be a "teacher" would know how to do classes on meditation.

John

[Jack of Spades]

To be spiritual, one has to make their critical thinking a bit more flexible than one would if they were to stick to the strictly scientific world view. Unfortunately, for many people, this seems to equal torching all their capability for criticism and believing everything from medieval medicine to conspiracy theories to marketing scams.

I don't even know if it's possible to promote spirituality without accidentally promoting such anti-intellectual side-effects. It's something that bothers me a great deal personally.

[Mystik]

[To be spiritual, one has to make their critical thinking a bit more flexible than one would if they were to stick to the strictly scientific world view. Unfortunately, for many people, this seems to equal torching all their capability for criticism and believing everything from medieval medicine to conspiracy theories to marketing scams.

I don't even know if it's possible to promote spirituality without accidentally promoting such anti-intellectual side-effects. It's something that bothers me a great deal personally.]

It seems that you get the point I'm trying to make. I might not have expressed it in the most succinct way but basically there has to be some kind of balance between the world as we know it and the world that we can't fully understand. I consider myself to be somewhere in the middle. Maybe sort of like an agnostic when it comes to spirituality and things that are considered spiritual and mystical. I know that there's more than just what science explains or at least it's my opinion that there is but I don't try to proffer my spiritual beliefs as facts the way many spiritual "gurus" seem to. There are a lot of possibilities out there and I'm open to that and I don't mind being challenged to a degree but talking about aliens standing behind me seems to go too far as do other things that are in my opinion mere speculation(ie multiple dimensions and universes etc).

[inavalan]

"spirituality" is just a label. Expect that people give different meanings to it. You don't have to accept what anybody else teaches if you feel it isn't right, as you are the ultimate responsible for your own groth. Peak and choose, try it and discard it if it isn't what you're looking for. Definitely the truth is out there, but you have to be able to recognize it. I'd say look for minority opinions, as consensus lags behind in the quest for truth.

Look for truth, and for yout path, inside you, but look outside you for ideas and hint to nudge you on your discovery path.

[Starman]

"Spirituality" is not what other people say rather it is what you experience.
True spirituality is the most intimate experience which a person can ever have;
more intimate than sex, family, or anything else we may do or have as a human being,
and everyone does not experience what we call "spirituality" the same way.

I think the best way to advocate spirituality is to let your inner light shine beyond your
physical body and touch others in silence, and if we have to speak use kind and loving words.
We are all teachers and at the same time we are all students, and good students usually
become good teachers. But I do not expect for others to learn as I have nor teach as I do.
We all have our unique way of doing things. Each snowflake is different yet they all have the
basic form of a hexagram.

Peace

[Tomma]

Originally Posted by Mystik

My point is that although I consider myself spiritual I get frustrated when I go to events like this and hear people say stuff that just seems to go too far and seems too far out there. Does anyone else on here think it's possible to take things too far and be so far into spirituality that you lose touch with reality?

I know from my own experience that it's not always easy but I think the best is to try not to judge others for what they believe. Our mind always wants to judge and label everything into right and wrong.

I don't have any idea whether others have lost touch with reality or not. The best, and most important thing is to take away what helps you getting deeper in touch with yourself and continue your journey from there. Whether there are aliens, other dimensions, other earths, or what have you, if it doesn't resonate with you just leave it and forget about it.

I'm trying to stay open minded about certain possibilities that seem 'far out' for our everyday mind. These concepts might be true or not, I don't know really. After all, things that were labelled crazy and impossible just a few centuries ago are now accepted reality.

Some of my family members would certainly think of me as crazy and some kind of mental case if I told them that I believe in the survival of consciousness after physical death and that I have experienced myself outside of my body. So it goes both ways.

[Jack of Spades]

Originally Posted by Tomma

I know from my own experience that it's not always easy but I think the best is to try not to judge others for what they believe. Our mind always wants to judge and label everything into right and wrong.

I don't have any idea whether others have lost touch with reality or not. The best, and most important thing is to take away what helps you getting deeper in touch with yourself and continue your journey from there. Whether there are aliens, other dimensions, other earths, or what have you, if it doesn't resonate with you just leave it and forget about it.

I'm trying to stay open minded about certain possibilities that seem 'far out' for our everyday mind. These concepts might be true or not, I don't know really. After all, things that were labelled crazy and impossible just a few centuries ago are now accepted reality.

Some of my family members would certainly think of me as crazy and some kind of mental case if I told them that I believe in the survival of consciousness after death and that I have experienced myself outside of my body. So it goes both ways.

Every coin has two sides and there is the other side to this coin as well.

People can take their alternative beliefs to the point where they are demonstrably harming others. To make an extreme example, if a cult believes in committing a collective suicide I think that ought to be judged.

I believe in balance, and I think being judgmental vs tolerant is yet another area where some kind of balance is better than taking either extreme. We all know how much we hate professional finger-pointers, but I don't see the excess supply of overly judgmental people being a reason to jump to the other extreme and accept demonstrably harmful things.

[Tomma]

Originally Posted by Jack of Spades

Every coin has two sides and there is the other side to this coin as well.

People can take their alternative beliefs to the point where they are demonstrably harming others. To make an extreme example, if a cult believes in committing a collective suicide I think that ought to be judged.

I believe in balance, and I think being judgmental vs tolerant is yet another area where some kind of balance is better than taking either extreme. We all know how much we hate professional finger-pointers, but I don't see the excess supply of overly judgmental people being a reason to jump to the other extreme and accept demonstrably harmful things.

You quoted me but I hope you did not understand my post to advise to "accept demonstrably harmful things". This is in not what I was getting at. In fact I said, if it doesn't resonate with you just leave it, which would of course include anything potentially harmful. To me it seemed the op was more concerned with more "mainstream" ideas, like alien abductions and parallel universes and such.

Maybe you were just expanding on my post though.

[Jack of Spades]

Originally Posted by Tomma

You quoted me but I hope you did not understand my post to advise to "accept demonstrably harmful things". This is in not what I was getting at. In fact I said, if it doesn't resonate with you just leave it, which would of course include anything potentially harmful. To me it seemed the op was more concerned with more "mainstream" ideas, like alien abductions and parallel universes and such.

Maybe you were just expanding on my post though.

Well, you emphasized not being judgy, so I just wanted to emphasize the other side of the coin, which is being overly tolerating.

What you say is probably the best way with most mainstream stuff, I suppose. Focusing on what resonates with me and if nothing does, then it's better to just look elsewhere.

I also recognize the point about it working both ways. If I babbled more openly about everything I have experienced, I'd be labeled by many people myself.