On Spirituality by Jeff Foster
ON ABUSE AND "SPIRITUALITY"
"You attracted it because you desired it".
"If you think there's a problem with another's words or actions,
YOU are the one who's confused".
"Everything is just your projection. Everything is in your mind".
"Clear up your vibration and you'll stop attracting bad things to yourself".
"You are too attached to the body. Go beyond the body. It's not who you are."
"If you have doubts, fears, resistance, pain, anger, then you must be in your ego and totally unenlightened".
"The past is an illusion. Let it go right now!".
Ugh. I'm so tired of all this New Age spiritual bullshit.
I'm tired of ANY spirituality that doesn't fully honour
our messy, unresolvable, first-hand, real-time, embodied human experience.
That doesn't bow deeply to the struggle of our raw and tender hearts.
That guilt-trips us for our imperfections and shames our limitations.
No, it's not always your projection.
Yes, sometimes other people really ARE abusive and need to be stopped.
No, everything isn't always "in your mind".
Yes, your body matters. Your feelings too.
No, your doubts and fears are not 'wrong' or 'bad' or 'unevolved'.
No, you do not 'attract' abuse through a faulty 'vibrational frequency'.
No, you do not deserve to be violated in any way, in the name of Truth, in the name of God, in the name of Love, or IN ANY OTHER NAME.
Yes, your boundaries deserve to be respected, your 'yes' AND your 'no' too.
No, it's not okay for spiritual teachers to abuse people "for their own good"
- to shock them into awakening, to enlighten them, to help them drop their "ego".
Teachers that use abuse as a tool are simply abusers, not teachers.
I reject any spirituality that dismisses our tender, vulnerable, fragile humanity.
I reject any spirituality that shames us for our precious human thoughts and feelings.
I reject any spirituality that begins any sentence with "If you were enlightened..."
I reject any spirituality that divides self from no self, divine from human, sacred from profane, absolute from relative, heaven from earth, duality from nonduality, material from spiritual.
I once saw a popular spiritual teacher addressing a recently bereaved woman.
He said, "Your heartbreak is illusory and only the activity of the separate self.
One day the separate self will vanish, along with all suffering".
And in that moment, I saw a deep, deep sickness and inhumanity at the heart of contemporary spirituality. The invalidation of trauma, the false promises, the power games, the suppression of the feminine.
And I vowed to bow to that fucking broken heart as if it were God Herself.
Until the end of time.
- Jeff Foster
6
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9 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Spirituality as a thing is 100% bullshit just like alleged gawds and the alleged magic of prEyers.....true spirit is a mature memory of learning in nature .... learning songbird harmonies while the bird is mating or nesting ..... learning the gifts of sunlight manufacturing vitamin D with our skin .... learning navigation from stars and travel wisdom....learning moon month cycles affecting fluid levels of earth and endocrinology.... learning inherited instincts and talents from our forebears .....spirit is thought in dreams and wondering....no spirits come from cultists or hucksters selling stupidity .... spirit is treasured wisdom not beliefs not revelations not dogmas not chants ...spirit is a glass of wine or tea or incense drawing our attention to a meal or relaxation routine or celebration of our traditions....team spirit is a cheer a beer or hearing of shared accomplisments... a child's spirit is curious eager playful and learning FUCK RELIGION fuck the preachers and quacks that brutalize us from birth onward
Larry68Feminist
Level 7
Aug 8, 2020
0
I think there is much of value in New Age thought. It's just that, like any creed or new style of thinking, most of the time it is bandied about by numbskulls. And these numbskulls get a high thinking they're on to something great. It is unfortunate that they, then, turn off a good thinker when there may have been some value.
think-beyond
Level 7
Aug 6, 2020
1
Oh NO in the name of god. What's going on? I missed agnostic.com I thought I found my safe place after I left my family's religion.
Cecilia2018
Level 7
Aug 6, 2020
0
I like so many phrases in this poem but perhaps this is the best
"ANY spirituality that doesn't fully honour
our messy, unresolvable, first-hand, real-time, embodied human experience."
In my opinion (IMO) the word spirituality comes from the word spirit and that word was divised when an unknown cause of a "bump in the night" began to be feared . Spirit, spirituality , soul holy ghost are all about the unkown and in my view unknowable. Only when we understand completely what is going on in the brain will we ever know it has any call to be "true" and followable by rational people.
Mcflewster
Level 8
Aug 6, 2020
0
It’s all cause and effect with no magical remote controls of any kind at all.
Kids dying of Covid did not “attract” it due to projection, utter hog wash.
Shame on you for spreading such stupid concepts that can only lead to blaming unfortunate people for the circumstances they’re in when they have no control of it at all. It also enhances the privileged to think the money they inherited is proof that they’re intrinsically worthy. This leads to the abuses and frustrations associated with white privilege.
Everyone is doing the best they can under THEIR circumstances and with their coping skills.
Maybe now you’ll see the harm your magic thinking causes, but somehow I doubt you’ll understand.
Willow_Wisp
Level 8
Aug 6, 2020
2
@Allamanda I figured it out later but to lazy to fix it.
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