The explosion of interest in spirituality, especially Eastern philosophies, has been accompanied by an immense amount of Spiritual Bypassing.
Aspects of spiritual bypassing include exaggerated detachment, numbing, repression of strong emotions, weak boundaries, enabling behaviours (masked as compassion), lack of discernment; and delusions at having arrived at a so-called ‘higher level of being’.
As such it isolates us from our full-bodied humanity.
Spiritual bypassing not only distances us from our pain, our personal challenges and difficult emotions – but also from our authentic spirituality.
It keeps us in this exaggerated state of ‘niceness’, superficiality and false positivity.
Authentic spirituality is not highly intellectualised, nor is it a psychedelic trip.
It’s a more grounded, real and embodied experience. Something that shakes us to the very core of who we are – awakening us to the simple truth of living a life that is integral, radically alive, embodied, in the moment, and full of trust.
It’s not a path that we can dabble in – here and there, when things are going well for us. It’s when life becomes the most challenging that we will find our solace in the crucible of our own unique connection with the Divine.
It is a dance of liberation – embracing the heat, the dark, the cold and the light. A deep awareness of what must be done and how we must live in any given moment.
The ‘Spiritual Bypasser’ in each of us needs our compassion, love and tolerance – without being allowed to run the show.
Becoming intimate with this aspect of self, allows us to keep it in a healthy, balanced perspective.
In outgrowing this immature aspect of ourselves, we give permission for the ‘wild one’ within us to emerge – the one that is truly free.