Spiritual Bypass

“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”
-Carl Jung

Last week, I completed five days of presenting some of the spiritual practices we utilize in this teaching. It was a good reminder to me that I deeply believe this approach to the experience of life has value and works to establish a new way of being.

There is something that needs to be addressed, though, and it is this: avoidance. Using spiritual principles and practices to avoid the experiences we would rather not face can become problematic. It’s called spiritual bypassing. The value of the deeply embodied utilization of spiritual practice (that is, not just giving it lip service) is that it can support us through the darker times we may experience in life. To simply say, “all is well, and life is good,” is more detrimental than feeling the wellness in our heart and soul.

I trust you will never hear me say anything about “deflecting negative energy” or “only letting in positive vibes.” To think that is possible is simplistic. The very concept is impossible and unrealistic. Here’s why… we are having an experience in the world. To set up an expectation that we will never face negativity is just plain wrong.

So what is the point of spiritual practice? I say all the time that through practical application of spiritual tools my life has gotten better. Doesn’t that sound like prayer, and meditation, and affirmations have worked to abolish negativity? Perhaps that is how it can be interpreted, but it is not the case. What spiritual practice has done is address the tendency in my thought which allows me to go to a place of overwhelm when negativity appears in my life. Spiritual practices have given me a way to contextualize the negativity so that I do not become overrun with those feelings.

The negative feelings, emotions, and experiences can be our greatest teachers. Through spiritual practice the lessons can be learned constructively rather than destructively.

Another aspect of challenge with the tendency to engage in spiritual bypass is the desire to think others should “just be positive.” This is especially dangerous for anyone who is experiencing mental illness. It perpetuates a stigma around true issues of mental health. If we falsely provide a narrative where we think that someone experiencing clinical depression can improve their condition by just focusing on the positive we can actually perpetuate the opposite. I am not a clinician, and I know that my personal experiences with depression have not been helped by this type of rhetoric. In fact, in the past, before I knew the power I had within, it would perpetuate the feelings within me that I was broken.

The best we can do as practitioners of new thought is to be a beacon. The beacon is illuminated by the light of divinity within. As a beacon it is one truth we are illuminating: everyone of us IS God. God, as us, has experiences and feelings that are negative… but that doesn’t mean they need to be destructive. We are never denying the feelings in spiritual practice, what we seek to do is provide a constructive method for moving through the feelings, learning what we need to learn, and creating a context for expansive growth.

You have value to this world just as you are. All the aspects of your being and experience provide value. You are a magnificent and whole expression of life, and when I look upon your face I see only the face of God.

That is my truth.