The Trap of Spiritual Materialism

[Universoul]

Posted by Merry Mom (here)

Posted by The Freedom Train (here)

Posted by Merry Mom (here)

Posted by The Freedom Train (here)
"How woke are you?" is a current trend.

When I first heard this phrase, I thought it meant something like how aware are you of the extremely high level of deception that is currently foisted upon citizens by the government-media-industrial complex? When I found out that most people seem to think that the "woke" question equates to "How narrowly do you follow the path of political correctness that encourages humans to be defined by their superficial physical traits?", I was quite surprised!

Blimey I didn't know that - I thought "woke" was used by millennials to describe what they perceived to be attainment of a certain level of spiritual awareness.

Now you know! I was the same way, until I heard many millennials use it in the context of criticizing people who don't agree with them about gender or race. Here's one definition from Urban Dictionary: "Woke
A state of perceived intellectual superiority one gains by reading The Huffington Post.
Ali is so woke. At brunch she explained how wearing anything other than Chuck Taylor's or Tom's is really a microaggression. Hey did you get your Amy Schumer tickets yet?"

That's a good observation about the "woke" meme. My understanding of the original post in this thread is that "spiritual materialism" describes more or less intentional uses of spirituality for egotistic reasons.

It's my opinion that the "woke" meme and similar movements represent a stagnant level of spirituality. People believing they're so right and informed that anyone criticizing them must be wrong.

The more interesting thing is that "woke" is slang for "awake", which is a word with deep potential meaning.

Just some years ago in 2012 the word "awaken" was a big thing and the deeper meanings that can be associated with it were more so reaching the masses. The problem is that for a deeper, spiritual, meaning to reach the masses it has to go through many layers. It gets diluted along the way.

So it becomes less about inner work and finding the meaning of these words like "awaken" for ourselves, changing ourselves in the process. It becomes more about finding a coveted word or label. Being part of the right "side" or movement.

That's always been a problem with spiritual messages and teachings brought into the collective. Even the deepest messages become slogans and bumper stickers. You might say the words and messages are meaningless in of themselves, they are transient carriers or lines of connection that hopefully get us in touch with a deeper source/meaning.

There are those who believe simply knowing a phrase and associating with the right group/label makes them "awake" or evolved. Anyone who's done their self work knows that to simply use a label is not the same as exploring what such a word like "awake" means to them as a sovereign being.

There's a lot to be said about the dangers of obvious false spirituality, the wealthy TV preachers and new age gurus bilking the masses are examples of that. There's also an element of stagnant spirituality we have to watch out for. The hubris of our own minds to assume we're "there" and not having done the difficult work to transform ourselves. One can be asleep while believing they're awake, ironically using their material ego to think that they're awake.

The danger in the modern world is not that there are people who believe they're awake. It's easy to think that one is awake, or evolved, or special. There's always been people who exemplify that trap and it's a test to not to become lulled. To be "spiritually" awake so the matrix can't reduce you to a label. We see this in the "alt media" which has more and more been associated with the "alt right"-something easy to itemize and dismiss by anyone looking to disregard ANY alternative media. Again, just back in 2012 the "alt media" was less political and more about the bigger picture.

So the danger is that it's so easy these days to believe that one is "woke" or so special they've attained a coveted status. Which puts the mind to sleep, because if we believe we're already "there" there's no reason for doing the difficult work.

The facsimile of truth, of spirituality, has gotten so refined that it's more difficult to avoid its trap. There's no automatic "red pill" (another hashtag) that we can take to avoid that. It requires self work, there has to be a desire to awaken not presume it.

If there's any solution to the facsimile it might be to withdraw from it as best we can and constantly push ourselves in our self work.

[Smell the Roses]

Posted by Universoul (here)
There are those who believe simply knowing a phrase and associating with the right group/label makes them "awake" or evolved. Anyone who's done their self work knows that to simply use a label is not the same as exploring what such a word like "awake" means to them as a sovereign being.

There's a lot to be said about the dangers of obvious false spirituality, the wealthy TV preachers and new age gurus bilking the masses are examples of that. There's also an element of stagnant spirituality we have to watch out for. The hubris of our own minds to assume we're "there" and not having done the difficult work to transform ourselves. One can be asleep while believing they're awake, ironically using their material ego to think that they're awake.

The danger in the modern world is not that there are people who believe they're awake. It's easy to think that one is awake, or evolved, or special. There's always been people who exemplify that trap and it's a test to not to become lulled. To be "spiritually" awake so the matrix can't reduce you to a label. We see this in the "alt media" which has more and more been associated with the "alt right"-something easy to itemize and dismiss by anyone looking to disregard ANY alternative media. Again, just back in 2012 the "alt media" was less political and more about the bigger picture.

So the danger is that it's so easy these days to believe that one is "woke" or so special they've attained a coveted status. Which puts the mind to sleep, because if we believe we're already "there" there's no reason for doing the difficult work.

The facsimile of truth, of spirituality, has gotten so refined that it's more difficult to avoid its trap. There's no automatic "red pill" (another hashtag) that we can take to avoid that. It requires self work, there has to be a desire to awaken not presume it.

If there's any solution to the facsimile it might be to withdraw from it as best we can and constantly push ourselves in our self work.

Universoul has made a valuable point here. In the so-called alternative media, for example, a person can easily be found who thinks he is “awake” merely by virtue of listening to the Alex Jones radio program. As awakening is not a binary switch but rather a process, can any person claim to be fully awake?

[Wind]

There are varying levels to awakening. Being a beliver or a conspiracy theorist doesn't necessarily make you more aware, for example people believe in things like Flat Earth theory are in fact more deluded and ignorant than the people who are "asleep". They just think that they know more, but they have bought into a false belief system.

[Universoul]

Posted by Merry Mom (here)

Posted by Universoul (here)
There are those who believe simply knowing a phrase and associating with the right group/label makes them "awake" or evolved. Anyone who's done their self work knows that to simply use a label is not the same as exploring what such a word like "awake" means to them as a sovereign being.

There's a lot to be said about the dangers of obvious false spirituality, the wealthy TV preachers and new age gurus bilking the masses are examples of that. There's also an element of stagnant spirituality we have to watch out for. The hubris of our own minds to assume we're "there" and not having done the difficult work to transform ourselves. One can be asleep while believing they're awake, ironically using their material ego to think that they're awake.

The danger in the modern world is not that there are people who believe they're awake. It's easy to think that one is awake, or evolved, or special. There's always been people who exemplify that trap and it's a test to not to become lulled. To be "spiritually" awake so the matrix can't reduce you to a label. We see this in the "alt media" which has more and more been associated with the "alt right"-something easy to itemize and dismiss by anyone looking to disregard ANY alternative media. Again, just back in 2012 the "alt media" was less political and more about the bigger picture.

So the danger is that it's so easy these days to believe that one is "woke" or so special they've attained a coveted status. Which puts the mind to sleep, because if we believe we're already "there" there's no reason for doing the difficult work.

The facsimile of truth, of spirituality, has gotten so refined that it's more difficult to avoid its trap. There's no automatic "red pill" (another hashtag) that we can take to avoid that. It requires self work, there has to be a desire to awaken not presume it.

If there's any solution to the facsimile it might be to withdraw from it as best we can and constantly push ourselves in our self work.

Universoul has made a valuable point here. In the so-called alternative media, for example, a person can easily be found who thinks he is “awake” merely by virtue of listening to the Alex Jones radio program. As awakening is not a binary switch but rather a process, can any person claim to be fully awake?

Thank you, the ego mind is a tricky thing. How do we ever know if we're awake? Thus the ongoing work...

It's interesting you brought up Alex Jones because there are certain elements in the alt media that become traps in of themselves. Then again for some people Alex Jones is a stepping stone, they spend some time on him then move on. It does however seem that people are more willing to be galvanized into one of those steps these days rather than continue to grow. Maybe the manipulation in our world is so strong that some people can't help it.

It's almost as if humanity is being regressed and reduced to a primitive and reactionary state (left vs. right, constant petty fighting over false divisions).

Posted by Wind (here)
There are varying levels to awakening. Being a beliver or a conspiracy theorist doesn't necessarily make you more aware, for example people believe in things like Flat Earth theory are in fact more deluded and ignorant than the people who are "asleep". They just think that they know more, but they have bought into a false belief system.

That's a good point. They're often the people who shout the loudest.

Flat Earth is also interesting because a flat Earth is a more 2D model. Flat Earthers look like they're connecting with or regressing to some 2D aspect of consciousness and projecting that on the 3D world. Where as we ought to be pushing ourselves to look at the world, and ourselves, in more nuanced and complex ways.

To connect this to the first post in this thread, and not get too off topic, maybe I've described the second and third traps in my own way. Perhaps there's an overriding message to it all-there's no one dimensional answer/path/system that is absolute. We have to constantly test ourselves so we don't fall into that trap.

[Smell the Roses]

For sure, I have fallen into the second and third traps at different times. Then, when you do attempt to leave all of that behind, there can be a feeling of being rootless. I have tried to avoid what is mentioned here in the OP article about the appropriating of other cultures, by seeking the truth of Christianity. But then it can be very difficult to relate to other Christians, who are there for different reasons. I suppose it is inevitable that one feels somewhat alone if one refuses to adhere to the rock solid tenets of any one particular group. For example, I tried hanging out with the Trump fanatics in my town. But as soon as I would talk about how and why I actually didn’t vote for Trump (or anyone), they would give me a blank look and move on. They didn’t really want to explore the things we did have in common, since I wasn’t able to mark all of the boxes of being a “true Patriot”. But it was fun for a while, and my kids got to go to a nice barbecue one time!

[Universoul]

Posted by Merry Mom (here)
For sure, I have fallen into the second and third traps at different times. Then, when you do attempt to leave all of that behind, there can be a feeling of being rootless. I have tried to avoid what is mentioned here in the OP article about the appropriating of other cultures, by seeking the truth of Christianity. But then it can be very difficult to relate to other Christians, who are there for different reasons. I suppose it is inevitable that one feels somewhat alone if one refuses to adhere to the rock solid tenets of any one particular group. For example, I tried hanging out with the Trump fanatics in my town. But as soon as I would talk about how and why I actually didn’t vote for Trump (or anyone), they would give me a blank look and move on. They didn’t really want to explore the things we did have in common, since I wasn’t able to mark all of the boxes of being a “true Patriot”. But it was fun for a while, and my kids got to go to a nice barbecue one time!

That's sad people shut each other out because all the boxes aren't checked. They do worse in some social movements, they ostracize you for not being in perfect conformity. People can be black and white with their thinking. It's like the ego has gone wild in some people. Ego loves conflict. Ego loves to fixate on differences and see itself as under attack so it can attack and feel real/validated. We really do all have more in common than we realize though. That said, barbecue is always good haha

As for feeling rootless, elements of truth can be found in almost anything. Those elements are unseen yet have substance to our intuitions. So like if someone was raised religious and rejects it later on, they can always go back from a different perspective in their self and discover the truths/knowledge in that religion free of the dogma.

It can be a lonely journey to detach from a static and stagnant facsimile fabricated from living truth. A detachment from that puts us at odds with our fellow human beings. Just because we have cell phones and technology doesn't mean our monkey brains have evolved. Tribalism, group think, and peer pressure are still big forces in our collective sphere.

I've found the more we get in touch with our intuitions, seek the truth in all things, the less lonely the journey gets. It seems that we're meant to do that inner work and alleviate some of our loneliness with it, with connection to our "higher" selves or whatever one might call it. Go through our stages of detachment from the false and the tribe so we can look at the world with a different perspective. Help others when called for but also laugh it off when they're so stuck they can't get over you questioning their sacred cow.

It's mad out there these days but I think if everyone just paused for a moment we might all realize how wonderfully complex life is, and how much we have in common. The greatest addiction is the ego's desire for drama and conflict though. These days many people want to see themselves as the "little guy" and persecuted by the other "side". Yeah there are negative forces and plans at work in the world but a lot of the conflict is us acting like toddlers banging pots together and thinking we're making music. We have to put those ornery pots down and take a deep, pausing, breath before we can begin to get in touch with the real music of our own selves and the beautiful world we live in.

I'd go as far to say that ego is not a complete enemy. The problem is more how it is easily taken from us/externalized and used against us. As are many aspects of us-twisted and revved up in negative ways, and used against us.

I'm kind of going on a tangent and getting off topic though so I'll just say may we all continue to awaken.

[O Donna]

What is often thought of as being awake can be itself a hindrance to that which was sought to begin with.

That's why one experience in a spiritual journey feels much like running track.



Not that it doesn't have its charm mind you.

[DeDukshyn]

Posted by O Donna (here)
What is often thought of as being awake can be itself a hindrance to that which was sought to begin with.

That's why one experience in a spiritual journey feels much like running track.



Not that it doesn't have its charm mind you.

I'm going to say that unless one knows exactly what they are, I mean really know what exactly they are beyond the current experience, one are not really fully awake. So who is really awake? (its rhetorical, very few are really fully awake in the spiritual sense - the only way to know exactly what you are is to stop being who you are - tricky double edged sword there, eh? ) It is also not enough to know about being awake, you have live it daily, and base your every thought, word and action around it. Book smarts are great to get you started, but reality is in the experience.

How do we classify the lead up to acquiring this intimate self knowledge ... as degrees of "awakeness"? Or, degrees of being asleep? Because this is really what we are referring to here ...

Or do we take the term in context while keeping in mind the degrees that a person can go through while trying to ascertain that wakened state?

[Valerie Villars]

Yep, that dog is me rehashing my inexplicable experience until I got back down to the business of living, but always with a mind that is still curious.

Except I wasn't trying to experience. It was a big ole surprise that almost killed me. But, it didn't. Ha,ha,ha, take that you m(*therfu*&ers!

[O Donna]

Posted by DeDukshyn (here)


I'm going to say that unless one knows exactly what they are, I mean really know what exactly they are beyond the current experience, one are not really fully awake. So who is really awake? (its rhetorical, very few are really fully awake in the spiritual sense - the only way to know exactly what you are is to stop being who you are - tricky double edged sword there, eh? ) It is also not enough to know about being awake, you have live it daily, and base your every thought, word and action around it. Book smarts are great to get you started, but reality is in the experience.

How do we classify the lead up to acquiring this intimate self knowledge ... as degrees of "awakeness"? Or, degrees of being asleep? Because this is really what we are referring to here ...

Or do we take the term in context while keeping in mind the degrees that a person can go through while trying to ascertain that wakened state?

Yes, any and all spiritually minded writings no matter how carefully they are written or explained can me misinterpreted.

Posted by Valerie Villars (here)
Yep, that dog is me rehashing my inexplicable experience until I got back down to the business of living, but always with a mind that is still curious.

Except I wasn't trying to experience. It was a big ole surprise that almost killed me. But, it didn't. Ha,ha,ha, take that you m(*therfu*&ers!

I know where you're coming from, Valerie Villars.

[Elpis]

My spirituality is fluid. It’s always changing, always growing and hopefully moving forward. I think of it as constantly evolving to a better state of understanding and consciousness.
I suppose that does mean I am “picking a little of this and a little of that” and choosing as I go to what feels right for me at the time. I choose to keep an open mind. There is so very much to be learned and experienced.

I don’t want to be put in any one particular sand trap.