Spiritual bypassing
The human growth movement in crisis.
The gaping maw of human depravity is now available for us all to review in the Epstein files. The reflex flinch to turn away is strong. Unfortunately, that is not an option. The time has come for justice, to excoriate the members of the political and business elite who participated.
The scale of moral failing is staggering. But it doesn’t end with those groups, because many of the celebrities of the human growth movement are also involved.
It’s one thing to peel back a layer on politicians. Same with the ultra wealthy. You found corruption? Big surprise.
It’s another to discover that the leaders of a movement rooted in ethical behavior are part of the miasma. High profile leaders, those most closely associated with elevating human consciousness, are crashing and burning in their own illusions.
Deepak Chopra is now the poster boy for how to be a disingenuous New Age huckster. Reading from a former acolyte about the devastating revelations that he discovered in the Epstein files is a reminder to all of us of the dangers of our allegiances.
But Deepak is not an outlier. There are others involved. Many others.
“If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” Linji Yixuan
“Don’t follow leaders. Watch your parking meters. Bob Dylan
In reading several other writers on Substack discussing this issue, I learned a key phrase: “spiritual bypassing”. Originally referring to the technique of avoiding difficult or painful, psychological issues through spiritual platitudes, it now accurately describes what’s happening here.
We are capable of oceanic self delusion.
The common element between all parties who are part of this shadowy sleaze (and it’s far from limited to the Epstein situation) is the hunger for power and the isolation of obscene wealth.
Once achieved, the privilege of invisibility obtains and actions which would normally fall outside the pale become allowable.
Speaking personally, I’m not sure I would be able to resist the enveloping sense of entitlement that these acquisitions of power would provide. It’s the eternal blindspot of human nature that the power dynamic creates. Normal rules no longer apply. That might have something to do with Jesus’s warning about the eye of the needle regarding the rich man.
And while we’re on the subject, the myth of “The Ring of Gyges” is also fit for review here. We all must consider the consequences of wearing a magic ring that makes us invisible.
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Other reading:
The Ring of Gyges
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Gyges
Lissa Rankin
“Blowing the whistle on Deepak Chopra”
and Daniel Pinchbeck
“The New Age Is Dead”
Since the current administration specializes in lying and disinformation, it’s easy to imagine that the unreleased 3 million files will reveal corruption on a scale beyond our wildest imagination!