Spiritual Materialism

From my travels on the wisdom path, I perceive that millions of people are practicing what is known as "Spiritual Materialism." Before I discuss why "Spiritual Materialism" is so pervasive on our planet, I want to explain what it is. For this blog, I take the understandings of "Spiritual Materialism"(a state that I have fallen into at times) from a great article from Luna & Sol, specifically Aletheia in Lonerwolf.com

So, what is "Spiritual Materialism"? "Spiritual Materialism" is what happens when we use spiritual concepts, practices and tools to reinforce, to bolster our sense of ourselves which is our ego thereby becoming egocentric. We use spirituality to puff ourselves up to make ourselves feel better than others, more important than others and greater than others. 

Some examples of ''Spiritual Materialism" are owning and indirectly claiming we have a special status due to certain gifts like being a psychic, a guru, spiritual master which reinforces the separate sense of self or ego identification. We also buy into the so-called spiritual marketplace where we chase after endless workshops, techniques and trinkets that all promise to make us wiser, more intuitive or a more spiritual person. Here's a big one: practicing meditation with the hidden agenda of trying to avoid suffering by becoming peaceful and detached all the time and trying to bypass the realities of living with our shadow side and avoiding it. Another sign of "Spiritual Materialism" is to use the law of attraction to try and attract all your desires rather than being grateful for what you already have.

While "Spiritual Materialism" is hard to overcome, it is not impossible when we learn how to have what I call confident humility which is a state of trusting the field of infinite possibilities instead of obsessing over what we want over and over again confusing the Universe because it is always giving us what we need...always! Yes, give your intent to the Universe of what you want and then let it go, forget it and let the Universe take over providing you what you want and need in it's own, ineffable, non-linear way. 

I intuit that why we fall into "Spiritual Materialism" is because it is hard for our egos to process the Universe's non-linear aspects. The ego cannot wrap its head around the non-ordinary which is what the Universe is. It is beyond the ordinary. In getting what we want and need, we must remain intuitive rather than logical or egoic. You can believe in God, Jesus, Muhammad or Buddha but don't forget to tie the camel to the post, that is, don't forget to do your part in being real with yourself on the physical level and stop thinking you are better than others because you believe in one of the above beings or masters and think you're more special than others. You are not better than anyone else no matter the religion or spirituality you practice. There is no such thing as the "one true religion or spirituality." There are many roads or paths for connecting with Spirit/God.

Trusting that we are the trust-fund babies of the Universe is the key. 

For more lessons from the wisdom path, listen to my podcasts at https://feeds.captivate.fm/step-onto-your-own-wisd/