spiritual bypassing
Spiritual Bypassing is a term that John Welwood coined in 1984.
I see many people who aspire to be kind and non-reactive. So far so good. But they don’t integrate the parts that get jealous, judgmental, petty, even vengeful. I guess that’s the ego for you. It’s ashamed of itself. It calls aspects of our experience “negative” and relegates these parts to what it calls the dark side. But that which resists, persists.
As good as the intentions to be “spiritual” might be, they way some people do it seems to just bring on problems. It creates an internal conflict, because people become at odds with who they are – their humanity.
So rather than shunning, I’m all for owning. As Tony Robbins says, “we are all wanting love, and we are all afraid.” The difference is whether it owns you or you own it.
So it’s about holding all sides of our experience. The part that takes things personally and the part that knows the truth. The part that’s vulnerable and wants caring, and the part that can hold it all with caring and compassion.
Which one is present and at the fore?
David Levingston
Like everyone, I have different sides. Counselor, photographer, writer, cooker of food – both spicy and plain, and seeker of truth and happiness. I have always taken an interest in the unassuming things that pass us by – both heard and seen, both ordinary and not so ordinary. They are all sacred and beautiful in some way.