Spiritual Competition Is the One True Path
Spiritual competition is alive and well in the spiritual growth communities…as it should be. There truly is no better way to achieve Ultra Spiritual status than to lord that status over others and create scales of measurement so abstract no one else can comprehend them, let alone rank using them. And what’s the point in doing any sort of spiritual journeying if not to be better than everyone else?
Spiritual Competition
And what’s the point in doing any sort of spiritual journeying if not to be better than everyone else?
The absolute brilliance behind JP Sears and his alter “Ultra Spiritual” persona is the constant contradiction. His diatribes and circular verbosity dance around each other in a mental masturbatory version of Twister, just slippery enough that you can’t grab him, label him, and put him in a box. Just when you think: Wow, this guy must be so enlightened that he can poke fun at being enlightened, all while pretending to be unconcerned with being enlightened, perhaps as a means to demonstrate his superior enlightenment, he writes something like:
As you’re trying to find your way, the last thing you want is to get lost
fumbling around like an awkward teenager nervously trying
to unbutton a tight pair of pants in the backseat of a borrowed Buick.
As I sat with my top secret, pre-launch version of his book, How to Be Ultra Spiritual: 12 1/2 Steps to Spiritual Superiority, I patted myself on the back for being spiritually superior enough to have the copy to review. I then thought, how can I use my spiritually superior position to reinforce JP’s superior position, while, of course, suggesting that he may be a bit less superior than I am? I realized the best way to accomplish this was to model the review in a complementary style of writing and, also, not take a solid position so as to leave others scratching their heads, hopefully in a state of utter confusion and insecurity about their own spiritual standing, as compared to me…and JP.
The Shoulds Aboundeth
What happens when we start to breakdown positions of superiority and provide people with tools to gauge their own resonance and choose their momentary path from a place of sovereignty? Is it possible that we’re capable of seeing through the manipulation and, ultimately, fear-based tactics each of us exudes in our quest for understanding? As best as I can tell, the personal development and spiritual growth communities are filled with people possessing THE answer. What if those preaching loudest are fueled by their own desires to convince themselves that they’ve grasped and defined the undefinable? Couple that with a social media landscape that feeds fictitious, highlight-reel-type imagery and words into our purview 24/7. It’s no wonder people feel overwhelmed, insecure, and ill-equipped to handle the complexity of guidance thrown at them.
It’s no wonder people feel overwhelmed, insecure, and ill-equipped to handle the complexity of guidance thrown at them.
At the very least, JP’s book takes us on a trip through our own stored files of well-meaning sage advice. It highlights the overwhelming noise created by a self-help arena that “shoulds” all over us in an attempt to assist that falls flat, at best, and flirts with the very real danger of creating the most disconnected digitally-connected society yet.
But the brilliance is truly deeper than that. JP’s work as an emotional healing coach positioned him as a witness to the damage created by our tendency to ignore the depths within us. For anyone to assert that the path is “easy” or can be “accomplished” in 12 easy steps (12 and ½ in this case) without fail, is truly trying to sell something (or convince themselves of it).
Of course we need processes and frameworks and constructs to engage our minds as we journey deeper and deeper, but the idea that you can simply will self-mastery into existence without stumbling and hurting and having pieces of yourself ripped out to be seen, experienced, and healed just sets people up for failure. But it isn’t as easy as simply pointing fingers and blaming those perpetuating that dialogue. That is its own form of resistance. So whether people are blindly following the guru-type messaging or blindly making that messaging wrong, they still miss the point. And throughout the book, you’re never quite sure who JP’s talking to or about. He doesn’t appear to align himself with anyone, so it’s impossible to stake a claim for or against his position. He refuses to take one. In appearing to stake the bold claim that spiritual superiority can be measured (and achieved), he deftly destroys all other quantifiable methods claiming to gauge this, that, or the other ascension benchmark. It’s brilliant.
Some Assembly Required
…it seems those messages don’t carry with them the obvious disclaimer: Some assembly required.
In my work, I see a huge chasm between where people really, really want to be and where pieces or aspects of them still remain due to a resistance to getting quiet and getting real with themselves. Often this chasm is exacerbated by some spiritual or psychic awareness, a psychedelic trip or channeling or discussion with God that delivered the secrets of the universe, but it seems those messages don’t carry with them the obvious disclaimer: Some assembly required.
At one point the concept of people channeling information or talking with spirit guides or connecting with other entities delivering insight may have been unusual. Perhaps it still is in certain circles. But in many arenas it’s commonplace. This access feeds the idea that simply receiving the information is enough. Access to information, for some, creates a superiority and expectation that the universe owes them an existence here on this planet simply because they think they have the answer. What happens when we accept that each of us, all of us, have access to information and knowingness and the key that unlocks it all lies in the very depths of ourselves…but it’s a helluva a journey to get there? Well now, that’s just not very marketable.
I don’t pretend to know JPs motivation or true position for the consistent contradiction, but I appreciate it. I appreciate that he makes me uncomfortable as I filter myself, past and present, through his veiled illuminations of spiritually superior savoir faire. I appreciate observing my own mind struggle with not being able to put him in a box, darting back and forth between wanting to align with him or separate from him in alternating yoga-esque breaths. I appreciate his courage in poking fun at things I’d imagine he experienced or even perpetuated at some point in his journey. I appreciate his willingness to stand strong in the midst of a manipulation maelstrom that batters and bruises even the best of us. And I appreciate him for the spiritual warrior he is, daring to call us out on our bullshit and shortcomings, initiating the dialogue, and, ultimately, creating the space for each of us to discover for ourselves.
