This Is A Moment We Practice For
on reclaiming responsibility and staying grounded in our practice
The term Spiritual Bypassing was coined by American Psychologist & Buddhist teacher John Welwood in the early 1980’s and his definition was:
“the tendency to use (exploit) spiritual practices, ideas, and teachings to avoid dealing with unresolved personal issues (attachment wounds).”
Philosopher & Teacher Charles Eisenstein recently wrote an essay about Political Bypassing, inviting us to consider the ways we may also use (exploit) political rhetoric to avoid dealing with unresolved personal issues (attachment wounds).
I want to take this a step further and ask us to consider how we might use political and spiritual rhetoric not only to avoid healing personal issues, but also as a tool to control other bodies or groups of bodies.
This can happen in nuanced ways including through our interpersonal relationships, social contracts, performances on social media, as well as in the ways in which indigenous teachings are exploited for profit in the West.
During this election (although the phenomena is not new) we witnessed the cultural normalization of Narcissism as re-defined by Social Worker April Dawn Harter out of Denver, Colorado. Harter re-defines Narcissism as an addiction to violence. An addiction to controlling other bodies to get our attachment needs (wounds) met.
In Yogic terms we consider this a foundation of Ahimsa or Non-Violence. Violence can be perpetrated in subtle ways. As students of Yogic teachings we choose to reflect deeply on the ways in which we too, perpetrate small acts of harm and we actively resist the urge to compulsively do so.
So this is a moment we practice for, because we are witnessing the results of the normalization of this kind of violence in our families, spiritual communities, and systems. My advice is to stay in your practice. Stay in your Sadhana. Not as an escape, but as a place to go to hold the suffering all around you. Feel it fully and let it work on you. Let it motivate you to be the change you wish to see and feel in your life. I think the Yoga practitioner’s task is to be courageous enough to feel it all, transform our own suffering, and have faith that the hard work will ripple out into our world. It is one thing we know we can do.