A few thoughts: I'm noticing, out there in spiritual circles, the increased popularity of the ascension and 5D narratives, and, to your point, I think those narratives are easily misused. The term "the minimally unfree" is brilliant. I'm a lot less worried about what's considered extractions from religion since religion has its true root in animistic witness, awe, and relationship that was then extracted from and codified in the development of religions, religions that have a history of trivializing, oppressing, and, yes, extracting from animistic cultural viewpoints and practices. I am of Black Caribbean heritage and grew up in the Roman Catholic church. I left that church as soon as I was of age, and I identify today as an animist. Concerning some of Klein's revealing statements, you know, from our previous exchange, that I agree with you, but I think, realistically, we're also going to need to have compassion and make space for people (minimally unfree or not) who do need to tend to that inner healing before they can face what, to this somewhat naive nation, has landed as an unprecedented onslaught of toxicity. Trumpism is death dealing, here in the US and around the world. I'm mindful that not everyone's informed and prepared and that unhealed trauma is buried in a lot of psyches and bodies in this nation. So, when people tend to self-care, they might have a legitimate reason to take the time to do so, and all the urgency we're citing (and dealing with) might do nothing more than push these people further into their corners. I'm old enough to have seen several waves of progressive political activism in this country, and I've seen the effects that instability (physical and psychological), neglect of self-care, toxic relationship with others, and burnout can have on the individual and on groups. We need everything we have to strengthen ourselves for the struggle, and a lot of these struggles are, yes, internal.
Hi Eva--always good to be in conversation with you! What you say is interesting to me, and traces a bit my an evolution of my own thinking about this. My positionality is quite different than yours (white, cis, "none", part of "elite" higher ed) so I began being really concerned about the forms of structural injustice that enabled and are reinforced by forms of religious appropriation. My journey through that (at times very personal as I came to see the role of white supremacy, for example, in the way I "consumed" religion) was the focus on my last book, STEALING MY RELIGION. That was very much a "yuck your yum" sort of book, a piece of cultural criticism. But as you rightly say, the goal can never be "return" to some original/pure/authentic form of religious practice...that isn't how religion works. It is constantly changing. So my new work is actually focused more on retrieving some of what was erased at other particular religious moments (often because of forces like Protestantism or the Enlightenment) that are useful for today.....so less "stop meditating" and more "could meditation work differently for you if you understood how it was developed/used/framed in religious communities?"
This makes a lot of sense to me. My own spirituality is largely rooted in 12 step recovery in which service and unity form a triangle with one’s personal recovery and spiritual growth. At the end of the day my spirituality has to be about service to others.
I sense that this patterning is also aligned with or is a condition of neoliberal political economy. That there is a hidden desire to maintain the status quo even while recognizing that it is harmful to oneself and others.
Love this! In my experience the problem of spiritual bypassing can also be very prevalent/perpetuated inside religious institutions, and I think that’s important to note. I come from an LDS background, and I would say spiritual bypassing is a key component of active LDS faith — respectability politics is everything and being of “one mind” is the goal (dissent is also actively discouraged and even punished). I learned spiritual bypassing and learned helplessness there, because staying in line and obeying leaders was how I stayed “in good standing.” In the same ways privileged people can extract spiritual practices to stay safe outside of religion, I was doing that to stay safe inside of religion.
I’d argue the messiness of some institutions is more harmful than individuals (because it can perpetuate so much more harm at scale than any individual can).
I'm so glad Spiritual Bypassing was named as that's what I thought when I read your first piece via Rebecca Solnit. I took an entire class by Lissa Rankin on Spiritual Bypassing and how it intersects with social justice/patriarchy/racism/religion/capitalism and co-opting traditions in a way that lacks respect. She left Hay House when the white-women-of-wellness dust up hit that publisher. I left the 'spiritual' scene in my nor cal coastal town years ago because folks were so indulgent and selfish in their pursuits. Raised as a social justice catholic, I couldn't (and shouldn't) find solace in just getting high/clear for my own sake. I was taught the Tonglen practice by my Hakomi therapist long ago which is opposite of the new age breathe in light, breathe out pain/dark. It intersects with some other writing from long ago John Welwood about how the heart is a chamber of transformation and we can use it as such. As for spiritual bypassing being a luxury, it's also a great tool to keep black/brown christians holding on amidst their oppression because the promised land awaits. I'm just a visitor here today and appreciate the chance to pop in.
I agree with your overall description of spiritual bypassing vs authentic spirituality. A genuine spiritual path brings one closer to reality, which is raw and real and inherently interdependent. However, some of your examples seem clunky to me. For one, I think you are conflating spiritual bypassing with white privilege. In his podcast with Coates, Ezra barely mentions spirituality--his quote of a Buddhist contemplation was not about mindfulness, it was about remembering death and asking the question "how then shall I live?" In other words, he was literally pointing toward ethics. When he notes that he wants to live in peacetime, he's not referencing spirituality at all. I actually think Klein was really clumsy in both his op-ed and his conversation with Coates, and that he was practicing severe cerebral bypassing and white privilege. I just don't think he was invoking spirituality to the degree that you seem to.
One more: you are critical of mindfulness programs in inner-city schools. While I get the point that such work is not addressing the roots of oppression in those schools, neither is almost any of the other work that happens in those schools. I say this with great respect for the people who are courageous enough to try to help by working within those broken systems. On the inside, the kids and the staff are generally overwhelmed. The idea that helping some of them to have a few calm breaths, to learn some tools for staying grounded in the midst of their challenges, is going to make them into placid and pliable tools for the oppressors is both greatly overestimating the effects of mindfulness and greatly underestimating how hard it is to do literally anything useful in those institutions. Also, if you go into a public school and successfully run a mindfulness class, guaranteed you are not a love and light type. That takes serious courage and skill.
Astute observation. And how about the granddaddy of all bypassing…”thoughts and prayers” rolled out after each and every mass school shooting? We know what needs to be done yet hide behind praying for guidance or divine intervention. To me, that’s worse than any avoidant meditator.
I met a Buddhist teacher who described her reason to begin meditation as replacing addiction to drugs with addiction to pursuing bliss states (jhanas.) She developed enough wisdom in the jhana states to understand her addiction and move beyond it. To me, this is an example of spiritual bypassing that resulted in spiritual attainment.
I love this post. I work at a large university when, in the midst of a genocide, a wellness person visited a staff meeting to have the faculty do deep breathing - in one nostril, out the mouth, the other nostril, etc. - she was a yoga instructor. She asked what was stressing people…when I said “The genocide in Gaza,” she acknowledged me and went on to the other stressors — juggling picking up kids after work, not getting enough exercise, etc. That’s when I began to disengage from my workplace, a university where we should have difficult conversations and engage in critical thinking rather than deep breathing.
Ugh. The way our institutions like that can solve worker stress and anxiety with a one-off pranayama session.....this is EXACTLY the dynamic of the Floyd yoga class. Thanks for sharing! It is a great illustration.
As a multi decade meditator, you highlight a real risk. Often led by teachers of shallow depth. It’s easier to sell “chill” than the true angst if wrestling with difficult emotions. And when people do get a first taste of inner calm, they want more or it. But the way to get more is not to wall yourself off, but to integrate the attentional skills you are building into the messiness of everyday life.
Brilliant and timely! Thank you! As a former evangelical and a longtime yoga student and teacher, I’ve seen the desire to bypass in myself and others. It’s deeply engrained in pray-it-away /sit-with-it-to-change -it culture. It’s so subtle, the way this conditioning works, and remaining engaged and involved requires honest self inquiry and deeply wakeful practices as well as presence with community. It takes a lot of accountability, strength and resilience - the opposite of the fragility many of us carry - to bear witness and be in the middle of the mess… essays like this are helpful to keep us awake and to inspire. Thank you again!
I found this piece interesting. It made me think of the origins of ‘self-care’ and how it was meant to be a practice to help take care of oneself in ways that keep the activist at the ready for community-level intervention. This is not what we think of when someone says “self-care.” We think of the whitewashed, ego-centric pretty acts like massages, wellness retreats, bubble baths, etc. white people love to co-opt things from other cultures and make it their own and then claim the credit for it. As a mental health practitioner, I see this in many treatment modalities. I think this is a similar comparison to the main point of your piece. I think it is also prevalent in mental health treatment. There is a lot of validation but not a lot of challenging. We have shifted to wanting people to feel comfy and cozy where they are but struggling to help them move through discomfort to find a more helpful and realistic way of seeing things.
Thanks for your comment Heather...I think some of the readings I rec on my substack today will be of interest to you, given what you wrote hear....especially the book MIND CURE if you like to know some of this history
I'm struck by this quote; Welwood was “always amazed by the fact that although these individuals may have practiced sophisticated spiritual practices, they often did not practice self-love.”
Or put differently, people can be completely tone deaf to their own self hate.
Jung says to love someone else is easy, but to love what you are is the most difficult, but also the most important thing.
It seems important (for me anyway) to remain engaged with the collective drama and struggle of humanity while at the time engage with the practice of "self love" but it may be too much to ask of HR wellness programs and "meditation as therapy".
Thanks for your work here, it's really good reading.
I think there is a flavor of “spiritual bypassing” that results from people wanting to engage with a religious tradition for all the right reasons, but don’t necessarily want to endorse the dogma or institution. This is very common among “cafeteria Catholics” like me— interested in helping address injustice but rightfully uncomfortable with the institution’s many shortcomings. We may like our saints and Advent wreaths . . . but also occasionally storm out of Mass with indignation over something the priest says. 😀
I see this dynamic but wonder if its not quite bypassing....it is something though, mayeb part of the trend of wanting the benefits of religion without all the devotion, rules, metaphysics. I mean we CALL that spirituality, but in your case the addition of social justice makes it something different. I think that is what I'm trying to explore in this Substack....how can we take more of the religious insights seriously w/o having to become "churched." Thanks for you comment....I hope you will continue to follow the conversation.
A few thoughts: I'm noticing, out there in spiritual circles, the increased popularity of the ascension and 5D narratives, and, to your point, I think those narratives are easily misused. The term "the minimally unfree" is brilliant. I'm a lot less worried about what's considered extractions from religion since religion has its true root in animistic witness, awe, and relationship that was then extracted from and codified in the development of religions, religions that have a history of trivializing, oppressing, and, yes, extracting from animistic cultural viewpoints and practices. I am of Black Caribbean heritage and grew up in the Roman Catholic church. I left that church as soon as I was of age, and I identify today as an animist. Concerning some of Klein's revealing statements, you know, from our previous exchange, that I agree with you, but I think, realistically, we're also going to need to have compassion and make space for people (minimally unfree or not) who do need to tend to that inner healing before they can face what, to this somewhat naive nation, has landed as an unprecedented onslaught of toxicity. Trumpism is death dealing, here in the US and around the world. I'm mindful that not everyone's informed and prepared and that unhealed trauma is buried in a lot of psyches and bodies in this nation. So, when people tend to self-care, they might have a legitimate reason to take the time to do so, and all the urgency we're citing (and dealing with) might do nothing more than push these people further into their corners. I'm old enough to have seen several waves of progressive political activism in this country, and I've seen the effects that instability (physical and psychological), neglect of self-care, toxic relationship with others, and burnout can have on the individual and on groups. We need everything we have to strengthen ourselves for the struggle, and a lot of these struggles are, yes, internal.
Hi Eva--always good to be in conversation with you! What you say is interesting to me, and traces a bit my an evolution of my own thinking about this. My positionality is quite different than yours (white, cis, "none", part of "elite" higher ed) so I began being really concerned about the forms of structural injustice that enabled and are reinforced by forms of religious appropriation. My journey through that (at times very personal as I came to see the role of white supremacy, for example, in the way I "consumed" religion) was the focus on my last book, STEALING MY RELIGION. That was very much a "yuck your yum" sort of book, a piece of cultural criticism. But as you rightly say, the goal can never be "return" to some original/pure/authentic form of religious practice...that isn't how religion works. It is constantly changing. So my new work is actually focused more on retrieving some of what was erased at other particular religious moments (often because of forces like Protestantism or the Enlightenment) that are useful for today.....so less "stop meditating" and more "could meditation work differently for you if you understood how it was developed/used/framed in religious communities?"
Liz, you’re making a significant contribution through your scholarship and analysis. Thank you.
Bypassing "...It’s attractive to HR departments trying to keep workers just calm enough to be productive."
That's some top-shelf cynicism... and I like it!
I mean there is a reason corporate mindfulness program took off!
This makes a lot of sense to me. My own spirituality is largely rooted in 12 step recovery in which service and unity form a triangle with one’s personal recovery and spiritual growth. At the end of the day my spirituality has to be about service to others.
I sense that this patterning is also aligned with or is a condition of neoliberal political economy. That there is a hidden desire to maintain the status quo even while recognizing that it is harmful to oneself and others.
I have been thinking a lot about 12 step programs as well! Future post on this for sure….
Nice 👍
Love this! In my experience the problem of spiritual bypassing can also be very prevalent/perpetuated inside religious institutions, and I think that’s important to note. I come from an LDS background, and I would say spiritual bypassing is a key component of active LDS faith — respectability politics is everything and being of “one mind” is the goal (dissent is also actively discouraged and even punished). I learned spiritual bypassing and learned helplessness there, because staying in line and obeying leaders was how I stayed “in good standing.” In the same ways privileged people can extract spiritual practices to stay safe outside of religion, I was doing that to stay safe inside of religion.
I’d argue the messiness of some institutions is more harmful than individuals (because it can perpetuate so much more harm at scale than any individual can).
Just offering a “yes, and” perspective.
Thanks for sharing your experience here! An interesting extension of the conversation....
I'm so glad Spiritual Bypassing was named as that's what I thought when I read your first piece via Rebecca Solnit. I took an entire class by Lissa Rankin on Spiritual Bypassing and how it intersects with social justice/patriarchy/racism/religion/capitalism and co-opting traditions in a way that lacks respect. She left Hay House when the white-women-of-wellness dust up hit that publisher. I left the 'spiritual' scene in my nor cal coastal town years ago because folks were so indulgent and selfish in their pursuits. Raised as a social justice catholic, I couldn't (and shouldn't) find solace in just getting high/clear for my own sake. I was taught the Tonglen practice by my Hakomi therapist long ago which is opposite of the new age breathe in light, breathe out pain/dark. It intersects with some other writing from long ago John Welwood about how the heart is a chamber of transformation and we can use it as such. As for spiritual bypassing being a luxury, it's also a great tool to keep black/brown christians holding on amidst their oppression because the promised land awaits. I'm just a visitor here today and appreciate the chance to pop in.
I'm going to message you about this course ASAP!
I agree with your overall description of spiritual bypassing vs authentic spirituality. A genuine spiritual path brings one closer to reality, which is raw and real and inherently interdependent. However, some of your examples seem clunky to me. For one, I think you are conflating spiritual bypassing with white privilege. In his podcast with Coates, Ezra barely mentions spirituality--his quote of a Buddhist contemplation was not about mindfulness, it was about remembering death and asking the question "how then shall I live?" In other words, he was literally pointing toward ethics. When he notes that he wants to live in peacetime, he's not referencing spirituality at all. I actually think Klein was really clumsy in both his op-ed and his conversation with Coates, and that he was practicing severe cerebral bypassing and white privilege. I just don't think he was invoking spirituality to the degree that you seem to.
One more: you are critical of mindfulness programs in inner-city schools. While I get the point that such work is not addressing the roots of oppression in those schools, neither is almost any of the other work that happens in those schools. I say this with great respect for the people who are courageous enough to try to help by working within those broken systems. On the inside, the kids and the staff are generally overwhelmed. The idea that helping some of them to have a few calm breaths, to learn some tools for staying grounded in the midst of their challenges, is going to make them into placid and pliable tools for the oppressors is both greatly overestimating the effects of mindfulness and greatly underestimating how hard it is to do literally anything useful in those institutions. Also, if you go into a public school and successfully run a mindfulness class, guaranteed you are not a love and light type. That takes serious courage and skill.
Astute observation. And how about the granddaddy of all bypassing…”thoughts and prayers” rolled out after each and every mass school shooting? We know what needs to be done yet hide behind praying for guidance or divine intervention. To me, that’s worse than any avoidant meditator.
I hadn't thought of framing thoughts and prayers in this way...interesting!
I met a Buddhist teacher who described her reason to begin meditation as replacing addiction to drugs with addiction to pursuing bliss states (jhanas.) She developed enough wisdom in the jhana states to understand her addiction and move beyond it. To me, this is an example of spiritual bypassing that resulted in spiritual attainment.
oooh, interesting twist!
I love this post. I work at a large university when, in the midst of a genocide, a wellness person visited a staff meeting to have the faculty do deep breathing - in one nostril, out the mouth, the other nostril, etc. - she was a yoga instructor. She asked what was stressing people…when I said “The genocide in Gaza,” she acknowledged me and went on to the other stressors — juggling picking up kids after work, not getting enough exercise, etc. That’s when I began to disengage from my workplace, a university where we should have difficult conversations and engage in critical thinking rather than deep breathing.
Ugh. The way our institutions like that can solve worker stress and anxiety with a one-off pranayama session.....this is EXACTLY the dynamic of the Floyd yoga class. Thanks for sharing! It is a great illustration.
As a multi decade meditator, you highlight a real risk. Often led by teachers of shallow depth. It’s easier to sell “chill” than the true angst if wrestling with difficult emotions. And when people do get a first taste of inner calm, they want more or it. But the way to get more is not to wall yourself off, but to integrate the attentional skills you are building into the messiness of everyday life.
Yes, this. We try to avoid the messiness of life...but then I wonder, are we living a FULLY human life?
Brilliant and timely! Thank you! As a former evangelical and a longtime yoga student and teacher, I’ve seen the desire to bypass in myself and others. It’s deeply engrained in pray-it-away /sit-with-it-to-change -it culture. It’s so subtle, the way this conditioning works, and remaining engaged and involved requires honest self inquiry and deeply wakeful practices as well as presence with community. It takes a lot of accountability, strength and resilience - the opposite of the fragility many of us carry - to bear witness and be in the middle of the mess… essays like this are helpful to keep us awake and to inspire. Thank you again!
Amen, Liz!
This is spot on!
Thank you. 💕
Glad it was useful!
I found this piece interesting. It made me think of the origins of ‘self-care’ and how it was meant to be a practice to help take care of oneself in ways that keep the activist at the ready for community-level intervention. This is not what we think of when someone says “self-care.” We think of the whitewashed, ego-centric pretty acts like massages, wellness retreats, bubble baths, etc. white people love to co-opt things from other cultures and make it their own and then claim the credit for it. As a mental health practitioner, I see this in many treatment modalities. I think this is a similar comparison to the main point of your piece. I think it is also prevalent in mental health treatment. There is a lot of validation but not a lot of challenging. We have shifted to wanting people to feel comfy and cozy where they are but struggling to help them move through discomfort to find a more helpful and realistic way of seeing things.
Thanks for your comment Heather...I think some of the readings I rec on my substack today will be of interest to you, given what you wrote hear....especially the book MIND CURE if you like to know some of this history
Love this! Hope you send it to Ezra!
Glad you enjoyed it! Not sure Ezra needs to read anymore critiques of himself this week....poor guy.
I'm struck by this quote; Welwood was “always amazed by the fact that although these individuals may have practiced sophisticated spiritual practices, they often did not practice self-love.”
Or put differently, people can be completely tone deaf to their own self hate.
Jung says to love someone else is easy, but to love what you are is the most difficult, but also the most important thing.
It seems important (for me anyway) to remain engaged with the collective drama and struggle of humanity while at the time engage with the practice of "self love" but it may be too much to ask of HR wellness programs and "meditation as therapy".
Thanks for your work here, it's really good reading.
Yes, I think wellness program over-promise...and under-deliver! thanks for your comment.
I think there is a flavor of “spiritual bypassing” that results from people wanting to engage with a religious tradition for all the right reasons, but don’t necessarily want to endorse the dogma or institution. This is very common among “cafeteria Catholics” like me— interested in helping address injustice but rightfully uncomfortable with the institution’s many shortcomings. We may like our saints and Advent wreaths . . . but also occasionally storm out of Mass with indignation over something the priest says. 😀
I see this dynamic but wonder if its not quite bypassing....it is something though, mayeb part of the trend of wanting the benefits of religion without all the devotion, rules, metaphysics. I mean we CALL that spirituality, but in your case the addition of social justice makes it something different. I think that is what I'm trying to explore in this Substack....how can we take more of the religious insights seriously w/o having to become "churched." Thanks for you comment....I hope you will continue to follow the conversation.