Thank you, dear one! Indeed I won’t criticize spirituality, I think we certainly need more of it, just the right kind, not the empty one.
And yes I plead guilty. I also used these words before I woke up saw what I was doing in disgust… I was borrowing the vocabulary of my industry when using my own earned words works much better.
🙏 I had never used these words before: earned wisdom vs borrowed wisdom, and now I see it so clearly. Every time I borrow my wisdom, even from Rumi, Jung , ( fill in the blank) I in fact water down my own.
If I look at it I can see one thing: I did not trust myself enough, I thought I needed respectable allies, like a stake for a plant. Now I learn to stand on my own.
So I took a minute (or more) and went to read a post of yours. The one on Substack strategies...
I can relate. I have been one year and if I was not using Substack to just keep my discipline of writing a 1000 words per week, I would have given up.
The input (notes, comments etc) never was worth the reward (a few new subscribers )... Yet I learned a lot through writing regularly.
I am in the last stage of a book. I have no or little bandwidth for substack strategies (and certainly no liking for it). Yes I am throwing folded papers in the river and hope they float... I get it.
But what I know is that when I sit to write, I stay energized for hours. When I sit on Substack to read others, to comments, to restack etc within minutes I feel awful. It sucks the energy out of me. That is my compass.
One of the best reward of Substack is to meet people i would never meet otherwise. They are few, but some have become friends, and that is priceless..
Hopefully, we are all growing and learning, hindsight is 20/20. Thank you for shedding some light of authentic truth on what is happening in our field. It's so valuable to be able to look at offerings of services and retreats with a discerning eye to the bull shit. I am definitely one of those skeptics who often rolls my eyes, but I was once probably sprinkling glitter as well. Now, my goal is to offer what I would say to a friend in the middle of the night at their darkest. It isn't usually palatable for the faint of heart, but is what I would want to hear in my darkest times.
Yes there an expansion of shallow, unbaked, borrowed spirituality. That is what happen when spirituality becomes a commodity. It moves to the hands of those who more about market laws than nature’s laws.
But somehow, it is all perfect.
A Tibetan monk once told me: let’s be grateful for the bad teachers who provide opportunities for those who need them to enact their bad karma!
Reminds me of toxic positivity. We can get through COVID together - as I sit on my private beach vs the couple in a small apartment told to isolate from the world, work in the apartment if they're lucky and raise the two children under 5, isolated. I have sat in many circles over the years and some held by you. There's a place for them for sure when it's fed honestly. Good on you for calling it as it is in so many cases! Thankfully no one ever broke into "light language" mid conversation...... although that has actually happened to me!
I always used to wonder why when people would talk about their past lives. They were always some sort of royalty or a reincarnation of a goddess, I never like a beer, wench… I want to be a beer wench in a past life.
“Past lives” has its own place in the dictionary, like those who pretend to be other star system ( Pleiades and stuff) or say they live in 5D ( what the fuck is that, I am already finding 3D challenging, who needs more dimensions to deal with.
All the while the asshole in chief is making confetti with the constitution…
I truly believe we need to rethink Homo sapiens , the last thing I think we stand for is wisdom.
Such a powerful and interesting dissection of the double-edged sword that is story. On one hand, it's so seductive, it can't help but be used in almost all forms of transformation. And yet so powerful, it's ripe for misuse. I don't know that there is a definitive answer for how an industry or product, spiritual or otherwise, can resist the corruptive power of story to disguise or mislead its leaders or followers. Perhaps, intent is all, because the most elevated soul may be a clumsy storyteller, and the next door Luddite a cynical spam artist. And aren't both equally appropriate expressions of singular creation? Your real talk glossary is key and calling BS on the carnival. Thanks for keeping us all honest.
This feels less like a critique of spirituality and more like a hygiene manual for language.
Not “don’t seek,” but “stop hiding behind words that cost nothing.”
I especially appreciate that you include yourself in the mess — that’s what turns this from cynicism into clarity.
If a phrase can’t survive being said plainly to a tired, skeptical friend at midnight, it probably shouldn’t survive at all.
Thank you, dear one! Indeed I won’t criticize spirituality, I think we certainly need more of it, just the right kind, not the empty one.
And yes I plead guilty. I also used these words before I woke up saw what I was doing in disgust… I was borrowing the vocabulary of my industry when using my own earned words works much better.
Love
I know that pain well.
I spent years walking those same side roads — four years of formal study in astrology, countless spiritual spaces, workshops, teachings.
And yes, I absorbed my share of it — not insight, but aftereffects.
Especially when someone else’s worldview or ideology quietly replaces your own thinking.
That kind of “guidance” leaves a mark.
Which is why earned language matters so much more than inherited vocabulary.
🙏 I had never used these words before: earned wisdom vs borrowed wisdom, and now I see it so clearly. Every time I borrow my wisdom, even from Rumi, Jung , ( fill in the blank) I in fact water down my own.
If I look at it I can see one thing: I did not trust myself enough, I thought I needed respectable allies, like a stake for a plant. Now I learn to stand on my own.
I’m really glad we crossed paths.
I came to your work through a link from a newly shaken @mariahfaithcontinelli — she described you so well that I trusted her instinct.
Now I see she was right.
I’m grateful to her not only for the introduction, but for the whole series that made these connections possible.
And I hope there’s enough curiosity here for us to keep reading each other.
thank you for these warm words...
So I took a minute (or more) and went to read a post of yours. The one on Substack strategies...
I can relate. I have been one year and if I was not using Substack to just keep my discipline of writing a 1000 words per week, I would have given up.
The input (notes, comments etc) never was worth the reward (a few new subscribers )... Yet I learned a lot through writing regularly.
I am in the last stage of a book. I have no or little bandwidth for substack strategies (and certainly no liking for it). Yes I am throwing folded papers in the river and hope they float... I get it.
But what I know is that when I sit to write, I stay energized for hours. When I sit on Substack to read others, to comments, to restack etc within minutes I feel awful. It sucks the energy out of me. That is my compass.
One of the best reward of Substack is to meet people i would never meet otherwise. They are few, but some have become friends, and that is priceless..
Love
Thank you for taking the time to read — and for the recommendation. I appreciate it.
What you describe makes complete sense to me. Writing gives energy; wandering the platform often takes it away. That contrast is a very clean compass.
Throwing folded pages into the river isn’t naïve — it’s honest. Especially when the real work is the book itself.
And yes, the few real connections that do happen here are rare — which is exactly why they matter.
🤣🙌🏽
Hopefully, we are all growing and learning, hindsight is 20/20. Thank you for shedding some light of authentic truth on what is happening in our field. It's so valuable to be able to look at offerings of services and retreats with a discerning eye to the bull shit. I am definitely one of those skeptics who often rolls my eyes, but I was once probably sprinkling glitter as well. Now, my goal is to offer what I would say to a friend in the middle of the night at their darkest. It isn't usually palatable for the faint of heart, but is what I would want to hear in my darkest times.
Humor might be the last refuge in an increasingly depressing world.
Love
I'm not in the habit of dropping links in comments, but there was much in this essay that "resonated" with a recent post of mine.
https://richardm711.substack.com/p/is-that-spiritual-snake-oil-your
I really liked your post.
Yes there an expansion of shallow, unbaked, borrowed spirituality. That is what happen when spirituality becomes a commodity. It moves to the hands of those who more about market laws than nature’s laws.
But somehow, it is all perfect.
A Tibetan monk once told me: let’s be grateful for the bad teachers who provide opportunities for those who need them to enact their bad karma!
🤣🤣🤣love
And yes… our posts look alike, probably because the same source speaks through both of us. So thank you for posting the link!
Love
Reminds me of toxic positivity. We can get through COVID together - as I sit on my private beach vs the couple in a small apartment told to isolate from the world, work in the apartment if they're lucky and raise the two children under 5, isolated. I have sat in many circles over the years and some held by you. There's a place for them for sure when it's fed honestly. Good on you for calling it as it is in so many cases! Thankfully no one ever broke into "light language" mid conversation...... although that has actually happened to me!
I speak light language too. I just use it to find my keys in the dark!
Love to you brother!
Great column!! thanks for shining the Klieg lights on these uncomfortable cobwebs! 😜
If people continue to prefer my satirical post to the serious one, I knew what my place in this world is: 🤡🤡🤡
🤷♀️😊
I always used to wonder why when people would talk about their past lives. They were always some sort of royalty or a reincarnation of a goddess, I never like a beer, wench… I want to be a beer wench in a past life.
Well, the good news is that you probably were!
“Past lives” has its own place in the dictionary, like those who pretend to be other star system ( Pleiades and stuff) or say they live in 5D ( what the fuck is that, I am already finding 3D challenging, who needs more dimensions to deal with.
All the while the asshole in chief is making confetti with the constitution…
I truly believe we need to rethink Homo sapiens , the last thing I think we stand for is wisdom.
Such a powerful and interesting dissection of the double-edged sword that is story. On one hand, it's so seductive, it can't help but be used in almost all forms of transformation. And yet so powerful, it's ripe for misuse. I don't know that there is a definitive answer for how an industry or product, spiritual or otherwise, can resist the corruptive power of story to disguise or mislead its leaders or followers. Perhaps, intent is all, because the most elevated soul may be a clumsy storyteller, and the next door Luddite a cynical spam artist. And aren't both equally appropriate expressions of singular creation? Your real talk glossary is key and calling BS on the carnival. Thanks for keeping us all honest.