Another Outlet for the Spiritual Soul

[celestialvisionz]

Spiritual Bypassing
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

One of the ways my philosophy has distinguished me as a practitioner is that I believe that if you aren’t walking into your pain, you are avoiding healing.

If someone contacts me with the goal of becoming more spiritual, or because they are a seeker, or because they want to be a healer, I explain that it is the pain a person is in that let’s us know the authentic work that needs to occur. Any idea of what someone wants to be or what they want to achieve will not be the place that shows us where we need to attend.

As you can imagine, many people find this notion of attending to the places that hurt to be highly undesirable. The objection can be couched as this focus not being spiritual work, or being negative, or not enlightened.

Yet, any path that does not attend to the places of darkness results in a false construct that remains unaligned with one’s essence. Underlying discomfort will always continue to exist with this approach. This can be the person who, after 20 years of meditating still does not feel peace, or the person who, with all the positive thinking, still can’t manifest what they find meaningful.

Robert Augustus Masters’ book Spiritual Bypassing is an excellent summary of the ways that people avoid evolution by avoiding pain.

This book is helpful for all those who find themselves confused and mystified when they have a conversation with someone who says all the right things, but yet seems not “there”. It gives you a conceptual framework that allows you to trust all the places where concepts of spiritual practices or green living leave you feeling something is missing. This book allows you to understand what is missing.

This book is also a wonderful companion on one’s own journey to health.
It shines light into areas and habits that prevent an honest, open and insightful relationship with one’s own self.

 

[Menna]

I believe that if you aren’t walking into your pain, you are avoiding healing

Very true however I would like to change the word avoiding in the quote. I believe the word avoiding doesn't take the specific situation into consideration. Some don't know where their pain started what traumatic events or event caused the pain they don't know what direction to walk they don't know how to heal themselves so I don't think they are actively avoiding healing they don't know how to and where to start. If one was to explain to a traumatized person that this or that started your pain and here are ways to get past it and this said person doesn’t listen or partake in the exercises then yes they are avoiding healing but some people have repressed trauma from their early years and have so many blockages (Thanks EE :) ) that they aren’t avoiding it they aren’t aware of the hurt or what started or how to heal it.

But I do understand what you have written and believe it for the most part to be the truth.

 

[Sol Logos]

I believe that if you aren’t walking into your pain, you are avoiding healing

Very true however I would like to change the word avoiding in the quote. I believe the word avoiding doesn't take the specific situation into consideration. Some don't know where their pain started what traumatic events or event caused the pain they don't know what direction to walk they don't know how to heal themselves so I don't think they are actively avoiding healing they don't know how to and where to start. If one was to explain to a traumatized person that this or that started your pain and here are ways to get past it and this said person doesn’t listen or partake in the exercises then yes they are avoiding healing but some people have repressed trauma from their early years and have so many blockages (Thanks EE :) ) that they aren’t avoiding it they aren’t aware of the hurt or what started or how to heal it.

But I do understand what you have written and believe it for the most part to be the truth.

I'd question the idea of knowing what caused your emotional pain before you've felt it. Because the trauma is encased in layers of protection, precisely protecting us from knowing, it would be impossible to know (in an intellectual way). It wouldn't be impossible to work through the top layers down though, seeing the most obvious programs that sit on the surface, stopping ourselves from acting them out unconsciously and feeling how it feels without the program running and "protecting" us. It might be like an onion peeling one layer after another until we get to the core and the know the cause fully. Before that we'd be kind of guessing and we'd even probably be guessing to fool ourselves / distract ourselves from going down the right path.

 

[celestialvisionz]

You both are Correct

I did not write this information above nor have I read the book yet just thought it might prove useful for some.


Here is the Website I retrieved the Information from:
https://architectureofmeaning.com/healing/spiritual-bypassing

 

[Menna]

I believe that during the traumatic experience you do feel it before you protect it using DID or some other coping mechanism thats why you use the coping mechanism because you feel something that requires one to cope. Then you need to work through the layers of protections to feel it again so the trauma can be worked through. I believe thats where this book comes into play is during the second time that you feel the trauma. The majority of people who feel the trauma the second time around do avoid the dabilitating emotions and then that leads to

if you aren’t walking into your pain, you are avoiding healing.