9 spiritually transmitted diseases

Fake gold exists because there is real gold. This maxim is a declaration of intentions regarding the topic we discuss in this article: the 9 spiritually transmitted diseases.

False gurus and “life teachers” tend to be a waste of arrogance and hermetic opportunism. Enlightenment becomes a longing for souls who believe they are lost and who walk the world in search and capture of someone who enlightens them.

When we feel lost we become “cannon fodder”, a tremendously appetizing dish for the scavenger birds of the interior road. Characters who are pure marketing and who compete for a prize that has taken on overtones of hypocrisy and falsehood.

For example, many propose, in certain cases with no other basis than their own opinion, that meditation opens the way for us to get rid of all those contaminants that push us to ask ourselves questions.

As if asking questions were punishable by law, they force us to follow a straight path that they have already laid out for us. There is only one path to follow, one for all and, why not, all for one.

There are very valid people (and concepts) around spirituality, but thanks to the fact that the concept has been commercialized as “the goose that lays the golden eggs”, we find false spiritual teachers who can do us real harm. As an extreme example, we can think of cases of sectarian groups that pay large sums of money to commit suicide.

But There are also critical people who know how to dot the “i” to the set of false gurus, life coaches and specialists in the domain of our mind. Mariana Caplan, doctor of Philosophy, writer and anthropologist, has dedicated her life to the study of spirituality in a critical sense.

The 9 spiritually transmitted diseases that can “infect” us

A very accurate vision of the distortion of spirituality and the commercial use of this fashion is offered by Mariana Caplan, who presents the reality of 10 spiritually transmitted diseases.

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1. Fast food spirituality.

Mixing spirituality with a culture that celebrates speed, multitasking, and quick results will likely result in so-called fast food spirituality. This, as Caplan defines it, is a product of the common and understandable fantasy that relief from the suffering of our human condition can be quick and easy. The path of spirituality or rather spiritual transformation cannot be obtained as a quick fix.

2. The spirituality of imitation.

Speaking calmly, dressing in certain clothes and colors, acting in a certain way… Is all this essential if we want to consider ourselves “spiritual people”? The truth is that NO. This “spiritual transmission” disease makes us try to imitate the idea of what we believe to be spiritual in the same way that leopard skin cloth imitates the real skin of a leopard.

3. Confusing motivations.

The need to fill our emotional void, the belief that the spiritual path will free us from the sufferings of life and the desire to be special and “magical”, leads us to intermingle these aspirations with the genuine and pure desire to grow.

4. Identify with spiritual experiences.

As Caplan states, “In this illness, the ego identifies with our spiritual experiences and takes them as its own, and we begin to believe that we are embodying ideas that have arisen within us at certain moments.” Obviously this does not last indefinitely, although it does tend to last in those people who believe themselves to be “enlightened” or who behave as “spiritual and life teachers.”

5. The spiritualized ego.

Caplan suggests that This disease occurs when the ego’s own personality structure becomes deeply and deeply mixed with spiritual concepts and ideas. The result is an ego structure that is “bulletproof.” We become invulnerable to help, we close our senses to new contradictory information and other constructive proposals. We become impenetrable and stagnate our growth even though, of course, we carry spirituality as our flag.

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6. The mass production of spiritual teachers.

There are many spiritual traditions. (Buddhism, for example) that are in fashion today. The result of marketing is a commercialization of figures and specialists who make themselves known as people with great spiritual enlightenment when in reality this is not the case. As our author states, This illness works like a spiritual conveyor belt: step into this glow, get that vision, and bam! you are enlightened and ready to enlighten others in a similar way. The problem is not that these teachers instruct but that they present themselves as if they have achieved spiritual mastery.

7. Spiritual pride.

When the practitioner Thanks to years of effort, he reaches a certain level of wisdom, he can use that achievement to close himself off from other experiences. It is possible that he feels “spiritual superiority” and that transmits a subtle message that comes to say “I am better than others, wiser, and above, because I am spiritual.”

8. The group mind.

The group mind is an insidious virus that contains many elements of traditional codependency. Subtle and unconscious loyalties and agreements regarding the way you act, think, speak and dress can lead to a rejection of other experiences, thought patterns or people.

9. The deadly virus.

“I have reached the final goal of my spiritual path.” This disease can be terminal and fatal for our spiritual evolution. As Caplan states, Our spiritual progress ends at the point where this idea is realized in our mind, because the moment we begin to believe that we have reached the end of the road, further growth stops.