LSP30: Spirituality: Don't Let It Become Your Personal Addiction Playground

I wrote the following paragraphs in response to a question posted recently in an online spirituality forum. The question was, "Why must those who claim to be Spiritual be so afraid of honest debate?"

Honest debate is a good antidote for the problems created by top-down philosophical authority (a.k.a. Revelation). But first it's helpful to understand the obstacles that get in the way of honest debate.

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It's easier to see the effects of status addiction in spheres of life such as politics or business, as highlighted in a recent Atlantic article by Jerry Useem about the "power paradox." But the same thing happens in spiritual and religious circles because, like it or not, we only have so many brain networks. The biological networks you use to build knowledge, authority, relationships, and organizational planning in the business world are the same networks you use to build knowledge, etc., in the religious or spiritual world. You can't separate the networks (though many unethical spiritual teachers will tell you you can). So if you're vulnerable to the problems of addiction -- especially status addiction -- you're not immune to the problems caused by too much power or too much infallibility in the spiritual world. Like everybody else, you have to deal with the biology God has given you -- not the biology you'd like to think you have. Photo credit JAT 2017.

Another point to consider is the neuroscientific perspective, since a person who's on a spiritual path is still a human being who's dealing with all the realities of biology, chemistry, and physics. 

The human brain is vulnerable to addiction issues. (Actually, many other species are vulnerable to addiction issues, too, but this isn't the place for that discussion.) Addiction issues can really get in the way within spiritual circles, especially when the "drug of choice" is status.

Status addiction is a physiological addiction -- a biological addiction -- that's no different (as far as the brain is concerned) than better known addictions such as alcohol or substance abuse. It hasn't been examined much in scientific studies. I hope this lack of scientific interest will soon change.

Status addiction often expresses itself as the "Right to Be Right" -- a psychological need to present a belief or an opinion as a "universal truth" that can't be challenged. This status-driven "Right to Be Right" is often seen in both scientific and theological circles, where the payoff for being "right" can be quite large. (Note that acquiring money isn't the key issue here; acquiring status points is the goal, so an ascetic who's given up all his or her money and belongings can still be suffering from a self-devouring status addiction.)

When a status addict's "Right to Be Right" is challenged, he or she will respond as all addicts do (until they begin to confront their personal addictions): they'll do whatever they have to do to protect their daily "fix."

I've had personal encounters with a number of status addicts who've chosen the spiritual world as their personal addiction playground, and let me tell you -- it ain't pretty when you confront them.

As with any form of addiction, a Twelve Step Program could prove very helpful for dealing with the intense cravings of status addiction and the unloving behaviour that often results.

Hope this helps.

Blessings,
Jen

LSP19: Learning How to Breathe: Finding Freedom of Spirit in a World That Tries to Crush You

Dr. Alexander and I grew up at roughly the same time. He was born in late 1953, and I was born in mid-1958. So we've been exposed to a lot of the same influences over the years. We both grew up in that short breath of time between the end of one era (the world that died with WWII) and the start of a new era (the world that began with widespread computers networks). Yet, for all the similarities between Dr. Alexander and myself in those early years -- the books, the films, the TV shows, and the unforgettable music -- there were many differences. Each of us belonged to a particular time and place and culture, and each of us still carries the lessons of time and place and culture within us. Those lessons shaped us. To this day, the experiences of our youth affect how we claim -- and proclaim -- our spiritual life today.

How does culture shape our spiritual journey? Is there such a thing as a universal culture of Oneness that transcends all earthly differences? Do all people who connect deeply with God inevitably end up in the same place? Do we become carbon copies of each other and God?

Last time, I talked about some of the problems posed by Gnosticism. I know I've complained about Gnosticism before (sorry about that), but I keep coming back to it because it's had such a powerful influence on our spiritual lives -- not just now, but in centuries long past. I keep thinking . . . why?  Why do Gnostic ideas keep rearing their dopey heads? And why do people keep listening to them?

I've boiled it down to one painful answer. I think Gnosticism becomes very attractive to people who've noticed they can no longer breathe.

I mean this in a spiritual and emotional sense rather than a physical sense. 

In Johnson's Canyon, Alberta, you'd think the steep rock walls towering on both sides of the river would make you feel claustrophobic, but instead there's a sense that you've stepped into a unique pocket of beauty where God is telling a story that's different from the narratives of the surrounding mountain terrain. I think part of what makes Johnson's Canyon so popular and so appealing is its ability to surprise us. Our souls long to be delighted and surprised by unexpected turnings on the path of life. Unfortunately for us in today's society, the brain's System 2 circuits despise unexpected . . . well . . . unexpected anything. System 2's need to maintain intense perfectionistic control over all aspects of life is one of the hallmarks of status addiction in the brain. Photo credit JAT 2015.

Breath, as a metaphor for life in all its complexity, has been linked by innumerable authors to the elusive concept of "spirit." The Book of Genesis is crystal clear on the connection. (Ruah in Hebrew means divine wind, natural spirit of man, and breath.) But you don't have to believe in the Bible to feel the link between breath and freedom of life, freedom of spirit. When you live in a culture that gives you the freedom to be yourself, you feel alive and free and full of purpose. When you live in a culture that forbids you to be yourself, you feel suffocated and frustrated and low in spirit.

It's bad enough living in a culture that forbids you to be yourself. When you live in a culture governed by status addiction, it's even worse. You feel choked to death by all the rules and expectations and lies. You feel trapped, unable to feel your core self drawing the breath of life, love, spirit. You long to escape just so you can remember what it feels like to be at peace in your own skin.

Gnosticism appears to offer you that escape. Gnosticism starts by affirming your impression that you feel miserable as hell (which you do). Then it says you have a small spark of God inside you that's desperate to return to its Source (which sounds kind of right because you can feel your inner longing to breathe). Then it tells you there's a "good" place (somewhere off in Creation where Source exists) and an "evil" place (which may look a lot like your local neighbourhood gang headquarters). Last, it promises that if you possess the secret knowledge given by the prophesied saviour figure, you can escape all the evil and return to the good place, where everybody blends together in a blissful state of "oneness." 

You know what's missing from this pretty little Gnostic picture? Self honesty.

Gnosticism is designed to shift your focus and attention away from the bad decisions you and your neighbours are making right here and right now. Gnosticism gives you a way to make excuses for the humongous problems created by status addiction.

Once you fully accept the harm created in our society by status addiction, there's no need whatsoever to claim that God scattered small bits of evil throughout the universe on purpose (a theory proposed by Dr, Alexander on page 83 of his book). It's status addiction that crushes the heart out of people and takes away their chance to breathe. It's status addiction writ large in the form of "noble cultural traditions" that ruins lives.

As it happens, I didn't grow up in a culture steeped in status addiction. Sure, there were currents of status anxiety, and some of them were pretty ugly. But by and large, the Canada I grew up in was relatively egalitarian compared to most other nations at the time. I'm not saying Canada was problem-free. I'm saying I learned at a fairly early age how to breathe.

And I didn't need Gnosticism to do it.

What I've learned on the Spiral Path is that when you strip away the claustrophobic demands and expectations of status addiction, you get an incredible sense of expansion in your life. You get this feeling of being able to breathe from deep inside your gut. Suddenly you can enjoy the best things in your culture -- the books, the films, the TV shows, the music -- without being afraid for your soul's salvation. You gradually learn how to sort out what your soul likes and what your soul doesn't like. You stick with what you like, and you respect your neighbour's right to like something else. We don't all have to be the same.

Did you see this week's story about Sister Cristina Scuccia, Italy's "Singing Nun," who won Italy's version of The Voice by really rockin' it from her heart and soul?*

There's a person who knows how to breathe.

 

*Addendum October 30, 2026: Today I decided to review this post, and as part of the process, I checked the hyperlink to the 2014 story about Sister Cristina Scuccia. The link was no longer active, so I deleted it. When I looked for an active link I could use, I stumbled on this Guardian article from Nov. 21, 2022: Nun who wowed The Voice of Italy becomes waitress in Spain. Cristina has left the nunhood and is quoted as saying,  "I believe that you need to listen to your heart with courage. Change is a sign of evolution . . ."


For Further Reflection:

You know that feeling of constantly needing to check your smartphone and desperately hoping for likes on your most recent post? That compulsion about spending time on your social media pages, a compulsion that won't go away no matter how much you tell yourself to ignore it? That rationalization telling you it's okay to text while you're driving and ignore your children while you're checking for likes one last time?

That's status addiction.

Bearing in mind how many people have this feeling every day, would it be fair to say that countless millions of people have a problem with addiction and don't even realize it?

Yes, it would be a fair and honest thing to say.

The problem with any kind of addiction, whether it's status addiction or an addiction to sex or substances, is the way it messes with our brain networks and prevents us from being our best selves. This isn't news, of course, to anyone who's discovered the power of denial and deceit to disguise addiction. Denial and deceit give our brains the momentum needed to suppress the soul's morality of boundaries and choose the brain's morality of Oneness instead. It's the morality of Oneness, with its focus on blurred boundaries, communalism, and rights without responsibilities, that allows us to rationalize the crimes we commit during the throes of our cravings.

It may not seem reasonable to you that God would allow your biological brain to wander off on technological tangents and succumb to the evils of denial and deceit, but this is the only way God can offer you the chance to experience redemption without in any way harming your eternal soul.

Jesus was among a rare group of religious thinkers for whom the path of redemption was the only way to reestablish a relationship with God. In practical terms, the path of redemption means being honest enough to see the perils of a morality of Oneness, and being courageous enough to set aside Oneness for a morality of boundaries. This is what he wrote in the Letter of James (parts of which I'm certain were written by Jesus himself in his own highly literate hand):

"But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves [at the face of their birth] and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act -- they will be blessed in their doing" (James 1: 22-25).

On your own spiritual journey, you need to be able to look in the mirror and recognize yourself. You need to be able to remember who you are at all times so you're not vulnerable to the lies that other people are trying to tell you.

The freedom to be yourself and to breathe the wonder of your own uniqueness as a child of God will help you find the daily blessings you so long for in your life.

LSP11: Some Great Films about Humbleness

If Family Feud asked, "What's the hardest thing you've ever done?" what do you think the answers would be?

From the friends and family you know, you'd get answers such as these: "Finished school."  "Said no to my cheating boyfriend."  "Admitted I have a drinking problem."  "Lost 77 pounds."  "Beat cancer."

From the angels you know (but can't see), you'd get these answers: "Struggled to know who he really is. Kept trying to learn how to trust herself. Learned how to recognize his strengths and also his absences-of-strength. Admitted she made a mistake."

Show me . . . Learned about Humbleness!

The humbleness of the soul is something very, very different from the religious humility taught over the centuries by sages and saints. Humbleness is the sweet spot that major world religions don't teach you to find because humbleness is a very dangerous thing. Humbleness is one of the tumblers on the lock that allows you to be in full relationship with God as a human being. Unlock the mystery of humbleness and your journey on the spiral path speeds up from a slow crawl to a brisk walk.

Humbleness is a difficult concept to convey because it's not a single "value" or "emotion." It's more like a rich tapestry. It's about knowing yourself. It's about liking yourself. It's about knowing your neighbour. It's about liking your neighbour. It's about acceptance. And courage. And honesty -- lots and lots of honesty. It's about doing the right thing even when it's harder to do the right thing than the wrong thing. And it's about heart. There's no humbleness without the heart.

Since it's hard to put into words, I've compiled a list of some films that do a great job of showing you what I mean by humbleness. This isn't a complete list, by any means. But these are some films that strike me as being especially honest about what it means to know yourself -- what it means to be earnestly you!

First, some films based on characters who already know themselves, who already know their strengths and absences-of-strengths and use their knowledge of themselves to help others (even though they aren't perfect and don't know everything):

• Legally Blonde
• Babe
• Crocodile Dundee
• High Noon
• Blindness
• Shrek
• Heaven Can Wait/Down to Earth
• The Sound of Music
• The Miracle Worker (the Anne Sullivan character)
• Blast from the Past

Next, a list of films where the characters don't know themselves at the beginning, and have to struggle against confusion, fear, and loneliness to find humbleness and redemption (that is, they have to open up their hearts to acceptance and honesty about themselves and others):

• The Wizard of Oz
• A Christmas Carol
• The Bridge on the River Kwai
• The Miracle Worker (the Helen Keller character)
• Beauty and the Beast
• The Count of Monte Cristo (the 2002 version)
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the 1966 animated version)
• Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (the stop-motion animated version)
• Groundhog Day (my all-time favourite)

Great works of science fiction and fantasy have a way of getting under the skin of the brain-soul nexus. I'm sure you can think of many examples of speculative fiction that examine the theme of redemption in compelling ways. Pictured here is "Regina 2049," digital print by Jamie MacDonald.

Most of the people I know can relate a lot better to the second set of films than the first. My own journey felt a helluva lot like Groundhog Day at first. And I've known quite a few people who've trapped themselves in the starring role of Ebenezer Scrooge and don't know how to get themselves out of a lifetime of selfishness.

The trick is to trust that you can get out as long as you have the right help.

Learning about Humbleness isn't something you can do on your own. You need feedback from other people, and you need to have the chance to offer others feedback, too.

Instead of a Family Feud, it's a family partnership where we lift each other up instead of beating each other down. Doesn't that sound like a family you'd like to be part of?


For Further Reflection:

If the theories you have about God, Creation, the soul, and the afterlife can be said to be the roots of the spiritual tree you're growing, then Humbleness is the sturdy trunk.

As you would expect, Humbleness starts out small in your life, like the trunk of a new seedling. But if you protect the vulnerable roots and the distinctive leaves struggling to open themselves to the light of Peace, the trunk will continue to grow stronger each year.

In the analogy of the spiritual tree, most people would guess that the trunk of the tree is made of Divine Love. This isn't a bad guess, because, after all, everyone draws nourishment and strength from Divine Love. But in this analogy, Divine Love is the mysterious underground energy that originates in the two hub trees -- the Tree of Life and the Tree of Moral Knowledge -- and that flows back and forth among the trees of spiritual growth to sustain them.

Humbleness, on the other hand, is a complex tapestry of emotions that allows you to use your soul talents wisely and for the benefit of others.

What are soul talents? They're the aspects of yourself that allow you to not only think with your Mind and feel with your Heart as a soul, but allow you to act in Creation with free will. Your talent aspects are kind of like your soul hands and your soul feet and your soul voice. They allow you to make things and move things and speak things. Your talent aspects allow you to take ideas and feelings and turn them into beautiful, lasting creations.

Every soul -- including you -- has a unique combination of soul talents. When you incarnate as a human being, you bring some of these soul talents with you. (They're hardwired into your DNA.) Your soul talents start to manifest quite early in life, but if you fail to develop your Humbleness (that is, your emotional maturity) in tandem with your talents, you'll grow up to be a boastful, envious, narcissistic, selfish adult who has lots of talent but no awareness at all of how to use these talents wisely.

In other words, you'll grow up in state of metaphorical blindness -- blindness to the true potential of your talents, blindness to the talents of others, and blindness to the talents of God.

There's a reason that Jesus son of Joseph spoke so often of the need to open your eyes and your ears and your heart (e.g. Mark 8: 14-21). He was talking about Humbleness, about learning to know God through seeing and hearing and feeling God's creations without being envious of God's many talents.

You'd be surprised how many people are envious of God's many talents and how many people try to steal from God because they don't want to go through the trouble of learning to use their own talents with maturity.

Your angels know what your soul talents are and what your soul talents aren't.

And you don't get to pick, no matter how badly you want to be a famous superstar.