#5 The temple merchants.
The Spiritual Path is not a path; it is a combination of a roller coaster, the circus, and the house of terror.
Along this peculiar path, you will meet various characters that make you feel like Alice in Wonderland chasing the white rabbit through the rabbit hole.
And it’s helpful to know how to distinguish the Mad Hatter from the Queen of Hearts.
Let’s start
- The veteran know-it-all. They tell you they are spiritual guides, but they are not. They are imposing people who want to dominate you mentally so that you end up doing what they say as they say because their word is law, and there is only one way of doing things (although each person is unique): theirs. There are different degrees of a veteran know-it-all, from your brother-in-law who wants to save you time and insists that you do kundalini because the yoga at your gym is not enough to the toxic one who tells you, “If you watch Netflix, you will burn in the flames of hell.”
- The early adopter. This type of spiritual person is mainly found in the New Age world. And they try anything new in the spiritual world without thinking twice. They are those who were digital nomads before the word digital nomad existed. They are the ones who started with Mindfulness before everyone became a mindfulness teacher. They are addicted to novelty, and that gets them into all kinds of trouble because they often take too many risks, but they are people who can make their way in the spiritual jungle. An example would be Ram Dass.
- The shapeshifter. These types of people have what I call “A fluid spirituality.” Today, they are Buddhists; tomorrow, they are Catholics. The day after tomorrow, they go to Peru to worship the spirits of the jungle. They have no defined spirituality. They do not go deep into any spirituality and go from one extreme to another until they either get bored of spirituality, or they get bitter and leave it and want to infect you with their disappointment with the spiritual world, or they end up with a mental cocoa in their head that the only thing they do is to confuse you. My advice is to stay away from them until you find your identity within the spiritual world.
- The superstitious. For this type of people, spirituality is based on asking for things and getting them through rituals, amulets, promises, and prayers. They look like Jack Nicolson in As Good as It Gets; they have all kinds of rituals, scruples, and aversions that make them peculiar. Whatever religion they practice, they only seek the favor of the goddess fortune. (We are all a bit superstitious. 🙂
- The merchants of the temple. These are the parasites of the superstitious. Bloodsucking limpets that adhere to people to get as much money as possible in exchange for selling them smoke. They are pragmatic and usually sell you anything: stones, incantations, energetic cleansings, holy cards of saints. I am not saying that using stones or tarot does not work; I am stating that these people are dedicated “exclusively” to making money, and the person who requires their services does not matter to them. They are the ones who give a bad name to the spiritual workers who do their work well and do not sacrifice their values before the altar of the money God.
- The wise who do not know they are brilliant. They look like empty shells that suddenly activate like water sprinklers and shower you with their wisdom. They say things that make no sense except to the person who needs their wisdom. In the middle of a sunny day, I once met one who told me, “Rain is annoying, but it’s good.” He seemed to have channeled the message for me because a storm had broken out inside me. And it was true: rain makes the fields bloom, and my storm made my life bloom.
So, little Alicia, enjoy your stay in the garden of wonders, but avoid the Queen of Hearts.
A virtual hug
AG
Leave a Reply