I'm about fed up. 

I am a very spiritually devout human being. However, I also respect science and logic. 

In the "spiritually alternative" communities, whether you want to call them New Age or Neo-Shamanic or whatever, there is an unhealthy dose of fantasy-driven ideology that actually completely undermines the authentic spiritual experience. Authentic spiritual experience? I can already hear the comments coming my way. But, hear me out.

Since when did spirituality turn into a positivist self-help forum? 

Doesn't this just make you feel so spiritual? Or blissful? Or both?

Essentially, the "spiritually alternative" communities have turned into the very ideologically erroneous paradigms they strove to break away from. They have turned into corporate structures and self-help workshops that will dissect your inner psyche for a fee, promising inner and outer tranquility no matter the odds. 

I am into spirituality because I am into God. The alternative spiritualist will call it "the Divine" or "cosmic consciousness" or "inner Light," but if everyone got past their adolescent revolt against their Christian upbringing they would just call it what it is: God. It's a generic enough term. It doesn't have to mean the same thing as it does to your mom and dad. It means "all of the above" . . . and strangely enough, when I look around to see what the "spiritually alternative" communities have to offer, God keeps getting left out of the equation. And when God isn't, He/She/It gets limited to a puffball, hippie version of the Gentle Giant in the sky . . . what every neo-pagan, yogic spiritualist wanted when they were a kid, instead of the mean ol' despot that would condemn you to hell when you were bad. Now, spiritual communities have offered up a deity who loves you no matter what, wants you to succeed at every minute endeavor in your life, and cares about your sense of self-worth. 

In the past few months I have been asked to change imagery on my presentation materials because it was "too dark." I've seen self-proclaimed "enlightened" individuals refuse to look at scientific studies because it doesn't fit their "vibration." This, among many other incidents, has caused me to finally burst!

The late mystic Jiddu Krishnamurti has said: "If we are seeking God merely because we are tired of this world and its miseries, then it is an escape. Then we create God, and therefore it is not God." (On God, p. 43) 

The spiritual life is the search for Truth, not positive reinforcement. 

"Relic" by J.R. Slattum

Truth is scary, mind-blowing, and often pushes one out of their very comfort zone to become something more than what they currently are. This is not a blissful experience. It means you need to be prepared to give up whatever you believe in for the pursuit of Truth. It is hard, terrifying, and most often people fail at it (myself included). 

Google "top spiritual articles" and you find an infinity of inspirational quotes and top ten lists of happy things to do to yourself in order to make you happy. Why, oh why, are we letting spirituality get watered down by complacency? Why do we listen to self-help gurus like sheep in the hopes we will gain some kind of "awakening" or "enlightenment"? Why, when faced with actual empirical evidence about something, do spiritualists turn a blind eye because it doesn't fit into their positivist paradigm of "everything is Light, everything is Love" (yes, this actually happened, more than once)? 

When I experience the world, it is not all Light and Love. The Universe is vast, empty, dangerous, scary, beautiful, awe-inspiring, etc. And true awareness is a direct experience, through the senses of the body (ahem...yoga!), of the world around you. Ultimately, though, the Universe does not care about your bank account, and most certainly is not invested in whether or not you feel good about yourself. 

The Universe will kill you in the blink of an eye, and it won't give a shit.

"Archaic Revival" by J.R. Slattum

That, right there, is the ultimate spiritual experience. And, if you truly live within that experience fully (ahem . . . Zen!) then, you will actually have a great weight lifted off of your shoulders: you are not the center of the Universe. That's right, when you realize the Universe doesn't lose sleep over yours or anyone else's struggles, you will reach the authentic spiritual experience. 

So, please stop making fools of yourselves and projecting an image of a spiritual life being akin to frolicking bliss.  If you want to be a self-help guru or life coach, that's fine. Just leave spirituality out of it. 

With that, I leave you all with a great excerpt from a poem called "The Paradox" by spiritualist Jed McKenna: 

"You will never achieve spiritual enlightenment.

by Android Jones