Spiritual Narcissism

R: On the topic of bodies and treatment, just last week I had an old friend who in into the spiritual/”wellness” scene basically shame me for having conventional treatment and stating that “truly courageous” people would only use alternate medicine. She claimed that she “honoured” my choice, but it really wasn’t a choice; I let Isvara decide what needed to be done and feel I have a duty of care to the gross body as long as it is treatable and manageable. I figure the body is ours to take care of, much as we take care of our house and home; and sometimes a superficial spring clean doesn’t cut it and we have to get down and dirty and really get down to the foundations and give it all a good scrub. I guess I’m just doing what seems to be necessary to keep the Lord’s house in order as long as it remains appropriate to do so. 

Sundari: So-called spiritual people and their self-righteousness when it comes to many things, but especially the body, never fails to flabbergast! We see it all the time in the yoga and wellness world, especially now with the highly polarized vaccine issue. Stuck in sattva, many have no objectivity and are oblivious to their ego that believes beyond a shadow of a doubt in its rightness and superiority in whatever bias it is invested in. There is no conversation to be had, it is usually a waste of time. Their biases are so strong that anything that does not fit with their narrow view is instantly blocked. 

Ron: I agree with your thoughts on many “spiritual people”, alas. I’ve seen a different side to a great many people over the past year or two. Leave it to a global crisis to reveal the inner workings of a person. Last year I read a interesting article in, of all places, Scientific American, on the topic of spiritual narcissism (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-science-of-spiritual-narcissism/). What they’re describing is basically enlightenment sickness, although I think I maybe prefer the term spiritual narcissism, as enlightenment sickness certainly doesn’t seem altogether synonymous with actual enlightenment. It got me thinking and doing some ruthless self-inquiry on myself and I can see that there are definitely times my quest for the Self was motivated at least in part by a need for ego-enhancement. Not in an overt, self-aggrandising way—that ain’t the way I roll—but basically because, as a person, I grew up feeling I didn’t cut the mustard in terms of perceived worldly expectations.

My generation was the first to grow up under the neoliberalism socio-economic paradigm of the 80’s, in which the individual is conditioned to see themselves as a “brand”, and any failure to attain significant success in the world is deemed an inherent personal failing. Our culture has zero value for mumuksus unless they can somehow monetize things ala Osho and Eckhart, etc. It’s been quite interesting unveiling these layers of conditioning and exploring them in the light of Self-Knowledge and a true understanding of dharma. These days so much of the “spiritual” scene is oriented to providing ego-enhancement and making us feel better about ourselves. Which I don’t suppose is bad in itself, but it’s a rocky path unless a person is really able to monitor that ego and see the mithya-ness of it all.

One of the real problems I’ve observed in spiritual people is the mistaken assumption that because they know about the Self, they automatically know everything there is to know about mithya. “Because I do yoga and practice shamanic drumming or homeopathy or whatever, I know better than people who may have devoted their entire lives to a given field of knowledge.” What a dangerous assumption to make. It certainly reveals no understanding of Isvara. Self-knowledge definitely doesn’t confer absolute knowledge of the workings of mithya. In a strange way, my appreciation for science has only increased as I’ve been stabilising Self-knowledge.

Science may be fairly useless as a means of Self-knowledge, but it’s the best means of knowledge we currently have for understanding Isvara’s empirical world. That’s why I find the fairly prevalent anti-science attitude among the new age, wellness and yoga community quite dangerous. Science is fallible and open to corruption like everything in maya, but I could never assume I know more than the experts simply because I see myself as “spiritual”. I read a book called “The Death of Expertise” a while back and the assumption that we’re all better than the experts is a real issue these days with people in general. Because, in the internet era, anyone can read an article or two on any subject, people may then assume they are informed (and free of cognitive distortion and bias); and that somehow their knowledge is equal or better than that of someone who has devoted their life to its study. Mind you, rather than being knowledge-driven, the human mind is often more oriented to being “right” in its viewpoint and thus preserving its ego identity. This can only explain the people who double-down on their support of things like Qanon, even though “Q” himself or herself has jumped like a rat fleeing a sinking ship.

Excuse my rambling, I’m totally preaching to the choir, but I find the topic fascinating and get all fired up :)It has helped explain to me the huge number of seekers who have been derailed by rather extreme conspiratorial thinking. Rather than realizing that liberation is discriminating satya from mithya, they seem to be getting lost in various sub-levels of mithya (real or imagined) and believe that enlightenment is somehow holding certain viewpoints which rarely stand objective scrutiny. It’s all the dance of Isvara, but perhaps when the pandemic winds down, the pendulum will swing again and balance restored. In the meantime, it’s definitely a waste of breath trying to reason. I admit it has tested my patience on more than one occasion and I have to remind myself that the root of much of these conspiracy cults is fear and the ego’s desperate need to feel some semblance of control and certainty. What can ya do? 

Sundari: what a great email, I love your writing and the way you express these oft-discussed ideas.  Preach away to this choir because she is singing along right with you! We talk about this stuff often, though right now, even we have run out of steam on the subject…The way you have expressed yourself on these topics is most eloquent, and could not be better said. I will not reply to each idea as there is no need, the subject being much exhausted. Incomprehensible is the working of Maya, it seems, more so than ever. But I doubt that is true, mithya being mithya. It’s all a great big head scratch and always has been!

I love the term spiritual narcissism; it really hits the nail on the head. Enlightenment sickness is a misnomer because it is ‘enlightenment’ minus the enlightenment. The spiritual ego is the most robust there is, quite amazing to see how it can co-opt knowledge and turn it into ignorance. We see it all the time sadly. Though Self-knowledge is incorruptible, the teachings are subject to corruption in the way they are understood and passed on, sadly.  What to do, that’s the way it rolls, as you say.

I found your observations about the jivas program very touching, in your signature openness and authenticity.  Who hasn’t had to deal with that part of the jiva? Maybe saints like Ramana and a few other souls didn’t have to, but very few. The ego is not all bad, and sometimes, to stick with the program of training to become good teachers, we need a healthy ego to keep our nose to the grindstone, so to speak. After all the ego is just a thought in me. ‘My’ ego had to take some battering to free it of some useless and painful notions, but that’s all par for the course.

Like you, I have the same thoughts about science and I keep in the loop scientifically on a wide range of topics, including the ‘soft’ sciences of behavioral and psychological studies. I recently read some research done on psychopaths, which came up with the statistic that there is always about .5 – 1% of the human population that qualify as psychopaths. If there were ever to be more than that, society would crumble and total anarchy would ensue.

This got me thinking and I realized that the opposite is also most likely true, duality being what it is, a polarity. If anything is actually ‘true’ in mithya, then I think it must be that only .5 – 1% of the human population is truly sane. As in free, or almost free. That is all it takes to uphold dharma. Don’t you think?bSo, what can we say about Isvara’s penchant for being so generous creating ignorance and so stingy creating jnani’s? We will never know.

R:  I admit I’ve always been fascinated by personality disorders and the way Isvara conditions the human mind; undoubtedly the fructification of all kinds of interesting karma. How interesting that psychopathy is a universal constant; it only stands to reason that the reverse must be true, as Isvara/Nature functions on an axis of balance. It is a wonderful thought that, at any given time, we have an equal proportion of sane minds to offset the pathologically disturbed ones. I guess the more disturbed, owing to rajas, are more inclined to claw their way to positions of dominance and leadership, while the wise are maybe more inclined to simply be and live quiet, perhaps self-contained lives. Although thank the Lord we have mahatmas and great teachers such as Ramji, yourself, and many others, who dedicate themselves to stepping into the spotlight and keeping the flame of Knowledge alive.

Sundari: Thank you, and I hope you include yourself in the equation of flame keepers, because you certainly are one!

Much love

Sundari