I debated whether to have a separate page for this: Spiritual Shaming comes under Spiritual Arrogance and the Law of Attraction Mafia as well as Toxic Forgiveness
But I see a lot of spiritual shaming online, so I want to have a single resource to point people too.
Spiritual Shaming occurs when people use their own religious/spiritual goals/standards to judge or criticise others. Examples:
- Shaming people for not meditating long enough
- Shaming them for not having a vegan or “natural” diet
- Not following the right guru or tradition
- Following some moral code like celibacy, or worse, having an active sex life
The biggest Spiritual Shamers, the ones who should win the Nobel Prize for Shaming, are of course the Law of Attraction community.
The “Secret” crowd will openly tell rape victims and people with cancer they “attracted” their suffering due to their “negative” thinking. Doesn’t get any more shamey than that.
I want to provide some alternative thinking patterns to counter all this shaming:
1 Longer and harder baby
Meditating more/longer will not make you a “better” meditator or help you reach Nirvana sooner. This is not a competition, and to treat it as such is a form of Materialism. And I have a whole post on why meditating longer isn’t always a good idea.
2 What you put in your mouth or You-Know-Where
What you put in your mouth and/or sex organs has no relation to how spiritual you are. Yes, some foods have a more spiritual vibration, but the field is very complex and not as simple as “Veggies good, meat bad.”
We live in polluted cities full of angry people, and the vibrations of that will counter any good ones you get from eating apples all day long.
So eat healthy, unprocessed food if you can afford it. And don’t be so judgemental towards other people– they have their own life/choices and may not be able to afford to eat Avocado Kale salads every morning.
3. No people don’t attract their suffering
Fuck off, they don’t. Suffering is a complex topic and cannot be dumbed down to “Hur hur think positive thoughts.”
4 Respect/Compassion
If you must follow one advice, follow this:
We all have our own path. Respect others for the path they are following. Nothing as arrogant/irritating as an asshole who thinks he can tell others how to become more “spiritual”.
Read about more Traps on the Spiritual Path