.jpg)
Viewpoint
A Spiritual Rebel’s Rant
by Patrice Karst
Over 40 years ago, I began my spiritual journey as a little girl in England, longing to understand the mysteries of the Cosmos.
This was long before there was a new age, metaphysical, organic, green, yogic, self-help movement where “being spiritual” would become more like a fashion statement or a hobby—something to check in the “Things I Like” box.
Back in the day, that magical journey down the rabbit hole that describes the mystical path, the search for the Divine, and the awakening of Higher Consciousness had incredibly little to do with what we could “manifest.” It wasn’t about what we could get. It was about something…well, deeper.
Look, it’s a beautiful thing to witness the shifting of the masses. The fact that spirituality has become the new mainstream means that we are headed in the right direction—and thank God for that.
It’s just that this watered down, sugary sweet, “holier than you” façade of being spiritual because it’s hip makes me cringe as it plays itself out in ways that seem competitive and insincere.
Take Facebook for example and posts like, “I am living in gratitude today for the oneness of the light and the blessings all around me in the now and in the heart of my being…” or “Ready, aim, higher!!!!”
All of this spiritual correctness is whitewashed, generic, tired and ultimately boring. There’s no spice or personality. I like that in a person—a personality.
We’re missing the whole point with this rampant spiritual egotism, pride and arrogance. We all need some humility and we need it fast.
Study the lives of all the great saints and you’ll see that most of them suffered emotional pain in their longing for the Divine. They were indeed (shudder to imagine) feeling just a tad bit negative.
Somehow that makes me feel better. Because lo and behold! I also suffer—and sometimes a lot. And news flash—so do we all because we are, in fact, human. Humans feel. And we are beautiful within all of that feeling.
Since when did being real become un-spiritual? And when did sadness become less holy than joy?
Yet these days we are told over and over that we are somehow being spiritually incorrect if we do anything other than follow some generically prescribed happy-no-matter-what façade.
I see so many masks, so many costumes, and so many disguises. And all of this “positivity” has resulted in a lot of folks feeling very much alone. We have not been truthful. And it is tragic.
I’ll admit it. I’ve always been a bit of a radical, the gal who feels the need to bring the elephant in the living room to light and call the emperor out as naked. I am the one who sends food back in a restaurant when it sucks and speaks up in a meeting if no one else does—even if it will make me unpopular or make things slightly uncomfortable for a moment until the unnamed emotionally-charged collective zit bursts and everyone finally gets to breathe again.
Frankly, I wouldn’t feel the need to do it so often or so intensely if more of my brothers and sisters on the path would just take up the baton and run with it. I wait, often until the last possible second, silently praying that just this one time, someone will thrill me and speak the heck up!
And sometimes, to my utter delight, they do.
My everyday heroes are those brave, wondrous and therefore interesting people who have a voice—an authentic one that they dare to use. My heroes are those who bless us all with their willingness to tell us the truths of their lives. Even the ugly parts—especially the ugly parts—whether their voices are heard in a book, a film or at the deli.
Spiritual heroes have cajones.
They are generous of spirit. They share their honesty, and therefore, their souls. That’s what heroes do—they share.
They don’t answer, “I’m fine and you?” when they’re sad, scared or lonely and they are the truest spiritual teachers that exist.
They’ll never be criticized for not “walking their talk” because their talk is for real. Nor will they ever come crashing down from grace because they never put themselves on any self-imposed pedestal to begin with.
Ultimately, all we can ever really offer our fellow travelers upon this confusing, brilliant, spinning planet, is our truth—all of it—who we are, what we stand for, what we really believe and yes, what we feel as we dance or stumble through our lives.
Buddha said, “There are three things that can’t be hidden for long, the sun, the moon, and the truth.”
In the end, being real matters.
Patrice Karst is the author of God Made Easy, The Invisible String, The Smile That Went Around the World and The Single Mother’s Survival Guide. She has been featured in Time, Woman’s Day, Science of Mind, MSNBC, CBS, CSPAN, ABC News, and Fox News. Karst lives in Los Angeles where she runs spirituality sessions at renowned residential rehabilitation centers. President of Just Love Productions, she is producing her first feature film, The Seeker. Learn more at patricekarst.com.