In this 17-minute video, I delve into the lesser-explored areas of spirituality, highlighting potential pitfalls and how to navigate them.

We explore concepts like spiritual narcissism, gaslighting, and the dangers of bypassing your emotions.

I also discuss the importance of discernment when encountering spiritual leaders and channeled information.

Are you ready to cultivate a more grounded and authentic spiritual practice?

TRANSCRIPT:

In recent years, the quest for spiritual fulfilment has experienced a notable resurgence thanks to it’s growing presence in the online space. This renewed interest in spirituality, however, has brought to light Toxic Spiritual pitfalls. As someone who runs a practice in the holistic health and spiritual wellbeing industry, I feel it's right to bring to you less explored areas of spiritual practice, specifically looking at where it can go wrong.

Hi there, for those that don’t know me, my name is Zac and my goal is to do my best in supporting you align with your most authentic experience of life by meeting you where you’re at with what I know. I’m gonna ask you to take what resonates from this video. Not everything is meant to resonate with you as I’m coming to this video with my understanding, interpretation and experience. Remember that when you decide to comment and engage with this video.

While spiritual practices offer substantial transformation and enrichment, they also pose a hidden danger—the endorsed disconnection from reality, through overly idealised and disconnected modes of living which are endorsed by toxic spiritual ideologies. This includes delving into the realms of spiritual narcissism, the presence of gaslighting in spiritual contexts, and the troubling trend of turning spirituality into a commodity.
Venturing into personal development and enlightenment through spirituality, whilst typically rewarding, can lead individuals astray, especially when they encounter the dark corners of spirituality like spiritual psychosis and spiritual bypassing. My definition of Spiritual Psychosis is the detachment from reality in such a profound way due to one's spiritual beliefs that it can cause delusional thinking posing as mystical insight. This extreme disengagement can precipitate neglect of physical and mental health and damage interpersonal relationships. As well as this, Spiritual Bypassing occurs when spiritual practices or beliefs are used to dodge facing unresolved emotional wounds or psychological challenges, denying the individual genuine healing opportunities. Pretending that spiritual wellness can gloss over pain only leads to deeper issues. Ignoring problems won't make them disappear. True spirituality involves facing your shadow and working through difficulties. You can't just do a couple of breathwork classes or Reiki treatments and expect all life’s problems to disappear. Modalities are tools to be used to help integrate you into a better space and shouldn't be abused to sweep your troubles under the rug.
I believe in a grounded perspective on spirituality, with the aim to advocate for an integrated approach—one that weaves the subtleties of genuine spirituality with actual aspects of human life, in order to foster authentic growth and self-awareness amidst rapidly growing toxic spirituality in a rapidly growing toxic reality.

Toxic Spirituality is marked by various behaviours, such as spiritual narcissism, where individuals place their spiritual knowledge on a pedestal above that of others; Spiritual Gaslighting - In which people's genuine concerns are dismissed under the guise of spiritual superiority - and the troubling commercialisation of spirituality with over-consumption of spiritual tools and programs that only adds fuel to the fire in which spiritual narcissists posing as spiritual idols are birthed from. Ultimately, toxic traits of spirituality hinders personal development and disconnects individuals from discovering their authentic selves and then integrating that sense of self with the practicalities of life. To cultivate a truly harmonious and fulfilling spiritual existence, we must recognise both the difficulties we face in our earthly existence and our ambitions for a greater spiritual presence in reality. An exploration of our weaknesses and past traumas, that are commonly known as your 'shadow aspects', enables us to delve deeply into self-awareness. This is where the true spiritual work happens and this changes the vibration that you resonate at. I believe that when we've done the work from this level, it fosters a healthier and more inclusive spiritual community that acknowledges individual struggles while promoting collective growth and understanding.

Addressing toxic spirituality's impact demands an examination of the aspects facilitating this behaviour within modern spirituality. The desire to transcend the ordinary often leads people to ignore embracing human imperfections as part of their spiritual expl