I want to make a distinction between forms of bypassing and shadow jumping in an effort to avoid an over-generalized and unattuned usage of John Welwood’s now popular term “spiritual bypass”, which I defined in these terms in Soulshaping: “The tendency to jump to spirit/God prematurally in an effort to avoid challenging aspects of earthly reality.” But there are others that I have identified in my inner and outer explorations that are equally as reality-avoidant: (1) The positivity bypass/The bliss bypass- feigning positivity/bliss in an effort to sidestep or rise above the unhealed shadow; (2) The pragmatism bypass- That is, remaining perpetually focused on practical reality in an effort to avoid the bigger picture; (3) The All-One bypass- That is, remaining perpetually focused on unity consciousness in an effort to avoid our particular issues and challenges; (4) The head-tripping bypass/cerebral bypass-That is, choosing to live in and through the mind alone, over intellectualizing the moment, in an effort to pull up and away from the world of feeling; (5) The witness bypass- That is, choosing to live in witness mode, staring at our ‘pain body’ across the room and pretending its gone etc. in an effort to ‘transcend’ our pain and feign enlightenment; (6) The new age bypass- that is, using a bevy of ungrounded mantras i.e. It’s all Good”, “Everything happens for a reason”, “You chose all of your reality when you made that karmic contract”, “Everything you judge is a reflection of you” etc- in an effort to avoid the confusions and pains of life. And one of my personal favorites (7) “The pumpkin pie bypass”- using food in an effort to stuff down our feelings and keep us so tired out digesting that we are not emotionally available to the moment. I will add to this list next week, certain that there are as many forms of bypass as there are humans on the planet, for we all, in our own ways, have developed techniques to detach us from life’s challenges.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 15:50:41 +0000