In my 30s, I was involved in a group that promoted Nonviolent Communication, a practice that helped me gain self-awareness, empathy, and conflict resolution skills. Unfortunately, my involvement in this group had an unintended side effect: over the course of a decade, I gradually lost my ability to think critically about Nonviolent Communication itself, and I eventually became somewhat of a true believer. During this time, I had similar experiences—though to a lesser degree—with various spiritual and environmental groups, too. Eventually, I noticed a pattern. After encountering helpful ideas, I was getting involved with groups of people that were promoting those ideas, then I was losing my ability to think critically about those ideas—almost as if I’d been brainwashed. This article is my attempt to shed some light on this pattern and explore what we can do about it. (read more)
How Spiritual Groups Support Awakening
Many groups are available to provide support for your spiritual journey—from religions to spiritual movements to self-help groups. For simplicity, I’m going to call all of them spiritual groups. What all spiritual groups have in common is that they all support spiritual awakening, which I define as evolution toward greater empowerment and greater compassion. Let’s explore some of the unique ways that spiritual groups can support awakening. (read more)
Teachers and Teaching
Spiritual teachers are our guides to awakening—and they’re all around us. In this episode, I’ll describe the many types of spiritual teachers (including some types you might not have considered), I’ll show you how to get to know a teacher before you enter a student-teacher relationship, and I’ll show you how to avoid problems with spiritual teachers—problems like idealization and exploitation. Finally, I’ll explore various routes to becoming a teacher yourself. (read more)