Got your Oprah glasses on,
and your Eckhart Tolle reader,
your immersed within the present,
and you’re feeling all that oneness,
and everybody’s groovy,
and all beliefs are valid,
and everything’s respected,
and empathy flows freely,
except to those who disagree.
All groups have a shadow, just as all people have a shadow. The danger in life is not having a shadow, but, rather, to not be conscious of your shadow. Then it falls upon others in self-righteous arrogance.
There is always an “I” and a “not-I” to the personality. The “not-I” is your shadow, the part of you that you reject, ignore, or otherwise refuse to own. The individual who recognizes her “not-I” can be up-front, clear, assertive and honest about the light and dark within herself. But the person who imagines she has no “not-I” rejects, demeans, and kills without knowing. She takes no responsibility for her shadow because her discrimination of others is unconscious.
Those who think they are open to all, who embrace and make room for all viewpoints, reject that part of themselves that says, “No, I cannot abide that,” or “That is not welcome here.” And eventually they reject from their group those who demonstrate such attitudes in their outer life. They view these individuals as rigid, closed-minded or intolerant when, in reality, they are often just more honest. Idealistic spiritual inclusiveness is a surprisingly deceptive form of spiritual arrogance.