“That’s just woo-woo.” Are you sure? I don’t use the word “woo woo” or similar words anymore. Words like “woo woo” have been used to disparage legitimate spiritual realizations and insights along with the quackery. Some people have been traumatized within their own families because they don’t feel safe sharing their spirituality with family members who disparage it. They’ve had to suppress it. That’s not healthy to have to suppress one’s desire to be healthy, awake, and healed.
In other words, these kinds of disparaging words can come from laziness and fear, from those who may be afraid of change or of rocking the boat. I have to admit. I used to use the word “woo woo” and frankly that’s one of the ways I kept the possibility of healing off the table.
Although there are things that lack credibility in spirituality, I prefer discernment so that the baby doesn’t get thrown out with the bathwater.
I think this kind of attack on people’s spirituality can be traumatizing and not helpful for humanity as a whole. There is a place for debate in spirituality. I’m not sure about name-calling and these kinds of judgments. Use any words you want. Right now I’m doing a personal inventory of the vocabulary I choose to use as a teacher. These kinds of words are not helpful in the conversation in my view. What has been helpful for me is to discern between particular teachings, practices and frameworks, not to debunk the possibility of awakening, embodiment or healing.
Many things that have been considered woo-woo or even paranormal in history became normal once science verified.
Words like “woo woo” stop conversations and stop inquiry. These words disparage, gaslight people, chill speech, make people feel like there’s something wrong with them for being innovative or thinking outside the box or even being open-minded. These kinds of words act as a block to human innovation and the development of consciousness. Skepticism is important but if being skeptical results in you always debunking things before you entertain the possibility via science or inquiry, skepticism stops being useful.
Years ago, as an attorney, I was paid to debunk every single argument made by anyone. Although that is very helpful in a court of law, my liberation did not come from debunking the prospect of healing and awakening. Quite the opposite, my spiritual practice and inquiry have shown me that much of what we believe in relative or conventional reality isn’t true or doesn’t exist in the way we think. That’s what needs debunking – our belief systems that keep us in ignorance.
Had I decided that awakening or healing was woo-woo,
had I decided that trauma couldn’t be healed,
had I decided that physical pain is just pain and it isn’t trauma,
we would not even be here today talking about the real prospect of healing trauma and repression as part of the awakening process.
Many people through the years have even tried to say that my talk about trauma and repression is woo-woo. A lot of that is coming from within spirituality – not from the outside world. There’s a lot of science backing up what I’m saying. But I did not discover healing by just reading science or debunking other people’s claims of healing. I took the prospect of awakening and healing in this life very seriously. I could not have gone into the depths of that realization by debunking the possibility of that realization.
I’m encouraging everyone to stay open, wide open. Stay with beginners’ mind. Humans love to think they know something. It makes them feel safe. But inquiry provides a totally different opportunity. Inquiry allows us to discover what is real, and what is true, and consequently what is not real and what is not true. With tools like science and inquiry, we don’t have to rely on belief, conjecture, or anything like that. I encourage you not to completely dismiss what I’m saying or any of the nondual teachers of the world. Discern between them. Don’t dismiss them all.
It’s good to have discernment between which teachings or practices are clear and which are not. But, if you see me or anyone else sharing something that triggers you, or that sounds woo woo, or that seems odd for a nondual teacher to share, be careful. I don’t believe I would have healed my spinal stenosis and trauma by being close-minded in that way. There’s a way to be discerning without being closed. ❤️
Join us in the Kiloby Members Area for the evolution of somatic-based inquiry: https://kiloby.com/members-signup/