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Spiritual Bypassing

Spiritual bypassing: This is prevalent in New Age philosophy, which I would describe as a mindset which adopts terms and concepts from Eastern spirituality without understanding them, combined with magical thinking.  I feel like it is common in Christian circles as well. But basically anyone on a spiritual path can fall into this trap.  I know I have. The most important thing is simply being able to recognize it if it arises in you. I have had severe anxiety attacks in which I tried so hard to hang on to positive ideas and phrases, and nothing worked.  Some of my biggest breakthroughs have been diving deep into the pain and letting the horror flood through me. I was driving through the mountains of Colorado West my best friend when I experienced this.  I met God in the mountains and the experience was of horror and beauty intertwined.  The phrase I kept uttering and which stays with me today, was "it's all so fucking beautiful"
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On Music, and the Beauty to be Found in Darkness

A ramble about music generas and the value of  exploring dark themes through art: My taste in music is very diverse, but it's also very particular, so it's nice that I am discovering music I like. I would just as soon listen to a McDonald's jingle as 90% of what they play on the radio.   This is an example of dream pop, my favorite new genre. I also appreciate good lyrics - I had to look up these and the line is "this love will kill us". There can be a strange sort of beauty when art explores dark ideas, because when you can relate to them, they open a door to explore and acknowledge dark experiences and traits.  We all have them, and if you never do that, you lose access to parts of you which you need to understand to be whole. When I entered a dark time in my life, I tried to lift my spirits by listening to careful worship music - and all it did was make me feel worse.  It propped up the idea that everything is good enough. God will always be there to comfort yo
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