Are You Pretending to be Enlightened?

Are you a spiritual seeker pretending to be spiritually enlightened? Have you opened a YouTube channel just months after becoming spiritual and are now teaching? Are you repackaging New Age books and acting like they are 'your' teachings? If so, allow me to save you decades of hardship. Read on.

The Newbie YouTube Guru

One of the biggest mistakes young people make on the path is thinking they can become an instant spiritual teacher by reading a few spiritual books. The temptation to jump onto YouTube and pretend to be an experienced spiritual teacher is rampant.

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If you are attractive and charismatic, the urge to use your talents to become an instant teacher is very tempting. The same goes for someone with low self-esteem who desperately seeks praise. In both cases, they bypass the authentic spiritual path to buy their stairway to heaven.

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They start believing they are called to a special mission to help enlighten humanity rather than themselves. Books with channeled teachings reinforce their delusions through the idea that they are like Neo from the Matrix creating reality with their thoughts.

“Dissociation (being split-off from one’s deepest truth) mimics enlightenment – but it isn’t enlightenment. People who are dissociated live in great peace. But this is only because they have blocked their negative feelings. The enlightened person resolves his negatives feelings, and thus his peace is not false.

― Daniel Mackler

It's trendy to posture as a spiritual teacher who is nothing more than a spiritual newbie who has thrown together a word salad of other people's teachings and repackaged them. Nothing they say is original. There's nothing wrong with referencing or teaching other material as long as you clarify IT'S NOT YOUR MATERIAL.

Do the work to create your philosophy and spend about 20 years developing it. Along the way, share your journey with others. Talk about the insights you've learned and how your life is genuinely changing. Speak the truth — that's what the whole spiritual path is about! Teaching happens when others are learning. But don't assign yourself as a teacher to gain notoriety and cash in on the gig.

The Authentic Path - Do the Inner Work

True spirituality is about authenticity, cutting through self-deception, and bringing inner healing and resolution. It's about growing into a self-realized human over time. To be self-realized means becoming conscious of your inner world, which includes your shadow.

The shadow is the part of you that will cheat the path to becoming a YouTube guru. It intends to operate under the radar so it can run the show covertly. It doesn't want to be "seen" for its manipulations. It's better to open a YouTube channel sharing your struggles and wins on the path than pretending to be someone you're not.

People who are dissociated call themselves enlightened. But this is only because they have they have no conception of what enlightenment is. Enlightenment is the polar opposite of dissociation.

― Daniel Mackler

The motivation for money and fame only proves the unconscious human drives at play. This is partly why their teachings reduce physical reality to an illusion and their bodies as vehicles. Their true motives are masked by love and light, cosmic word salads.

My recommendation for spiritual seekers is to learn Critical Thinking and the body-based Focusing Method. Stay away from New Age fantasy teachings and study the works of Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, and Alice Miller, for starters.

Stop Pretending to Know Things

Remember that the spiritual path is about brutal honesty with yourself and the world around you. It's about cutting through the dream state (Maya) and waking up to the present. Get radically honest with yourself and seek to expose your delusions, not feed them.

Beware of Unearned Wisdom. — Carl Jung

Do not pretend to know things that you do not know. Come from a place of natural wonder and curiosity. If your motivation is to become a spiritual teacher rather than busting through your delusions, you're going about it backward. Spiritual teaching happens when the plant ripens.

Knowing comes from experience through trial and error. If you build your spiritual house on a foundation made with sticks instead of stone, you will fall into the trap of spiritual narcissism.

Divine Narcissism

Early on the path, the temptation to build an enlightened persona is strong. This narcissistic delusion occurs when the novice experiences spiritual intuitions, synchronicity, and channeled teachings that give them the impression they are powerful beings creating the physical universe. And because this is all new to them, they are susceptible to grandiose thoughts about themselves.

"If you want to become Zen, become nothing."

— Zzenn

Don't listen to voices telling you how "special" you are. Seek to undo your "specialness" because it may not be grounded in reality. Find out who you authentically are, and then you will experience your true nature. You are as "right" as rain, the sun, the wind, and the earth . . . because, YOU ARE THAT!!!

Deconstruct your fake "specialness" and discover your true self.

False Enlightenment

If you start your path posturing like a spiritually evolved teacher, you will fall into the classic trap of false enlightenment. False enlightenment is, simply put, the illusion you are enlightened. The New Age idea of enlightenment is the illusion you are a superhuman being who can alter the physical laws with your mind. You claim to be omniscient, omnipotent, able to levitate, bilocate, read minds, or some mix of the miraculous.

Remember that spiritual experiences are transient. They are no more proof of enlightenment than someone who just came off a DMT trip. All subjective experiences are valid, even useful, but they come and go and should not be the measuring rod for awakening. The key is to "wake up" from "the feeling" of enlightenment and become who you already are. Don't be Mindless, Be Mindful.

"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear."

Do you know where that statement originated? Do you use that quote, believing it came from a Zen master? Well, it didn't. The term came from a book entitled "Light on the Path by Mabel Collins" who was a Theosophist. The book claims to be dictated (channeled) by Tibetan masters. On page 48, we read, "For when the disciple is ready; the Master is ready also."

Here are two falsely attributed quotes to Albert Einstein that are used often in the spiritual community.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results."

Not only is that NOT the definition of insanity, but the earliest reference on record is from Narcotics Anonymous.

"Everything is energy, and that's all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want, and you cannot help but get that reality."

This is a favorite of New Agers, who cite this quote as scientific proof of the Law of Attraction.

In both cases, there is no evidence Einstein or any other scientist in his circle came up with these statements. Keep in mind that the spiritual path is about truth realization. You can't be untruthful and truth-realized at the same time.

Don't become a mouthpiece for trendy spiritual statements that give you that "seasoned" look. Come up with unique quotes from direct experience and know who you are quoting. Become the real deal, do the work, and give credit where credit is due.

Don't Plagiarize Spiritual Content.

Countless people on YouTube use various spiritual systems like their own material. They speak as though they came up with the material. By what they say, you can easily discover 'who they are reading.' And when you do, notice how little credit they give their ideas to the originator. They are hitchhiking on the work of other people who most likely spent their lives developing their teaching.

There's nothing wrong with quoting a spiritual teacher or even becoming a teacher of someone else's philosophy. Just give credit where credit is due, don't act like you originated the teachings, and watch out for trendy statements that are not true. Develop a sharp mind for exposing the false.

Don't paste the pedals of another flower on yourself.

—Zzenn

Be honest with yourself and your audience. Don't pretend the New Age teachings you are presenting are true. Accept that channeled messages are anecdotal and not based on evidence. Admit that you don't know if the claims are valid because YOU DON'T KNOW. Stop pretending you do just because some spirit channeler says so. Go by direct experience and speak from the truth. THAT'S a genuine spiritual student.

Do the Real Work - Self-Realize.

Be the person you are in this moment with all your faults and talents. Be honest about the good and the bad so people can relate to you. Don't lie about who you are by acting like you have spiritual maturity. Do not pretend to have the experience you don't have. Deal with the fact that expertise takes time, and wisdom requires experience. That's what makes a spiritual teacher.

The above advice, if taken seriously, will save you years of tough lessons. If you are tempted to become a YouTube guru overnight, you will be protected from ridicule after you "wake up" later in your life. Remember that mistakes early on the path have historically been a personal issue for the most part. But when you go through "that phase of the path" and broadcast it to the world, it will forever stain your reputation.

Be humble. Start a YouTube channel sharing where you are on your path, not as a teacher but as a fellow seeker.

Be smart. Develop a sharp intellect and open heart. Go after self-delusion like a warrior. Burn away deception with brutal self-inspection.

Learn from those who have gone before you and leverage their wisdom. Always speak from direct experience. And finally, remember that the great realization is always the brutal truth in any given moment — That's enlightenment.

— Zzenn