Beware of the Spiritual Industrial Complex.

We have long since been separated from our ancestral spiritual roots, often violently stripped away, leaving us lost and seeking ever since. 

It is why we are so prone to appropriating other spiritual cultures and pretending they are our own. This vulnerability makes us particularly susceptible to spiritual manipulation masked as awakening.

The Spiritual Industrial Complex sings a beguiling melody, luring white women into a trance of false superiority masked as illumination. It promises enlightenment but delivers entrapment, speaks of transcendence but conceals a cage.

Spiritual Bypassing: A refuge for the fearful, it cloaks pain and wounds, offering false serenity that masks inner darkness. Spiritual bypassing is the first step in the spirituality-to-supremacy pipeline.

White women, distanced from ancestral roots, often seek quick fixes to deep-seated issues, making them susceptible to this deceptive peace.

Judgment and Superiority: It whispers the lie that our path is the only path, that our awakening is a beacon for all. This toxicity breeds cancerous arrogance.

White women, in a bid to reclaim lost spiritual authority, may fall for this, believing their journey is superior and universally applicable. “White is right” spirituality is the foundation of modern Christian culture and new-age spirituality. It is really hard to see from the inside but very obvious to others from the outside.

Denial of Reality: Retreating into the ethereal and rejecting the world is an illusory poison. Finding the sacred in the mundane and embracing life’s grit becomes lost. The Spiritual Industrial Complex wants you to believe that discomfort means you’re not spiritual enough. So, denying suffering, especially the suffering of others, starts to feel like spiritual superiority.

White women, conditioned to seek comfort and validation, are prone to deny reality for a more palatable, spiritualized version of reality that is a fantasy that only includes them.

Unquestioning Obedience: The teacher’s voice can be a guiding star or a siren’s call. Blind obedience is the antithesis of growth. Cultivating inner wisdom and questioning is lost in the process. This comes in many forms, from the pastor to the best-selling spiritual author to the money-making social media superstar online.

White women, searching for lost guidance, often uncritically follow charismatic leaders, forsaking their own discernment. They search for community in these shadowy halls. They often find it there, but it doesn’t feed them for long.

Escapism: The Spiritual Industrial Complex offers refuge from harsh reality, claiming you’ve done the work and deserve the easy path. Embracing the challenging journey is avoided.

White women, often seeking solace from societal pressures, might buy into the promise of an easy, effortless spiritual path of entitlement. All you have to do is be born again or learn the right mantra, and you’re golden. These once-and-done badges of spiritual purity don’t make us feel fixed and they leave us still seeking and appropriating.

Suppression of Emotions: Only flowers of positivity are allowed to bloom. Enforced cheerfulness becomes a prison of false paradise. The Complex wants us to remain appropriately pretty and smiling all the time.

White women, socialized to maintain appearances and avoid discomfort, might suppress their true emotions to fit the ideal of constant positivity and be more socially palatable, especially palatable to white men who often expect women to be fundamentally agreeable. 

Holier-than-Thou: The sanctimonious spirit breeds moral superiority. The Spiritual Industrial Complex tells white women they are better than everyone else, reassuring us of our rightness and special status.

White women, seeking to reclaim a sense of power, confuse that with a feeling of importance and influence. We can be lured into believing we hold spiritual superiority over others and are entitled to leadership in spiritual communities. 

Toxic Positivity: Negativity becomes a forbidden fruit in false spiritual realms. Happy thoughts only is the equivilant of the mid-life face lift where a positive attitude is the not just a superior trait but also the best cosmetic. When all emotions are not welcome and sacred, toxic positivty limits the range of human experience in favor of well-behaved women who look happy.

White women pressured to maintain a facade of perfection, might embrace toxic positivity, rejecting the necessary depth for genuine growth. They are taught to avoid interacting with or even looking at “other people” who are not happy or aren’t as positive as they are. They see unhappiness and suffering in others as a sign of spiritual failing.

Commercialization of Spirituality: The marketplace sells enlightenment by the pound. Inner wealth over material gain and authenticity over appearance are often disregarded.

White women, in their quest for spiritual fulfillment, are often targeted by commercial interests, turning spirituality into another consumer product. They get the enlightenment they can afford and often find themselves surrounded by other white women who can afford it, too, silently congratulating themselves on that badge of spiritual elitism and success.

If you see yourself reflected in any of these points, it’s crucial to recognize that your spirituality might be keeping you locked into an invisible contract with white supremacy. The Spiritual Industrial Complex, designed to exploit and manipulate, often perpetuates systems of oppression while masquerading as enlightenment. 

Lisa Hayes, The Love Whisperer, is an LOA Relationship Coach. She helps clients leverage Law of Attraction to get the relationships they dream about and build the lives they want. Lisa is the author of the hit books, Score Your Soulmate and How to Escape from Relationship Hell and The Passion Plan. Lisa also trains the worlds best coaches at www.thecoachingguild.com.