Spiritual Superiority

When I began working in the wellness industry I really thought that it would be full of evolving people who believed in being a good kind person. Sadly, turns out this was a very naive notion indeed. The very first event I worked I was interrogated about where I learnt and how I worked, then told how much better that person interrogated me was. I was shocked and slightly traumatised. But that was the third person who showed me their ‘comparison ego’ within a few weeks.

But is there a hierarchy? Where one person is claimed to be better than the other? And if so, who decides who is better than who?

This year, surprisingly, I have been on the receiving end of someone’s comparison and it has got me thinking, where does this really stem from. How do we as human’s come to this mind set of inequality and showmanship? Or is this finding the natural order of things?

What I do understand is a huge factor is culture. The values that are bred in culture, whether that is at a school, organisation, professional environment, family unit - any context where there is a group of people there is culture. Mix in the local landscape of those group of people and you have context.

Culturally contextual, some shamanic traditions I come into contact with still have the attitude of ‘who is the more powerful shaman’. From my understanding traditionally the title of shaman was given to a person based on their actions. If they were able to speak to the spirits, heal people and land, carry medicine practices, and were good at it, the community would acknowledge their position as a shaman. In some communities the strength of a person’s connection to Spirit would have to be approved of by older more experienced shamans.

But somehow along the way, in some of these traditions a comparison game began of who was the more powerful shaman. And we see some of that filter through into the shamanic community in the UK. But the nuances are different. Here in England, the comparison game is ‘which indigenous lineage have you trained in? With who?’. A constant measuring up based on ‘who you know’ - and we all know the roots of this attitude is colonial in origin.

But this is where my journey as a solitary practitioner truly shines. There is no person in between me and Spirit. And each time someone tries to get in-between I get a energetic slap back - a drama situation that I somehow naively, unwittingly participated in and that person spirals out of my life. A teacher, mentor or colleague who tries to tell you that their guidance from Spirit is better or more accurate, or doubts your guidance, is one to wary of. For that person is trying to stand a little taller by making you a little smaller.

Diminishing one’s light is pointless. Because regardless of who we know, or which school/person we learnt from, or how well marketed we are as a practitioner, we are all serving the greater purpose. We all have our place. Some of us are meant to serve our communities, some of us are meant to travel internationally, some of us are meant to serve for a short while, and some a lifelong commitment.

For some people to be more, it requires some people to be less. We can show respect to each and every single person because they all play a part in the sacred story of life. Without each person, the tapestry humanity weaves would be dull and lifeless, instead of rich and vibrant. It takes people from all walks of life to really express the Creator in the mystery of its fullness. We are all Divine in origin.