Spiritual Superiority

Ever have someone who represents themselves as “enlightened” who hears about your circumstance and exercises spiritual superiority over you? That is to say that they assume that their level of enlightenment, spirituality, or wokeness, and then assert their level of heightened awareness onto you and your current life circumstance, because they “care about” or “love” you, but it feels like an overlord preaching at you. Instead of feeling like someone cares about you, it feels more like you’re being attacked.

In this case, asserted spiritual superiority comes across more like spiritual arrogance and this person’s claimed caring for you may actually be a toxic demand for subservience from a spiritual narcissist, sociopath, or psychopath.

How can you know if you’re dealing with a spiritual psycho?

Check-in with your heart. How does it feel?

Your heart is the most highly connected part of you. I know we all wish it was our brains that seem to run the show and get all the attention. But think about someone who cares about you. Like if you had a loving, caring parent, did they beat you into submission, demean you, give you a list of do’s and don’ts then punish you or make you feel bad if you missed the mark? Probably not.

If your parents were abusive and overbearing, then of course, when someone exerts their spiritual superiority over you, you may feel like responding with compliance because that’s what you know, and this method is effectively promoted in many successful religious circles.

For the average love-based humanoid, there’s a good chance that you will not receive someone who exerts their spiritual superiority over you after the initial contact because you’ve already written them off as not being credible.

It’s like you want to be receptive to information that is of value to you, but you can’t, because the delivery by someone who has claimed they care about you was too AGgressive/AFfirmative (AGAF).

A mentor of mine back in the day, Brother Bryan, used to say, “Don’t be so spiritually-minded that you’re no earthly good.” And that stuck with me. It’s like your doctor. If your doctor is trying to advise you on what is the best course of action for you, his or her delivery or “bedside manner” could make all the difference.

I’m not saying that narcissists don’t make good religious leaders, they do, but if someone is trying to communicate with a “normal” person, or even worse a sensitive person, then demanding compliance is not the best approach.

Abraham Hicks comes across like that if you don’t have the whole picture. In many cases, we get access to sound bites from Esther Hicks that are amazing, but these are not the whole story. For instance, Abraham might assert that your life is a reflection of your vibrational frequency. And that is not wrong, but it is also not the whole picture. Yet, many people go around asserting that you are “out of alignment” when it appears that something is not going as expected, or even worse, you are in crisis.

According to the sound bite, you’re so out of alignment that you are attracting nothing but tragedy, and if you don’t get back into alignment, the Abrahammers will flee from you in fear of your potentially threatening their superior vibration.

It’s not unlike the Christian community quoting Romans 8:28, “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” The same thing, when bad things are happening to you, better look out, something’s desperately wrong with that brother or sister in the Lord.

You cannot assert sound bites without giving your recipient the benefit of the whole picture, and the how, and how you deliver your message makes all the difference. If you really care about your recipient, you must love them first. If you are leading with your heart, the person you’re trying to help will feel that. Even if they are not ready to receive what you will have to say, they will remember what you said. If you are chastising them, do not expect a receptive response.

The rest of the story

The part of the story about your life path that those who think they have the right to assert their spiritual superiority over you have left out is that,

This is Your Journey

This is your journey, only you are living it. You have not done anything wrong. In fact, you can not do anything wrong, because if you are on a spiritual journey, every breath you take, every step you make, leads to something more. And if you encounter adversity, it is a blessing, maybe not in the moment, but you know by experience that it is preparing your for something up the road.

You are not wrong

So, guess what? This is not a spiritual competition. They have no right to tell you what to do, or ever say that you are doing anything “wrong.” We are all doing the best that we can with what we have, or not. And if not, then nothing really matters, but if we are, this is the most exciting journey of all, and you’re all in. Congratulations to you.

If your sense of well-being has been interrupted by someone who feels entitled to exert their spiritual superiority over you, you don’t need to be disrespectful. Know that you do not have to listen to them or do what they tell you to do. File what they say away for another day, or disregard it altogether, but don’t let them bully you into submission. That approach may have worked in the olden days, but not anymore.

Be true to you

You are love. You are made of love. You live in love’s vibration, and for someone to effectively, connectively communicate with you, they are going to have to do so in love’s vibration or else they will only be received as a sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal, and that is on them.

In the meantime, be true to you.

Spiritual Competition

When you find yourself hanging around those who are on a path to enlightenment, we all have different talents, gifts, and special abilities, yet here we are, all sharing space, looking forward, and each trying to make the next step on our journey in an effort to get us from where we are to where we want to be, or closer to the desires of our hearts.

If we’re doing it right, if you’ve gathered with someone who is on their path on their own journey, that other person will have some similarities to you but be completely different in many ways. While you share a common destination: Your Highest and Best, your individual journeys and should be so-o different, and where you’re going, and how you will get there are different as well.

Back in the day, when I first started in the ministry, I found myself face-to-face with this issue of spiritual competition, and comparison.

Now, I had seen this being a problem in church projects I’d been involved in the past, and I determined that if I had a chance to be in a position of influence, to lead a church, I would have a strict policy against spiritual competition.

So, there I was, proudly leading a group of people, and every one of them agreed not to participate in spiritual competition.

Any idea how my vision came to fruition?

Yeah, it didn’t. It was a total pipe dream.

As much as I wanted to see everyone loving and accepting everyone the same. As much as I longed to lead a group of people who loved and accepted everyone just as you might love a family member. You love your sibling who may choose a different path, like I love my siblings.

It doesn’t matter to me; blood is the love-bond that can’t be broken. My relatives can do whatever they want, whether I agree with it or not, and I will fully support and love them. That’s what I expected.

Have I ever talked to you about expectation imposition? Yeah, you can have the best ideas and expectations, but sometimes things just don’t turn out the way you had planned.

Here I was surrounded by people who agreed, they promised the would do this. Yet, there they were making their own social groups. The university attendees grouped over here. The technically-inclined gathered over there. The artists were over there. Single parents were over there. The servant-hearted were over there, and the smokers were out in the parking lot.

On the surface, not so bad, because like-minded individuals are attracted to each other, and you want to hang with the people who you have things in common with.

And as soon as these groups started to form, I could hear the murmuring of the comparisons between the groups, and how our group was better than their group, espousing superiority.

That was at the basic level, but deep underneath that, spreading like a cancer amongst my fold, was each individual fighting for their own spiritual superiority, in a sense, stabbing their brethren, those within their own group in the back.

Sometimes I heard it all in specific detail in private counseling sessions, while others were stealthier in their spiritual competition and judgment of those amongst our sacred family. Not dissimilar from high school.

Nonetheless, there I was. Disappointed, feeling as though I failed.

Here it was standing me in the face: The enemy of mankind’s potential: Division and Separation.

I just don’t understand the need to exert superiority over others. Even back then, I thought we should be able to be all different and still the same, loving each other without judgment.

Once you make a statement, like, “I am more enlightened than…” (fill in the blank) or “awakened” or more “spiritually mature,” it’s a pretty good indicator, that you are not where you think you are.

Spiritual growth is not about comparison, it is not a competition. It is a uniquely individual journey, and if you’re here, experiencing life in the 3D, you are just like the rest of us.

So, get over it, and get off your high horse, and think about learning humility, for none of us are better than anyone else and we’re all in this together.

Bridging the Gap: Humility in Biblical Knowledge

Since when was it a virtue to take pride in one’s knowledge of the Bible and to look down upon those less versed in its teachings? Saint Paul, in his wisdom, reminds us that knowledge, when wielded with pride, puffs up while love, in its humility, builds up. There are pitfalls that accompany boasting about biblical knowledge, and one should use such knowledge as a bridge rather than a barricade in connecting with others.

The Danger of Pride in Biblical Knowledge:

As Paul aptly points out, “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” The emphasis here is on the potential arrogance that can accompany an inflated sense of biblical understanding. Some Christians, as the author observes, strut their knowledge of the Bible as if it were an accomplishment, a badge of spiritual superiority. This, however, stands in stark contrast to the essence of Christian love and humility.

Knowledge as a Bridge, Not a Barricade:

There was a time when I recited scripture in the King James translation, and I was proud of being able to do so. Was it intimidating to others? Yes. Did that bother me? No. Why? Because it was God’s word, it should intimidate any heathen. (Yes, there was a time…) And I can tell you that my efficacy in sharing the real meaning of the teachings and the love of Jesus fell on deaf ears, mostly due to my own pompousness.

Over time, I realized that relating the ideas from scripture in everyday language and framing them within our contemporary world using current events and data to support them was far more productive than quoting the scriptures verbatim.

The crucial realization emerges: the purpose of this knowledge is not to build walls of separation but to function as a bridge to connect with people. The call is to utilize biblical understanding not as a barricade, showcasing self-righteousness, superiority, or causing separation, but as a means to foster understanding and unity.

A Lesson from Pharisees:

The cautionary note is sounded that behaving otherwise puts Christians on the same ground as a religious group that incurred Jesus’ strong disapproval—the Pharisees. Carey Nieuwhof’s Top 10 Things Pharisees Say Today serves as a reminder that the pitfalls of pride and legalism are timeless. Using the Bible as a tool for exclusivity rather than inclusivity aligns with a mindset that Jesus vehemently opposed.

The Top 10 Things Pharisees Say Today

    1. “If he knew the Bible as well as I did, his life would be better.”
    2. “I follow the rules.”
    3. “You shouldn’t hang around people like that.”
    4. “God listens to my prayers.”
    5. “Sure I have a few issues, but that’s between me and God.”
    6. “They just need to work harder.”
    7. “Of course I’m a Christian.”
    8. “More people need to stand up for Christian values.”
    9. “I’m simply more comfortable with people from my church than I am with people who don’t go to church.”
    10. “People who don’t go to church can come if they want to.”

The Heart of the Matter:

The core message resonates: it was never about what one knows or doesn’t know, but about what God knows and, more profoundly, who God loves. Humility is the key to understanding the purpose of biblical knowledge—to deepen the connection with God and extend that love to others. The emphasis shifts from self-righteousness to a recognition of the immeasurable depth of God’s love and grace.

The resounding call is clear—use the Bible as a bridge to the culture, not as a barricade against it. Humility in the face of biblical knowledge is a testament to the understanding that, at its core, Christianity is about love, compassion, and connection. Let the knowledge of the Bible serve as a catalyst for building bridges, fostering understanding, and, above all, embodying the profound love that lies at the heart of the Christian faith.

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