From John Welwood who coined the term Spiritual Bypassing:
Spiritual bypassing is a term I coined to describe a process I saw happening in the Buddhist community I was in, and also in myself. Although most of us were sincerely trying to work on ourselves, I noticed a widespread tendency to use spiritual ideas and practices to sidestep or avoid facing unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds, and unfinished developmental tasks.
When we are spiritually bypassing, we often use the goal of awakening or liberation to rationalize what I call premature transcendence: trying to rise above the raw and messy side of our humanness before we have fully faced and made peace with it. And then we tend to use absolute truth to disparage or dismiss relative human needs, feelings, psychological problems, relational difficulties, and developmental deficits. I see this as an “occupational hazard” of the spiritual path, in that spirituality does involve a vision of going beyond our current karmic situation.
DIRECTIONS: From Rancho Santa Fe Road, turn onto El Camino Del Norte. Go 6⁄10 of a mile, then turn Left onto Val Sereno. When Val Sereno dead ends at Via de Caballo, turn Right. At the dead end cul de sac, turn Right at a large wooden sign with house numbers and follow the narrow extension down the hill. At the bottom of the hill, turn Left. Our half of the townhouse is at the end, 3197, double green doors.
Parking is limited. One car can park in front of our end of the duplex. One car can park to the right of my duplex neighbor. Three cars can park in the guest slots before the townhouse. The rest of you will have to park at the top of the hill before the wooden sign and then walk down the hill. I suggest that you bring a flash light to return up the hill to your car. Sorry for this inconvenience.
If you get lost, call our (Anne and Paul) home phone, 858-759-9215. See you soon.
You can also call Eloy at 760 522-4679.