I moved to Sedona in 1997, a few years after grad school followed by several months of traveling around South America. I was a seeker - looking for healing and curious to explore spirituality beyond my catholic upbringing.
Sedona was the place for me! I could feel it from the moment I felt the energy. The next day, I literally bumped into the healer who would teach me how to release the emotional pain I'd been carrying around my whole life. He became a dear friend and mentor who helped me through my personal transformation from caterpillar to butterfly.
And he was also into conspiracy theories. Big time.
Conspiracies were new territory for me and I got a crash course in Sedona. I learned about everything from chemtrails to the lizard people controlling the world, mk-ultra, the sinister secret government, and the black helicopters that seemed to follow anybody who's anybody in Sedona.
I kept an open mind - crazy as everything sounded - and read some of the books that were being passed around among my yoga and new-agey groups.
After a year of exploring these ideas, I realized that there was no bottom to the stories. It was an endless search for meaning, some ultimate truth behind the scenes. I came to the awareness that believing these things was not making my life better.
I made the conscious decision to let the conspiracy theories drop away and to live my life just as it appeared to be. While some would curse at and allow chemtrails to ruin their day, I was enjoying the beauty of the southwest sky. If lizard people are really running the world, then so be it - I'm here to make the most of my one sacred life.
Fast forward twenty-plus years and these same conspiracies - plus many more - have seized the minds of spiritual seekers everywhere. Sometimes it can seem like to "be spiritual" or to "be a part of something" means to buy into certain beliefs about things like Covid, vaccinations, wearing masks, and so on. Beliefs that your yoga teacher, sound healer, or even meditation teacher may encourage you to adopt.
In truth, spirituality has nothing to do with what you are "supposed" to believe. Being a spiritual person does not mean that you have to support a particular political party, believe things that have no basis in reality, eat special foods, or anything else someone else deems "spiritual".
It is incredibly confusing when someone you trusted with your wellness reveals themselves to espouse beliefs that go against your common sense and/or your core values.
It happened to me recently. A wellness leader sent me a link to a misinformation video that was hosted on a site popular with the alt-right. When I said that the site promotes hate and misinformation and therefore violates my core values and that I would not legitimize their site with my eyeballs, I was told that I should keep an open mind.
I am open-minded. I also have core values. Violating my core values is NOT being open-minded.
Your core values are sacred. They serve as your compass in life to keep you moving in the moral direction that is true to your core. They also serve as a barrier to protect you from crossing over into territory that is not aligned with who and what you are - who you strive to be. The very best version of you.
I am grateful that I was introduced to conspiracy thinking all those years ago and that I was able to let it go like a bad habit. It helps me now to recognize the grip suchideas can have on the mind and how very sacred your mind and values are. They are yours to honor and protect.
So when someone in your life asks you to buy into their misinformation or conspiracy, refer to your core values. Stay true to your moral compass. No need for drama or a debate. A simple, "this is not in alignment with my values" is all it takes.
What could possibly be more spiritual than that?