Mega-Thread Of Every Trap Within Self-Help & Spirituality

[Leo Gura]

This is a big one!

I'm working on a new video topic about traps in life and traps in this work. I will present a long list of traps in that video when it releases but I would like to crowd-source this a bit because there are so many traps that I can't think of them all.

So here's your chance to contribute.

Examples of traps:

• Studying only one teacher or perspective
• Using theory as a distraction from taking action
• Sleeping with your guru
• Eyeballing psychedelic dosages
• Controlling and manipulating people for your happiness
• Using chemicals to make yourself happy
• Arguing and debating
• Staying in a verbally abusive relationship
• Pursuing get-rich-quick schemes
• Calling people or other perspectives "evil", demonization
• Expecting your guru to be morally perfect

[Salvijus]

False teachers? With false teachings like neo advaita for example.

[Preety_India]

Suffering withdrawal symptoms when guru is not around. 

[Kshantivadin]

Big traps I can think of:

Spirituality:

• not being aware of ego backlash
• confusing the Absolute with the relative
• thinking that you're done with the work
• not having a teacher to interact with
• using spirituality to avoid life, suffering and reality
• conceptualising and intellectual understanding instead of visceral, embodied understanding and wisdom
• adopting ideas as truth before understanding them yourself

Self-help:

• thinking that happiness depends on anything external
• sleeping on life, delaying living with any excuse : "when i finish x, when i do y, when i achieve this, when i fix that, then I can start living!"
• being satisfied with mediocre results, having the "any benefit is good" mindset

I'll expand the list when I have more time, taking into consideration what other members will have said. Let me know what you all think of these, I would like to identify the biggest traps of this work, ideally make a tier list. I think it's possible.

Edited June 21, 2022 by Kshantivadin

[something_else]

Trying to do too many different things at once rather than concentrating your efforts

Believing what someone (e.g. a spiritual teacher) tells you at face value, without doing your own investigations

Edited June 21, 2022 by something_else

[The Mystical Man]

• Thinking that because "life is a dream" anything goes
• Committing suicide (because "it leads to God", or for whatever reason)
• Not taking responsibility for your thoughts, emotions, and actions because "there is no self"
• Not going to school or work
• Avoiding the harsh reality of your life situation
• Not building skills (because "nothing matters", or for whatever reason)
• Becoming lazy, complacent, and self-satisfied
• Becoming arrogant and disrespectful
• Thinking that every problem in life needs to be solved by meditating more or reading more books (maybe you need to work out, do chelation therapy, or some other non-spiritual form of self-help, because awakening is not the answer to everything)
• Relying only on intuition and dismissing the power of reason and logic
• Turning the ego against itself, thereby becoming dysfunctional and immobilized, instead of building a mature and healthy ego
• Thinking you're above everything when you can't even get laid or make money
• Thinking that success and money won't make you happy, thus becoming unproductive
• Confusing non-doing with not-doing
• Becoming too isolated for too long, thus getting lost in the vastness of the psyche, and not asking for help because "no one can understand me"
• Feeling special: an unwillingness to die into the ordinary
• Thinking that social skills aren't important (as long as you live in society, your social skills, communication skills, and EQ are very important)
• Getting overwhelmed by the content that's out there, and thinking that you have to consume it all (90% of self-help material is cheap and generic; find the best of the best and focus on that)
• Not accepting your humanity
• Losing your dignity 
• Losing your integrity
• Becoming a degenerate devil

Edited June 22, 2022 by The Mystical Man

[Preety_India]

• Falling for scandalous gurus and their manipulation 
• Trying supplements that don't work or are risky 
• Trying unknown psychedelics and suffering loss of cognition 
• Trying psychedelics without reading safety warnings 
• Not able to connect with reality after following solipsism shit 
• Hero worshipping gurus to the point of blindness. 

 

• Guilt tripping normies 
• Spiritual bypassing 
• Spiritual dick measuring contest - "I'm more spiritual than you" 
• Not using spirituality to increase love for others, but only boosting one's own ego, flexing. Not using spirituality in a practical sense 
• Making mockery of core spiritual teachings 
• Starting unnecessary fights with other spiritual seekers 
• Going on and on about neo advaita without being logical 

 

Edited June 21, 2022 by Preety_India

[Proserpina]

Major Traps I've encountered:

- over reliance on gifts  and concentration ability

- skepticism toward medication

- not respecting health

[Kshantivadin]

I would just love to express love and gratitude for this thread. Strength in numbers and experience in this huge maze, time to make a personal development trap wiki

[Carl-Richard]

On 19.6.2022 at 0:39 PM, Carl-Richard said:

(...) naive skepticism, i.e. the unnuanced dismissal or shutdown of intellectual thought and collective wisdom (rationality & science, tradition & myth).

 

[Leo Gura]

Good, good!

You guys are on this like flies on shit

[Grateful Dead]

• missing the point of enjoying life while doing self-help/spirituality
• thinking you are better then everyone else just because you did some work on yourself

[Snader]

Depending on quick fixes rather than working on the root problem/(s)

[Gesundheit2]

I don't have anything to contribute for now. But wow! Looking forward for this episode.

[NoSelfSelf]

1.Not being a freethinker,trapped in societies,parents,authority world to the point you dont know who you are and what to think,following everyone but yourself...really hard to do takes alot of energy thats why its an easy trap

2.Using self help to avoid failure and pain not seeing that pain and failure is best form of self help(supplemented with knowledge second to experience)

3.Trap of self confirming bias-just confirming what you already know in your own way and not expanding opening mind you think you already know

4.Paradigm problem you use information that dont suit your own paradigm and your needs but using information because its a best new thing (its exapnsion of point 1.) Stage orange person using stage turqouise insights and pretending he is above his level losing years instead of working on his level to get to next level...losing years of life working on things that is not for you at that time

5.Trying to help people and despretly making them think deeply and losing alot of time making them grow instead making yourself grow..

6.Like point 2 using spirituality as a way to avoid fear,pain,dissapointment not seeing thats necessary to grow...

7.Creating a false self instead of being authentic self using self help as a way to be something you are not instead of turning self help knowledge tailored to your own settings(computer refrence) 

8.Making stuff about other people instead of about yourself...reason you fail is you not seeing this. . working on yourself not possible as long problem is out there(Red pill,gender wars example for dating) 100% accountability everything else you wont grow

9.Quick fixes-Whats the fastest way,whats the thing i should do to make it work not seeing you have to become student of that thing its like asking how to speak Japanise tell me one tip and tommorow ill speak it...meditating 20 minutes in few months expecting enlightment

10.Coming full circle you have to be your own unique individual with your own vision your own ways of being self help could easily make you biased towards their ways the ways of the guru and a teacher so being really mindful of where hes taking me whats his agenda and does it serve my path and my own way...you could start thinking your unique path is wrong based on someones teaching but mybe its a right thing to do FOR YOU! and its on you to see it.

[Michael Jackson]

26 minutes ago, Carl-Richard said:

 

Naive scepticism

@Carl-Richard great one!!

[Michael Jackson]

26 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Good, good!

You guys are on this like flies on shit

@Leo Gura The only question is, who is the shit

[zurew]

12 minutes ago, Michael Jackson said:

The only question is, who is the shit

The real question is, who is not shit?

 

42 minutes ago, Carl-Richard said:

(...) naive skepticism, i.e. the unnuanced dismissal or shutdown of intellectual thought and collective wisdom (rationality & science, tradition & myth).

One of the most overlooked one.

[Leo Gura]

20 minutes ago, Michael Jackson said:

@Leo Gura The only question is, who is the shit

The only who is you

[Vynce]

Not appreciating other forms of development or even no development. Resentment towards non-spiritual people is non-spiritual.