We can know all about the history and legacy of slavery, redlining, housing and job discrimination, school segregation and underfunding, the land theft and genocide committed against Native people, Japanese internment in World War II, anti-Asian discrimination and violence, Islamophobia, antisemitism—the list goes on and on—and be horrified, and be very much consciously not on board with any of it. We can even come out looking pretty good on the Implicit Association Test, although a great many of us, of all colors, don’t. Being told the truth for once is certainly a deep refreshment for the mind and a balm to the soul, but it would still be the rare philosophy, or set of core beliefs, that could be entirely transformed just by gathering new information.
As Joe Miller, an eclectic adept and teacher of mysticism who cared only for the title of “friend,” said, “You can get more stinkin’ from thinkin’ than you can from drinkin’, but to feel is for real!” The quickest way to get where we’re aiming to go is to bypass the conscious mind and go straight to the unconscious, as spiritual healing practices do. Spiritual healing techniques deliver the rapid paradigm shifts we so sorely need. From there, we can find our way to the systemic shifts we so sorely need.
It might be interesting if someday someone decided to get into the theory behind it all—and even then the reality of healing would still not care about theories. Years ago I had a music teacher who said that there are musicians who play beautifully and don’t know anything about theory, and there are musicians who know everything there is to know about theory and “couldn’t play ‘Come to Jesus’ in E flat.” Our most genuine and powerful knowledge of healing is not theoretical, it’s inside us, and the practices that resonate with us are the ones for us. The proof of the practice is in the healing.
We might say that our best thinking has gotten us into this mess. Spiritual healing bypasses the thinking mind and goes straight to the emotions—including the hidden ones—so we can actually be in tune with reality.
And anyway, we’ve already tried everything else.
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