Photo credit: StockSnap. Description: Woman with eyes closed and shadow across face.
I want to talk about something I witnessed last week in the online world.
First, a little background. A couple of years ago, I became increasingly aware of a pervasive phenomenon in the (overwhelmingly white) women’s spirituality/ personal growth circles I move in. I noticed persistent attempts to deny and disown painful realities by insistence (overt or implied) that we create our struggles with our negative thinking or energy or low vibration or fill-in-the-blank. I do believe the way we frame things in our thinking can be important to our well being and success, up to a point. I do believe we have some authentic choice around where we place our focus, and those choices can impact our well being and success, up to a point. However, I found the blanket application and oversimplification of these ideas to be profoundly negating of people’s life experience. It also borders on blaming people for certain external realities truly beyond their control.
I wrote a blog post at that time called “Anger and Spirituality Are Not Mutually Exclusive” in a stumbling attempt to speak to this thing I couldn’t name. I didn’t know then that I didn’t have to name it because it already had a name—Spiritual Bypassing—and there’s a whole book about it. I found this out when a dear friend put her copy of the book in my hands and said, “Will you please read this already? It’s what you’ve been bitching about for a year.”
Here’s the quick definition:
“Spiritual bypassing is a very persistent shadow of spirituality, manifesting in many ways, often without being acknowledged as such. Aspects of spiritual bypassing include exaggerated detachment, emotional numbing and repression, overemphasis on the positive, anger-phobia, blind or overly tolerant compassion, weak or too porous boundaries, lopsided development (cognitive intelligence often being far ahead of emotional and moral intelligence), debilitating judgment about one’s negativity or shadow elements, devaluation of the personal relative to the spiritual, and delusions of having arrived at a higher level of being.” —Robert Augustus Masters, PhD
Since I blogged about my barely nascent thoughts on this, I’ve become increasingly interested in that place where spirituality/personal growth and social justice meet. As such, I’ve also become increasingly aware of how spiritual bypassing thwarts and blocks us from getting closer to freedom and justice for all.
Unfortunately, my education was accelerated last week when I witnessed an epic display of spiritual bypassing in its most malignant and hypocritical form. It was mixed with racist rhetoric that went unchecked, followed by painful exacerbation alternating with fauxpologies and denials over the course of three days. The result was women of color getting hit with racism and manipulative psychological aggression under the grotesque pretense of concern for social justice and “love and light.” It was so disturbing on multiple levels, I’m still kind of reeling from it. I can’t even imagine how the women who were impacted felt.
Calling this stuff out, regardless of how directly or gently, inevitably leads to accusations of divisiveness from the “love and light” brigade, right on cue. I’ve seen this called “lightwashing,” which is an apt term. It’s so utterly predictable that when your objections to this kind of nonsense and abuse elicit those accusations, you know you’re on the right track. What these folks won’t see is that their unchecked racism and/or denials of the existence and impact of racism created the division in the first place.
Here’s the thing: I believe in “love and light.” BUT. I have zero interest in using that language to allow me to live in a pseudo-spiritual bubble and deny reality—my own or that of others. I am interested in authentic love, authentic spirituality, truth and justice. This sometimes means fierceness and calls to right action. When that is what a situation calls for, bringing it to bear is “love and light” in practice.
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Racism and spiritual bypassing are harmful in and of themselves, and their combination compounds the harm. Add gaslighting, and you’ve got an exponentially toxic brew. In this case, the manipulative elements and dizzying doublespeak were staggering. There were acknowledgements that racism had in fact occurred, followed by denials that it did, round and round. There were fauxpologies followed by defending, round and round. There were expressions of caring for those who had been hurt, immediately followed by not-so-subtle digs at them, round and round.
This culminated in the ultimate act of gaslighting and erasure when, after an explicitly stated commitment not to do so, all the relevant threads were deleted, along with hour upon hour of intellectual and emotional labor spent by dozens of people—women of color, for whom it is most taxing, and white women—who wrote brilliantly to explain the nature of the situation to this person who pretended she was open and listening, thereby perpetuating the discussion. Said erasure not only communicates utter contempt for people’s generously given time and energy, it also communicates, “This never happened.” Gaslighting 101.
A few days later, I read a fascinating interview with the New York Times reporter, Jodi Kantor, who broke the Harvey Weinstein story. Kantor described how Weinstein and his people responded to her team when it was clear he was getting caught:
“If you picture a piano where apology is on the left hand of the keyboard and denial is on the right hand of the keyboard, they were playing both sides of the keyboard and everywhere in between, and it kept moving. So I think in terms of the pushback, part of what I was concentrating on as a reporter was this sort of fundamental question like ‘are they denying this? Or is he apologizing? Is he disputing the facts here?’ Because whatever his reaction is, we want to capture it correctly, but we are hearing a lot of different reactions from him.”
When I read that, my blood went cold, because that’s precisely what I had just witnessed. I guess predators of all types operate from similar playbooks.
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I noticed something else while all this was going on. I felt very sure, and maybe even a little self satisfied, about the huge gulf between myself and the people causing harm. And while I’m certain that I am constitutionally and ethically incapable of the particular behavior I witnessed, there were echoes of myself in it. I’m still in the beginning stages of learning about systems of oppression, all the ways those systems hurt people, as well as how they benefit me as a white person (whether I want to believe that or not). It is useful to remember where I started, and to actively avoid getting complacent because of how far I may think I’ve come.
Men being able to say, “Well, I’m nothing like that!” about people like Harvey Weinstein (or even less egregious offenders) doesn’t give them a pass from looking at where they’ve been complicit in upholding rape culture. Similarly, when white people know we could never be like people we see perpetrating blatant or thinly veiled racist attacks, it doesn’t give us a pass from unpacking where we have been complicit in systemic oppression. For example, I spoke up this time, but if I’m honest, was there a time in the not-so-distant past when I would have watched that situation unfold with horrified fascination and failed to speak out? Probably. Was there a time in the not-so-distant past when I would have thought, if not said or typed out loud, “OK, I agree, but jeez, couldn’t they make these points a little more ‘constructively’ (read: ‘nicely’) so more people would listen?” Yes. (And if you’ve ever thought or said something similar in the context of discussions about oppression, please click here and read this right now.)
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Fellow white people, if you also care about these issues (which should be all of us, right?), I ask two things:
1) If spirituality is an important part of your life (as it is for me), and/or if you place a high value on positive thinking, and especially if you’re a Law of Attraction enthusiast, please read about spiritual bypassing beyond the paragraph definition. Related articles as well as the book are linked below. We need to understand the nature of this thing so we can actively avoid it, especially if the thing being bypassed, denied or oversimplified is the reality of systemic oppression and how it impacts people from marginalized groups. Side benefit: understanding this can help us deal with everything else in our own lives more skillfully, too
2). When we see racism happening in front of us, whether in our online spaces or in real life, we have to do better about speaking up unequivocally. It’s important, we don’t have to be experts in institutional racism, and we don’t have to do it perfectly. Even if we’ll never convince the person we’re addressing, others watching the interaction may be able to listen and expand their awareness. Either way, it matters that at the very least we somehow convey, “This is wrong, please stop” and/or show explicit support for the person being impacted. It’s uncomfortable, especially for people who habitually avoid confrontation, but saying nothing gives it the green light, and that means we are complicit. Most importantly, we hear again and again from people of color that what hurts as much if not more than racist incidents is all the “nice” white people who witness it and do nothing.
Willingness to push past our discomfort in these situations is literally the rock bottom least of our responsibilities, considering the risks, abuses and indignities black and brown people and other marginalized groups live with on a daily basis. I think it helps to give some thought beforehand to different ways we might respond, so that when it happens we can think on our feet and not freeze in deer-in-the-headlights fashion.
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Here are some articles on racism, white privilege, and white fragility that I’ve found helpful. (A couple of these contain swear words. Still valuable. We can handle it.):
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard to Talk to White People About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
No, We Won’t Calm Down—Tone Policing Is Just Another Way to Protect Privilege by Robot Hugs
Why I Don’t Talk About Race with White People by John Metta
What I Told My White Friend When He Asked for My Black Opinion on White Privilege by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
Welcome to the Anti-Racism Movement—Here’s What You’ve Missed by Ijeoma Oluo
The Definition, Danger and Disease of Respectability Politics, Explained by Damon Young
Colorblind Ideology is a Form of Racism by Monica T. Williams, PhD
Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person by Gina Crosley-Corcoran
Holy Shit, Being an Ally Isn’t About Me! by Real Talk: WOC and Allies
How to Survive In Intersectional Feminist Spaces 101 by Saroful
(Edited to add): Here are some self study resources:
Diversity is an Asset Workbook by Desiree Adaway & Ericka Hines
Expressive Writing Prompts to Use if You’ve Been Accused of White Fragility, Spiritual Bypass, or White Privilege by Leesa Renee Hall
Here are some links to articles (and a book) specifically related to spiritual bypassing and how it impacts social justice:
Why White Lady Sisterhood Needs to Evolve by Rachael Rice
Converting Hidden Spiritual Racism into Sacred Activism: An Open Letter to Spiritual White Folks by Virginia Rosenberg
Spiritual Bypassing: Avoidance in Holy Drag by Robert Augustus Masters, PhD. (an article-length overview)
Spiritual Bypassing: When Spirituality Disconnects Us from What Really Matters by Robert Augustus Masters (the book)
Thank you for reading and being willing to learn, and unlearn, along with me.
*Seven months later, as these dynamics continued to play out in formulaic fashion, I wrote a follow-up post on this topic, Spiritual Bypassing and White Fragility, By the Playbook.
*And later still I wrote this: Spiritual White People: Do we really want to help heal humanity? Or are we full of sh*t?
© Camille Williams and Wake Up, Mama! 2017. All rights reserved.
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As a white working class Irish woman sandwiched between privileged white and black hard done by. I am sick of the attitude of white means privilege and black does not. It’s the working class people who are excluded and have to pay the price and they can be black or white. I came to the UK in the 80s and I was told I would not get a certain job because I was the wrong colour. Assuming because I am white I would have opportunities which was not the case. I was attacked by a gang of black women on a tube and I do believe it was because I was white. I felt invisible black because I was neither white privileged or black.
Maybe the above is irrelevant to what you are saying. But the majority of the working classes would not have the energy to think about the above and use it in a racest way. Because they are to busy trying to survive and cope with being the scapegoats of the British Isles.
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This is a common sentiment among white people who are working class or impoverished. Those struggles are of course very real, and yet white people still have some advantages by virtue of being white that poor people of color do not have. This article speaks to what you’re sharing: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/gina-crosleycorcoran/explaining-white-privilege-to-a-broke-white-person_b_5269255.html
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Bright Sided: how the relentless promotion of positive thinking has undermined America by Barbara ehrenreich
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Excellent article Camille. Thank you for the effort you’re putting into doing what we all know is the right thing to do for each other and our world.
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Thank you, Siobhan!
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Reblogged this on Archonstone, thoughts and musings. and commented:
Coming to the Dark of the year, This Article is exceptionally important. The belief in light love and goodness and the law of attraction to minimize the actual horrors that women, people of color or any one else experiences to do victim blaming is hideous.
People are not easily categorized or pigeon holed, to make your dealing of ones life by simple handles. Life is messy, expressing real love and concern is messier still.
Roll up your sleeves and wallow in life with me. Life, love and liberty are ours only if we make sure everyone has it.
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Thank you for reading, reblogging and for your thoughts on this. I think your last sentence, “Life, love and liberty are ours only if we make sure everyone has it.” says it all. It reminds me of that quote, by Lilla Watson, “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” YES!
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Camille, Brilliant and dead on. Thank you for naming this. I’ve been experiencing this all kinds of ways, and didn’t know what to call it. I’ve pointed out institutional racism and been called a hater for making them feel badly about themselves. I believe in “love and light” as well, but not as a bludgeon to discount genuine problems and feelings. It’s another form of privilege. I’m sharing this far and wide. THANK YOU.
Can you also please add this to your amazing reading list? It blew my mind. https://thebodyisnotanapology.com/magazine/the-cowardice-of-white-women/
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Kishari, thanks so much for the feedback. I’m glad this is useful and resonant for you, but mostly I’m sorry you have been on the receiving end of this insidious phenomenon.
I look forward to reading the article you shared in more detail, but from the quick scan I just did, it looks like it deals with a place where I’ve come up against the limits of where I’m willing to relinquish my own privilege—how much physical risk am I willing to assume (such as at protests or other potentially volatile situations)? As a mother whose first responsibility is to my kids, it’s a complicated question for me. And yet, people with less privilege than me of course also have children and must live with risks I never have to consider, just by being. No easy answers.
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Hi Camille, here’s the kernel that blew my mind and also answered questions such as “How can women support against their own self interests?” And the answer is–they always have. That in addition to human fight or flight response, white women add “fawning” onto that list. It’s a comfortable space to do the nervous laugh “Oh, Henry, that’s so racist, haha!”, as an acceptable middle ground to not committing one way or another. Not that they don’t want to. But they literally don’t know how to.
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Reblogged this on Healey Institute for Healers.
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Thank you, Derek.
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Here is a very small thing that makes a large difference. We are taught that we are usually free to question, and even challenge, thoughts but not beliefs.
There cannot be fruitful discussion when thoughts and opinions are framed as beliefs. Thoughts require factual support while beliefs require faith.
I am old, and so I remember when and why this language shift took place. I should warn you that talking about what we think makes many people very uncomfortable.
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Interesting distinction. Thanks for your input.
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Reblogged this on Raising Cain and commented:
Important stuff…worth reading.
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Thank you, Cathie.
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Reblogged this on Reluctant Mysticism and commented:
“If spirituality is an important part of your life (as it is for me), and/or if you place a high value on positive thinking, and especially if you’re a Law of Attraction enthusiast, please read about spiritual bypassing beyond the paragraph definition.”
Indeed. I’ve often struggled with the bubblegum depth white spirituality presents me with. But since questioning light means attacking light, it’s impossible to go deeper. But we, as white folks, need to go deeper. Our daily practices inviting love and light may be unable to take us any deeper because they are already routed in oppression. When so much energy is taken to erase the experiences of people of colour, little is left to draw from for anyone (never mind if it’s authentic or not).
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Thank you, Erin.
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Thank you for making me aware of this term. I think I understand it’s basic meaning and I think this covers why I often feel upset when I see people say things like “I’ve given it over to God” or “I have been praying about it” and that’s it. I think that is part of what the term means. If you are actively working on something AND giving it to God or praying about it, great. But often it seems that’s not the case. Like giving it to God means that you have zero responsibility in the decision, choice, path, situation. Side stepping responsibility and action.
Maybe I’ve got this all wrong but if I have it right, thanks for sharing this idea.
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Yes, this is another manifestation of what I’m talking about. I totally agree and I believe in the power of faith and prayer—in addition to, not instead of, deeper understanding, appreciation for complexity and/or whatever actions a situation calls for. Thanks for your input, Melissa.
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I remembered a joke… that has to do with “giving it to God”
here’s a version of it…
“There is this very pious Jew named Goldberg who always dreamed of winning the lottery. Every Sabbath, he’d go to synagogue and pray: “God, I have been such a pious Jew all my life. What would be so bad if I won the lottery?”
But the lottery would come and Goldberg wouldn’t win. Week after week, Goldberg would pray to win the lottery, but the lottery would come and Goldberg wouldn’t win.
Finally, one Sabbath, Goldberg wails to the heavens and says: “God, I have been so pious for so long, what do I have to do to win the lottery?”
“And the heavens parted and the voice of God came down: “Goldberg, give me a chance! Buy a ticket!”
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now i understand why *love & light* drives me nuts.
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Reblogged this on kingsoftrain.
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Woah! Thank you!
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Reblogged this on Killing Georgina.
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Thank you for sharing ❤️
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Great article. I’ve been on a soapbox about spiritual bypassing for years. John Wellwood coined the term and you may want to read his article http://www.johnwelwood.com/articles/TRIC_interview_uncut.doc
However now I am seeing the term gaslighting being used for things that are not gaslighting. Denial or lying is not gaslighting and it is important to understand the difference.
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Thanks, and I’m totally with you on that. I mean, denial or lying can be gaslighting, but certainly not all denials and lies constitute gaslighting and the term is becoming overused and misused. Kind of like how “triggered” used to mean seriously provoked into a fight-or-flight type response. Now people use that word when all they mean is “mildly annoyed.” (This is a pet peeve of mine!)
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Just saw this from White Nonsense Roundup, and boy, am I glad I did! What a terrific piece AND a wonderful list of resources! Thank you!
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Thank you so much for this. And the reading lists. Very grateful.
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As a black woman in a mostly white space in Alcoholics Anonymous, I experienced this spiritual bypassing for years and years. At the time, I never knew exactly what to call it. Although I’ve been sober for over a decade, my feelings were never validated when I spoke of racism. It was always seen as something I did to myself, something that as an individual, I chose and if I thought hard enough, I probably did SOMETHING to set the ball rolling.
Because of this, I experience debilitating depression, anger and self hate in trying to Do the right thing in all situations to avoid racism being directed at me. I left the group after just not being able to take it anymore.
Thanks for this article.
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Thank you for sharing. I’m in recovery, too, and I am so sorry this has been your experience. It is heartbreaking to hear this, but not surprising since I am learning that these issues permeate every corner of our culture. I think it’s amazing and admirable that you have been able to stay sober for over a decade given the added layers of difficulty you deal with both in daily life and in recovery communities. It is not fair, which is an understatement!
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I need concrete examples–I cannot picture what you are talking about
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I understand, you are not the only one who gave that feedback, so I see it’s a shortcoming of my post. Without recreating the scenario I wrote about here, I’m going to refer you to this post by Torrie Pattillo which goes into similar incidents in great detail. I think that will give you a better idea of the dynamics I’m talking about.
View at Medium.com
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Reblogged this on wakey wakey, eggs and bakey! and commented:
This is putting so much about my own grasping toward faith and morality into perspective, though I’m currently at a loss as to how to explicate that. I’ll do more reading. “When in doubt, go to the library.” And praying. Not to the god of a faith to which I can’t return for reasons related to this post, but if they still call discernment prayer, then that.
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That was an interesting article and an angle I had never thought about before. I would have like to have more specific details on the incident to which you referred just to have a concrete example that I can understand more clearly.
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I appreciate this feedback. Without recreating the scenario I wrote about here, I’m going to refer you to this post by Torrie Pattillo which goes into similar incidents in great detail. I think that will give you a better idea of the dynamics I’m talking about.
View at Medium.com
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Thank you for this. I’ve seen it happen, and been the recipient of other white people telling me to stop being so divisive with my speaking up on white privilege, microaggressions, the spiritual divide between our Faith and our actions… and how alienated People of Color feel within my own spiritual practice. I’ve even shared their own words (with permissions) and still been shot down, with the predominant rhetoric of “politicizing and being hateful towards” whomever has their feelings twisted because of my personal involvement with these issues. The fact that White people can, and do, go through many harrowing experiences is beside the point in this situation, because they will never go through any of these experiences because of the color of their skin. This is a different reality of pitting poor people against “others” to deflect, divide, and control. Yet, people refuse to see that and play into the divide and conquer strategy of the oppressor.
Early on, I wondered about my involvement, requesting clarification on and receiving guidance from those in a “higher” position within my Faith. After being told that I was, in fact, on the right track – as long as I was very careful not to allow myself to be pulled into the right/left dialog that is happening around these issues, I continue as best I can. It is a learning process and I have been blessed with the guidance of many People of Color in my life to help me grow and understand.
Your article expressed so well my thoughts on these situations. Thank you.
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Thank you for this article Camille. Today on my talk show we will be discussing this exact topic. I will be reblogging you later today and sharing this article in parts of the show today The Indigo Room: Creating Our Reality. My blog has not been updated for a minute but it will be today!! Thank you again. Because I’ve experienced exactly what you have referenced. That is really why I started my own community..and stay out of big “Spiritual” groups.
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I’m sorry to hear you’ve experienced this but unfortunately not surprised. I’m glad to know this resonated, though, and that it might be useful for your audience. I’m also glad to hear you created something more supportive for yourself and others! All the best to you.
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I did a google search and found this because I have been having these same feelings about this community and received the same lightwashing gaslighting response. The need to negate personal experience and victim blaming and the lack of knowledge of trauma is stunning. There is so much arrogance. Thank you for writing this.
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