Critical Thinking as a Spiritual Practice

By Ariadne Green
A woman concentrating on a thought with a mystical background
Awakening spiritually brings you out of a cocoon and into a whole new world of
enlightening experiences. our heart is awakened and your soul is reborn. !ea"en
seems not that far away after all. #ith awakening$ there is an innocence about you and
the world looks %ust as innocent$ somehow less dangerous. Spiritual teachers will tell you
to continue to expand your mind$ banish your ego and let the currents of a creati"e pulse
with infinite possibilities carry you. &n this way$ you can awaken further to the miracle of
you. But at some point your feet need to touch the ground to integrate your experiences
before you can push off again to further explore states of higher consciousness.
'indless bliss is not the ultimate state of higher consciousness. (o"e is. et dro"es of
spiritual seekers pour into meditation and consciousness)raising seminars$ paying
hundreds or e"en thousands of dollars to self)proclaimed gurus who promise spiritually
enlightening experiences. The mind)altering experiences and consciousness)raising
acti"ities can ha"e a hypnotic effect$ causing many to abandon reason in fa"or of bliss.
&n *ctober of +,,-$ one such e"ent in the high desert of Sedona$ Ari.ona pro"ed lethal.
Sixty people were crammed into an incorrectly constructed sweat lodge and for two
hours sat in suffocating heat. /ighteen were hospitali.ed and three died of heat stroke.
The tragic e"ent was well publici.ed and the leader$ 0ames Arthur 1ay$ has been
charged with three counts of manslaughter for what many consider callous and
irresponsible beha"ior. 2rom the testimony of participants$ there were significant warning
signs that participants were losing spiritual ground rather than gaining it. 3uring one
exercise or 4game4$ 1ay played the role of God and instructed participants to pretend
that they were dead. 2or one participant the 4game4 had a toxic effect reducing her to
tears. #hen asked why she didn5t get up and lea"e$ she said$ 4& didn5t want to ruin the
game for e"eryone else.4
All That Glitters &s 6ot Gold
Some 6ew Age tenets$ such as 4you can create anything you desire without limitation
%ust by aligning your thoughts and en"isioning it4$ seem too good to be true. And they
are. Common sense$ experience and the empirical e"idence should tell you that the
uni"erse works in more complex and mysterious ways. #hy then do 6ew Age
consciousness types stubbornly adhere to tenets that don5t measure up under testing7
Some are merely following the pack$ others ha"e been personally persuaded$ and still
others are comforted by a newly found faith. But the "ast ma%ority belie"es$ because the
notion glitters.
*n the spiritual path$ 4spiritual gold4 is mined through a long and e"en heroic %ourney
into the terrain of the soul through which the indi"idual is alchemically transformed$
redefined and refined through countless tests. The consciousness of the initiate expands
to touch the di"ine and to reali.e the creati"e potentials held within. The gold that the
initiate emerges with is not material in nature$ but is something far more precious8
humility and enlightened wisdom.
(et our &ntuition Guide #ithout Abandoning 1eason
As your intuition sharpens and those hunches pro"e true more often than not$ you will be
propelled to use your clair"oyant eye more and more. !owe"er$ basing all your decisions
entirely on the intuiti"e function can result in being pulled into a rabbit hole with Alice and
ha"ing a tea party with the 'ad !atter. &n other words$ you can become and appear a bit
daft. Balancing the intuiti"e function with the critical thinking and sensate functions is
crucial to the process of discernment.
#hat &s Critical Thinking7
*n the spiritual path critical thinking is often e9uated with being %udgmental$ o"erly
critical or negati"e$ all 6ew Age taboos. !owe"er$ as defined by 1obert !. /nnis$ author
of The Cornell Critical Thinking Tests$ 4Critical thinking is reasonable$ reflecti"e thinking
that is focused on deciding what to belie"e and do.4 Critical thinking re9uires clear
perceptions$ analysis$ inducti"e and deducti"e reasoning$ interpretation and e"aluation
to guide the decision making process.
!ere are some necessary components to the critical thinking process that can be
applied when testing spiritual tenets:
Consider #hat &s Being Said with an *pen 'ind #hile Being 'indful of Alternati"e
Conclusions
(et5s apply this component to the 4so called4 uni"ersal law of attraction$ 4like attracts
like4. Some alternati"e conclusions might be: 4opposites attract4$ 4complements attract4$
4like attract like sometimes4 or 4like attracts like more than not.4
Ask Clarifying ;uestions and Try to Answer Them
<sing the same tenet as the topic of in9uiry$ ask: #hat is a 4uni"ersal law4 by
definition7 The result after a simple search with Google re"eals that the term 4uni"ersal
law4 is usually applied to the practice of law$ specifically law and ethics$ and not to the
laws of nature or physics. Therefore$ the theory could be a misnomer. But for the sake of
agreement$ we can accept that the term relates to how the uni"erse operates. 6ext$ we
might want to identify how the authors define 4like attracts like4. 'ost authors on the
sub%ect explain that your thoughts$ emotions and actions send out a signal to the
uni"erse that manifests a matching experience. Therefore$ you attract like)minded
people$ for instance$ because they "ibrate at the same fre9uency and their thoughts$
feelings and actions are aligned with yours.
Consider the /xpertise and Credibility of the Sources
Beyond how many books an author has sold and how successful they appear$
examine an expert5s background$ history credentials$ character$ methods and
moti"ations.
&dentify and 1eflect on Assumptions$ 1easons$ and Conclusions
#hat assumptions and conclusions can be drawn about the tenet of in9uiry7 2or
instance$ can one conclude$ as many do$ that 4like attracts likes4 is analogous to 4birds
of a feather flock together4 and 4misery lo"es company74 Can the tenet be applied with
certainty to each and e"eryone5s life and e"ery circumstance without too much "ariance
in the result7 !ow are "ariances explained7 2or instance$ "ariances and contradictions
with the law 4like attract like4 are often explained in this way: ou may not be aware of
the number of negati"e thoughts and emotions you are sending out into the uni"erse that
contradict what you would want to magneti.e. But does worrying necessarily produce
hardship7 Also$ could there be another spiritual law$ such as the law of karma$ in
operation7
Consider the ;uality of the Argument$ the Acceptability of &ts 1easons$ Assumptions$
and /"idence
Can you follow the argument$ understanding how the person came to the conclusions
they did7 !ow sound are the facts and reasons7 Based on your experiences and the
experiences of others$ are there too many areas of disagreement for you to embrace the
tenet wholeheartedly7
2or instance$ with the tenet 4like attracts like4 are there too many times in your life
when you attracted people who were nothing like you and situations that were not about
you and your thinking after all7
As an example$ a friend of mine came to me "ery upset because three times in one
week she saw a baby that had been left in a "ehicle unattended. She wondered why she
was attracting child endangerment scenarios. &n this case$ the law 4like attracts like4
seemed out of the 9uestion because there was ne"er a more responsible parent than
she nor had her mother neglected her. As it turned out$ her husband had been fre9uently
left unattended in the car as a young child by his alcoholic mother. The repetiti"e
scenarios had been presented as a test re9uiring her to step up to the plate to rescue
the children$ her husband included. She was the one who could best help him confront
and heal the pain of early childhood abuse. &t was her karmic promise to ser"e his
e"olution and her duty to do something about a child who was being endangered.
!ow #ell Can ou 3efend the Position or Theory7
&f after careful analysis$ you arri"e to the conclusion the tenet may be for you$ try
presenting it to someone else as if it was your own. &f you can present enough e"idence
and examples of your own without much debate$ you may want to consider the belief is
something worth embracing$ at least in part.
=//6.C*'