3 Types Of Spiritual Bypassing

What Is Spiritual Bypassing? 

Spiritual Bypassing describes attempts to use spirituality and spiritual practices to avoid facing and dealing with unpleasant emotions, experiences, and realities in order to feel good and avoid discomfort and painful truths.

3 Types Of Spiritual Bypassing 

Spiritual Bypassing As A Way To Avoid Personal Responsibility

People often use the Bible and their beliefs to hurt you and inflict spiritual abuse  on you. They don't think they're being cruel. They think they're being righteous. They think they must somehow make you a better person. Some people may intentionally want to hurt you, so they find a holy excuse to do so.

Have you experienced this? This is a form of spiritual bypassing. 

This cartoon is titled, It's Not Me It's God's Word, and is available as a digital download.

Spiritual Bypassing As A Way To Avoid Taking Action 

You've heard the expression "Thoughts and prayers!" Thoughts and prayers diverts our attention away from the inaction of those who use it. They might mean well, but for many of us it's a signal that they're not going to actually do anything. It diverts our attention away from their lack of actionable concern. And sometimes it's a way to divert our attention away from their greed for more money and power.

This cartoon is titled, Meaningless Thoughts and Prayers, and is available as a digital download. 

Spiritual Bypassing As A Way To Avoid Our Own Negative Emotions 

Spiritual bypassing often manifests itself as a defence mechanism instead of facing difficult feelings like pain, anger, or sadness in an honest way. Some people pretend to be positive and distant, using spiritual ideas to hide from these uncomfortable feelings. But this only gives a temporary feeling of relief and stops real emotional growth and self-understanding. Some call this "toxic positivity". Examples of this would be "Good Vibes Only" or "God Is Always Good". 

Once you’ve seen the signs of spiritual abuse and spiritual bypassing and recognize it, that’s actually the first step of your journey into healing and freedom. These are just 3 examples of spiritual bypassing but there are so many more. Feel free to leave other examples of spiritual bypassing in the comments below.