If we use the definition of spirituality that it is a connection with something larger than ourselves, which could mean our higher self, our soul, our spirit, our community, or the universe itself, then being spiritual in way that seeks to build connection, authenticity, and community is a radical act of resistance. This would be a great time for me to put my religious studies hat on and start to litigate organized religion and certain sects thereof. But spirituality is not organized religion, and frankly, there are plenty of people doing that good work, and for myself, I’d rather focus on liberation, resistance, and that connection to something outside of the ego that spirituality offers.
There are forces in our world that seek to keep us divided. If individuals can work long hours to take care of their basic needs (which are human rights, by the way) and not pay attention to anything beyond putting food in their stomach, then that is how the powerful in society want them to be. That’s not spiritual. That’s not connected. It’s isolated, frustrated, angry, and often scared. As my therapist once told me, if we’re still on the lowest rung of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (sustenance, food, water, shelter) then we struggle or will be unable to reach for the higher rungs, like self-acceptance and self-expression.
When we connect with something beyond the ego, we are engaging in radical resistance against the status quo and against those forces who would see us as pawns on a chessboard to be used and discarded, rather than vital, sacred, living beings with our own rights and agency. Just like rest is radical and joy is radical, spirituality falls into that realm as well.
Why should we embrace radical resistance?
To be blunt, so that we don’t lose ourselves. I’d go further and say that so we don’t lose our community to forces that seek to exploit it rather than build, but that’s a bigger conversation that goes far beyond the realm of spirituality and my expertise. Let’s just take a look at one facet of my community–the neurodivergent community.
As a member of the community I see scores of coaches, therapists and other professionals telling me how to “handle” my neurodivergent brain. They offer tips and tricks, including using generative AI (aka chatGPT) to sound more “neurotypical”, but what it all amounts to is masking my true, authentic self in order to make other people feel more comfortable.
I am not responsible for other people’s feelings. I am responsible only for my own.
As long as I am not actively harming someone else, depriving them of their rights, or seeking to hurt them, then I cannot be held responsible for how they feel. If I am trying to change how I present myself to make other people comfortable that’s masking. You might also have heard of code switching, which as a queer person, I do quite often. If people want to make cis-hetero-normative assumptions about me, that’s their problem–not mine.
Within my community (moreso the neurodivergent community rather than the queer one), I am not seeing any discussion of our spirituality. It’s like everyone wants neurodivergent people to look and sound “normal” (which isn’t even a setting on dryers anymore), and no one gives a damn if we feel fulfilled, connected to our higher selves (spirit, soul), and are giving our full, authentic expression of ourselves.
I feel like neurodivergent spirituality is radical.
My brain doesn’t work like everyone else’s. My professors have been amazed at the connections I make, and as I’m working on my thesis I feel like what I’m doing I am simply not seeing anywhere else. Now it could be that like me, they’re working in a very niche corner of the religious studies world and just have a hard time getting the word out. Or it could be that the world needs mine (and your) neurodivergent brain because we bring new ideas.
I once heard someone say that at one time neurodivergent folk were considered the shamans of the community. That our ability to think differently from the community allowed us to tap into things that helped the community. Now let me be clear, neurodivergent people deserve to exist even if they aren’t “helpful” to the community. But rather, there are reasons why our brains are wired this way, and our society changed to not honor them.
That is why our spirituality is radical and our spirituality is resistance. It matters. As do you.
