I no longer trust “apolitical” spiritual leaders / influencers.
(Or politicians who “don’t care about religion”. It goes both ways)
I used to complain about attracting people who weren’t straightforward, enjoyed hiding in the shadows, wouldn’t tell me the full story, etc — Until I decided to nip it in the bud. Well, of course I “attract” the people I’m being too tolerant with. So, let’s fix that.
First of all: I’m not referring to the people who genuinely haven’t made up their minds.
That’s grand. We aren’t born with strong opinions one way or the other. We need time to decide.
I’m talking about people who may perhaps pretend they haven’t made up their minds, or (worse!) pretend to be “tolerant to all, inclusive to all”, but display a staggering willingness to be in the public eye for someone who allegedly “hasn’t decided on their views yet”.
I mean… I don’t know about you, but when I think of indecisive people, I mostly think of children. They play, they experiment, they’re always asking questions… Do you know what they DON’T do, though? They don’t speak with the utmost confidence and conviction, for a public to see/listen, about every other topic which isn’t the one they claim to be “neutral” about. That’s what children don’t do. They’re naive and innocent through and through, it’s not a switch they can turn on and off at will. So, adults who claim not to have an opinion about a particularly polarising subject, are 9 times out of 10 being disingenuous and manipulative. I’m not giving that behaviour any grace anymore.
Sure… Some adults are probably childlike and/or doormats and have never given polarising subjects much thought, let alone come to a conclusion as to what they believe or defend — But will these people seek positions of prominence literally anywhere? No. They won’t. And that’s my point. When you’re bold, you’re bold. When you want to be seen, you want to be seen. You can’t turn it on and off conveniently.
Secondly: this has nothing to do with “keeping things separate”.
We can keep things separate and still spell out what ARE those things for everyone to know, without a need for all this aura of mystery, Kevin. (Or Karen. Tag yourselves).
For example: a politician can explicitly say he’s Christian, Buddhist, pagan, ATR, Atheist or whatever, and at the same time specify that that’s him, he’s not mixing it with work, he defends a secular democracy. Thumbs up to that! It’s more common than you think, and it goes to show this person — this politician — has nothing worrisome to hide in the religion/spirituality department.
The opposite also proceeds: a religious / spiritual figure of prominence (in or out of traditional institutions — hence my mention of influencers) can explicitly say, “look, I’m left-wing” or “look, I’m right-wing”, or [insert political alignment here, directly or indirectly alluded to] when asked about politics, and still keep it separate from their work.
In summary: you don’t need to mix two different areas of life in order for you to let others know that you have something of an aligment/ideology in both. It’s not unethical to “tell us about yourself”. In fact, it builds trust, and it goes to show you’re not afraid of taking sides in life and owning up to these decisions.
Notoriety comes with speculation about who you are and what you stand for. You can’t have one without the other.
This is, of course, a lesson some of these public people may pretend to be learning now… When in fact they already knew it, but they’re too disingenuous to own up to that.
I have followed people whose political views don’t completely align with mine, and/or whose spiritual beliefs differ a bit from mine. I mean, diversity is a natural thing. Why get worked up with disagreements? That’s silly.
However… if someone’s views don’t align with mine, you bet I will want to know. I will want to know where we don’t align, how, and to what extent. Depending on the misalignment, I’ll let them go.
This is all to say: I’m not trying to “dig up” any “tea” on anyone. I’m merely trying not to accidentally support a nazi, for example; Or a member/advocate for some dangerous cult. These people are often disingenuous, they won’t always play it fair with what they reveal or don’t reveal, and that’s because they often try to recruit people for their extremist and harmful movements in an accidental, “oopsie” kind of way; Slowly buttering-up people who once had good discernment, with manipulation and mind games, until the sunk cost fallacy sets in and these people are successfully trapped. Like, “oh, but I’ve followed this authority person for so long, they must mean no harm with what they’re saying here about racial superiority; Oh, but this authority person has already gotten so much of my money / has already proven they have good lessons for me, they must mean no harm with endorsing such-and-such extremist group”. Etc.
Let’s just not.
Transparency is important FROM DAY ONE. Do not settle for less. Do not be afraid to ask tough questions. And do walk away if they’re dodged or not answered at all. I don’t care how much someone is rolling their eyes at politics because “only spirituality can unite us”, or rolling their eyes at spirituality because “politics is all there is to life”. Nobody truly believes that. If someone is hiding a view of theirs so purposefully like that, YOU BET it’s because it isn’t a totally innocent or harmless view.
Stay safe.
