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If you are in any way involved in natural therapies or spiritual work for a living, you’ll be well aware that a sizeable portion of society don’t like you. Not because of your personality, deeds or the car you drive. Just because, well, most people are mainstream. This means their only information about the world comes from their (conservative) parents, (conservative) university lecturers, (conservative) doctors and scientists, and (conservative) media. So if you happen to drop the word ‘acupuncture’, ‘spirit guide’ or ‘meditation’ within their earshot, they (conservatively) assume you’re loopy. You’re not, of course — you’re just knowledgeable in areas which aren’t commonly discussed at the forefront of society – and don’t forget that fear of the unknown often manifests as rejection.
This week, Simon Singh, a man who was sued in the UK for his disgraceful opinions on alternative therapies, was brought out to South Australia for the Festival of Ideas. He has – disappointingly - been given a ridiculous amount of print space and air time by our local media during his stay (all very useful in plugging his new book, thank you very much)... The same media who are supposed to adhere to a Code of Ethics of unbiased reporting, yet who haven’t allowed representatives of these slandered alternative therapies their right of reply.
Someone else who’s unfairly been on the cruel end of the stick this week is Oprah Winfrey, whose latest talkshow guest caused uproar amongst the Conservative Crew at Newsweek. I love that Newsweek screams the word ‘wacky’ like it’s a bad thing... If you went to a party, would you rather be stuck in a corner with a really boring dude in a white coat talking about serious stuff in test-tubes, or an off-beat, wacky guy who coloured your world?! When are we going to ditch this high-brow attitude (a massive carry-over from the 20th century) that science and ‘proving things’ is a really really noble, superior profession, while being a poet, iridologist or spiritual medium is embarrassing and not a ‘real’ career? When are we going to realise that we know nothing – NOTHING – about the universe, that our science is still in its infancy, and that all we’ve been able to do is figure out a bunch of third dimensional laws and rules using third dimensional instruments to measure them with?
As the world becomes enlightened at break-neck speed – people who five years ago were burnt-out executives are now raving about yoga and organics, and quantum physicists are turning all spiritual on us – there remains a whole bunch of people from distinguished old-world professions who are freaking. out. of. their. minds, because they have no idea how to bridge the ever-widening gap. They can sense a massive holistic grassroots movement gaining momentum: traditional GPs know that people are favouring natural remedies over drugs... Old-school newspaper editors are losing power and money because Generation Y are avoiding ‘slow’ print media... Governments in countries like Iran and China can no longer censor information due to technology innovations such as Twitter.
The point I’m trying to make is, people clinging to a sinking ship will do desperate things. They will name, blame and shame mercilessly to protect their injured egos and the terror of an uncertain future that they can’t quite picture themselves in. If you have been on the end of this modern day witch-hunting, don’t despair. You are not weird. You are not different. You are not mentally ill. You are opening up spiritually, the same as hundreds of thousands of other people around the globe. We are reaching the tipping-over point; the hundredth monkey effect. The day is coming when I can announce at a posh dinner party that I’m a psychic for a living, and no one will bat an eyelid. Until then, don’t let people who are scared, stuck and uninformed drag you down. YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT PATH.