Obsessive Thinking

[mvillarreal]

Hi, everybody! I have a tendency to over-fixate on intellectual/ethical/spiritual questions that create a lot of anxiety for me. The latest one is on cultural misappropriation. Yes, I know. All cultures appropriate, borrow, and mix; cultural appropriation itself is not inherently wrong, but there are responsible and irresponsible ways to do it. I'm a spiritually fluid person who mixes and matches practices from different traditions, but right now, I have an obsessive fear that I'm not doing it respectfully. How do I remain conscientious about misappropriation without letting it take a toll on my mental health or freezing my spiritual practice altogether?

[Rafiki11]

Do you have respectful intentions when you adopt a tradition? I would be honored if a respectful person loved my tradition so much that they adopted it!

[mvillarreal in reply to Rafiki11]

Yes, I do. Like I would never wear a Native American headdress just to be edgy or do a puja ritual on Instagram just to look hip. I do practices from other cultures with an intention to be respectful, but sometimes, I worry that I don't get it right. Like sometimes I worry that I might be doing economic harm, for example, which is one of the main issues in cultural misappropriation.

[Rafiki11 in reply to mvillarreal]

I think your intentions are the most important. Focus on your intentions. Honor the cultural expressions that are meaningful to you.

[Hb2003]

You should research more about the culture I hope that helps

[SirBill]

Hi ! this is a tricky question but I’d like to offer up something I hope can help. Do you know that Jesus Christ said , “ I am THE way and THE truth and THE life.”? Have you ever tried JESUS ALONE?

He said ,”come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.”

Once you have the truth there is no more need to appropriate

Hope this is food for thought ,

God bless u my friend

[mvillarreal in reply to SirBill]

I appreciate your intentions, but I do not wish to be converted to any particular religion. Please see the rules for discussion on this forum.

[Hb2003]

It’s really good to learn about new cultures I commend for that ☺️

[Hidden]

Hey there,

I get u heh. But are u aware that there are cultures, spiritualism, etc that conflict wt each other and by that they don't work together inherently? Like they can't co-exist. In fact I have seen that most of these do clash with one another. Can I ask, do u try to mix those that naturally clash with one another? Even the spirit realm is not unified. There is gud and bad side there at the same time there so many different in the bad side as well. Do u mix them all trying to make them work together? What I have learnt when it comes to culture difference and spiritualism is that I need to first identify the belief of an individual bcz we live in a world that is mixed. As it is, look at this site, we are diff people with diff cultures and believes but we try to not infringe on peoples believes. I don't know if I am getting u correctly, so ur concern is that the diff cultures and believes are affecting u mentally and maybe disrespecting others at the same time?

[mvillarreal in reply to Hidden]

No, I don't try to make things work together that don't. For example, I don't believe in a plurality of gods, so I would never worship multiple gods from a pantheon just because. I recognize that there are legitimate differences and try to sort out what I agree with from what I disagree with. My main worry is that I might take a ritual out of context or even pay for something spiritual that actually hurts the people that it comes from economically. It ties back to the whole cultural misappropriation issue, which I am not sure I fully understand.

[Unity4all]

Hi mvillarreal,,,I’m just trying to understand what you mean about misappropriate a spirituality from an economical standpoint?

[mvillarreal in reply to Unity4all]

Well, for example, the argument goes that if you buy a product copied from a marginalized culture but not produced by people of that culture, you are hurting people from that culture economically and taking money away from them.

[Opportunity]

Hi mvillarreal.... you may want to start a dialogue with a representative (not just anyone, but a designated representative) from that culture. So like, if there’s a Native American organization, you could reach out to the head of that group to ask about headdresses. Just a thought, to take or leave... Good luck to you!! 🤗