I’ll be honest with you – I never read the Harry Potter books. I knew myself well enough to know my inner-child would be so hooked I’d have to add it to an ever increasing list of distractions in my life. I did see some of the movies which I did enjoy. The one thing I took from those movies was the concept of “muggles.” In the beginning my spiritual cosmic weirdo self loved the term. Who wouldn’t right? An awesome affirmation aimed at so-called non-believers who brought you nothing but aggravation with their lack of imagination, skepticism, and inability to see past their everyday lives.
With each Harry Potter book coming out, along with each Harry Potter movie the term “muggle” grew by leaps and bounds. Spiritual friends and colleagues of mine would revel in the term. It brought a clarity to one’s spiritual identity. A satisfying and convenient comparison that said, “See, I’m not ordinary like ‘them.’ I spiritually believe in something. I’m special. I think outside the box.”
I’m guilty of using the term muggle. I’ve also used the other popular term “mundane.” One time I even got creative and coined the term “caterpillars.” It certainly made sense. Before one blossoms into the beautiful butterfly you are first the simple caterpillar unaware of the transformation that is about to happen. Perhaps this last description helped me to see past my own so-called muggle bias. The metaphor began to reveal a simple yet enlightening truth -
We were ALL once caterpillars and if you have forgotten this fact that becomes the true problem.
The “muggle” mentality is more than just not believing in something spiritual or just living in the boring everyday world. It is a mentality that holds deeper roots in a mental, emotional, and psychological mindset that when closely observed reveals we all possess similar traits.
As human beings we all struggle, we all suffer, and at times we all feel powerless to the experiences in our lives. In an ideal world this truth could bind us more in a solidarity of compassion regarding our human struggles. But what’s also very human is the universal mentality of denying the parts of ourselves we don’t like and projecting that dislike onto other people. Dislike of so-called “muggles” is a big psychological projection most of the time.
I had a friend (I’ll call him Anthony) who was very active in the pagan community. He practiced his own brand of magic with the totem animal of jaguar and communed with the ancient Viking gods like Odin and Thor. One time we went into a store with a friend and after a quick altercation with another customer who clearly wasn’t pagan Anthony looks at me, shakes his head, and in a snarky tone exclaims, “Muggles!” What I found ironic about that remark was Anthony was in a place of utter struggle in his life. He broke his thumb so that effected his ability to work. His truck needed repair so any work he did have would make it difficult to travel. Many times he shared how trapped he felt in the town he lived in and in his life in general. I did try my best to ease his feelings of despair and powerlessness but to no true avail. If the story about Anthony’s struggle sounds familiar, it’s probably because such a story is one you could accuse a “muggle” of having -
A life that is taken prisoner with limitation, powerlessness, and shackling of tedious everyday rituals.
Anthony’s “muggle” judgement may come across as hypocritical but I hold space in the understanding of another very human mindset. Sometimes on the Path we are so focused on the Light that we deny looking back at the darkness that shaped us. So if there are parts of oneself that are still wounded and unhealed, those parts we deny can mirror back in our outer reality.
I am also friends with a married couple who I find to be very magical beings. Every time I enter their house I feel the beautiful energy and magic they possess dance all around them. I know if they held more faith in their magic when they were younger they would have manifested more happiness in their lives much sooner. What they both had in common was backgrounds of similar family trauma. This trauma reinforced the diminishment of their self-esteem, reinforced beliefs of painful struggle and general feelings of powerlessness to the obstacles in their lives. I have no doubt during childhood they naturally connected with their magic from a place of innocence and wonder. It then became quashed by the emotional dysfunctions of their parents who certainly could not see anything past their own pain and suffering.
Everyone to some degree has learned this unconscious conditioning of struggle, survival, and powerlessness. This is one of the strongest mirrors that spiritual and non-spiritual alike resist and deflect onto others. As children we all have the potential to express the authentic magic of our souls. As we got older we may begin to unlearn this potential. The learned dysfunctions and traumas reinforce the repression of our Souls potential to the point where some could claim it does not even exist. The mirror of this repression plays itself out in many ways. As we reject the natural parts of our humanity we begin to reject the aspects of humanity that surround us. This then becomes part of a core illusion of duality –
The Light I cannot see in myself is the Light I cannot see in others.
Why is it so hard to see this Light in all people? I can only speak from my own experience. It’s a flexing of a spiritual muscle that becomes a lifelong practice. Seeing the Light in ourselves so we may see the Light in others is no simple task and should never be underestimated. I’m fortunate to have a powerful healing modality that I use to heal and bring light to all those places of pain and shadow within myself. As I find the courage within to heal my pain, my fear, my struggle… The healing then transcends itself into my outer reality and clears the mirror I project onto life. As I go deeper into my Light I begin to realize the truth that many spiritual people avoid. Light does not take me away from my humanity. My Light brings me deeper into my humanity. There I see what true Oneness really means. My pain becomes your pain. My Light becomes your Light. The realization of this Oneness becomes the true nature of compassion. All things are divinely interconnected in both Light and darkness.
I know it is not always as simple as a spiritual person not liking a non-spiritual person because of what reflects back at them. For many non-spiritual people there are those who can be truly negative and emotionally toxic. Those people should definitely be avoided and healthy emotional boundaries must be implemented. When a non-spiritual person comes from a place of emotional toxicity it can emotionally and energetically drag others down with them. Another issue to consider is the extent of how toxic people drag others down, is sometimes exacerbated by the unresolved emotional wounds within oneself that unconsciously allow one to be dragged into that misery. This can manifest in issues of codependence and various addictions of negativity. I myself have experienced this unhealthy addiction in various degrees. This denial of shadow-self and misplaced fear becomes yet another facet of what motivates “muggle” bias and what motivated my own bias.
I know this to be true – YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A SPIRITUAL PERSON TO BE A “NON-MUGGLE” The best example I have is my own father. He has proclaimed himself an atheist. But in no time in my life have I ever considered him to exist in a “mundane” reality. I grew up with my fathers intellectual brilliance, his charm and charismatic personality that could envelop an entire room, his incredible business savvy and success, plus his razor sharp wit. My father has always been larger than life and that brings home an important point. The lifeforce and/or Soulforce that exists within a being does NOT need a spiritual belief to shine forth. In the end, like the sun, it simply shines whether you see it or not. We must always remember the true transcendent nature of our Soulforce. I have seen so many clients over the years who have been nightmarishly beaten down by the darkness and trauma of their lives but the true nature of who they are still shines forth with incredible Light and vitality.
The Divine spark of the Soul exists within all beings. Just because we do not see this Light does not mean it’s not there. Is there a part of me that resists the notion of a Divine Spark existing in person who is evil? Of course. I can assume that is a level of “spiritual flexing” that I have not yet reached. Which is fine because in the grand divine scheme of things this is not a competition.
We are all where we are meant to be. Spiritual and non-spiritual people alike.
With each Harry Potter book coming out, along with each Harry Potter movie the term “muggle” grew by leaps and bounds. Spiritual friends and colleagues of mine would revel in the term. It brought a clarity to one’s spiritual identity. A satisfying and convenient comparison that said, “See, I’m not ordinary like ‘them.’ I spiritually believe in something. I’m special. I think outside the box.”
I’m guilty of using the term muggle. I’ve also used the other popular term “mundane.” One time I even got creative and coined the term “caterpillars.” It certainly made sense. Before one blossoms into the beautiful butterfly you are first the simple caterpillar unaware of the transformation that is about to happen. Perhaps this last description helped me to see past my own so-called muggle bias. The metaphor began to reveal a simple yet enlightening truth -
We were ALL once caterpillars and if you have forgotten this fact that becomes the true problem.
The “muggle” mentality is more than just not believing in something spiritual or just living in the boring everyday world. It is a mentality that holds deeper roots in a mental, emotional, and psychological mindset that when closely observed reveals we all possess similar traits.
As human beings we all struggle, we all suffer, and at times we all feel powerless to the experiences in our lives. In an ideal world this truth could bind us more in a solidarity of compassion regarding our human struggles. But what’s also very human is the universal mentality of denying the parts of ourselves we don’t like and projecting that dislike onto other people. Dislike of so-called “muggles” is a big psychological projection most of the time.
I had a friend (I’ll call him Anthony) who was very active in the pagan community. He practiced his own brand of magic with the totem animal of jaguar and communed with the ancient Viking gods like Odin and Thor. One time we went into a store with a friend and after a quick altercation with another customer who clearly wasn’t pagan Anthony looks at me, shakes his head, and in a snarky tone exclaims, “Muggles!” What I found ironic about that remark was Anthony was in a place of utter struggle in his life. He broke his thumb so that effected his ability to work. His truck needed repair so any work he did have would make it difficult to travel. Many times he shared how trapped he felt in the town he lived in and in his life in general. I did try my best to ease his feelings of despair and powerlessness but to no true avail. If the story about Anthony’s struggle sounds familiar, it’s probably because such a story is one you could accuse a “muggle” of having -
A life that is taken prisoner with limitation, powerlessness, and shackling of tedious everyday rituals.
Anthony’s “muggle” judgement may come across as hypocritical but I hold space in the understanding of another very human mindset. Sometimes on the Path we are so focused on the Light that we deny looking back at the darkness that shaped us. So if there are parts of oneself that are still wounded and unhealed, those parts we deny can mirror back in our outer reality.
I am also friends with a married couple who I find to be very magical beings. Every time I enter their house I feel the beautiful energy and magic they possess dance all around them. I know if they held more faith in their magic when they were younger they would have manifested more happiness in their lives much sooner. What they both had in common was backgrounds of similar family trauma. This trauma reinforced the diminishment of their self-esteem, reinforced beliefs of painful struggle and general feelings of powerlessness to the obstacles in their lives. I have no doubt during childhood they naturally connected with their magic from a place of innocence and wonder. It then became quashed by the emotional dysfunctions of their parents who certainly could not see anything past their own pain and suffering.
Everyone to some degree has learned this unconscious conditioning of struggle, survival, and powerlessness. This is one of the strongest mirrors that spiritual and non-spiritual alike resist and deflect onto others. As children we all have the potential to express the authentic magic of our souls. As we got older we may begin to unlearn this potential. The learned dysfunctions and traumas reinforce the repression of our Souls potential to the point where some could claim it does not even exist. The mirror of this repression plays itself out in many ways. As we reject the natural parts of our humanity we begin to reject the aspects of humanity that surround us. This then becomes part of a core illusion of duality –
The Light I cannot see in myself is the Light I cannot see in others.
Why is it so hard to see this Light in all people? I can only speak from my own experience. It’s a flexing of a spiritual muscle that becomes a lifelong practice. Seeing the Light in ourselves so we may see the Light in others is no simple task and should never be underestimated. I’m fortunate to have a powerful healing modality that I use to heal and bring light to all those places of pain and shadow within myself. As I find the courage within to heal my pain, my fear, my struggle… The healing then transcends itself into my outer reality and clears the mirror I project onto life. As I go deeper into my Light I begin to realize the truth that many spiritual people avoid. Light does not take me away from my humanity. My Light brings me deeper into my humanity. There I see what true Oneness really means. My pain becomes your pain. My Light becomes your Light. The realization of this Oneness becomes the true nature of compassion. All things are divinely interconnected in both Light and darkness.
I know it is not always as simple as a spiritual person not liking a non-spiritual person because of what reflects back at them. For many non-spiritual people there are those who can be truly negative and emotionally toxic. Those people should definitely be avoided and healthy emotional boundaries must be implemented. When a non-spiritual person comes from a place of emotional toxicity it can emotionally and energetically drag others down with them. Another issue to consider is the extent of how toxic people drag others down, is sometimes exacerbated by the unresolved emotional wounds within oneself that unconsciously allow one to be dragged into that misery. This can manifest in issues of codependence and various addictions of negativity. I myself have experienced this unhealthy addiction in various degrees. This denial of shadow-self and misplaced fear becomes yet another facet of what motivates “muggle” bias and what motivated my own bias.
I know this to be true – YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A SPIRITUAL PERSON TO BE A “NON-MUGGLE” The best example I have is my own father. He has proclaimed himself an atheist. But in no time in my life have I ever considered him to exist in a “mundane” reality. I grew up with my fathers intellectual brilliance, his charm and charismatic personality that could envelop an entire room, his incredible business savvy and success, plus his razor sharp wit. My father has always been larger than life and that brings home an important point. The lifeforce and/or Soulforce that exists within a being does NOT need a spiritual belief to shine forth. In the end, like the sun, it simply shines whether you see it or not. We must always remember the true transcendent nature of our Soulforce. I have seen so many clients over the years who have been nightmarishly beaten down by the darkness and trauma of their lives but the true nature of who they are still shines forth with incredible Light and vitality.
The Divine spark of the Soul exists within all beings. Just because we do not see this Light does not mean it’s not there. Is there a part of me that resists the notion of a Divine Spark existing in person who is evil? Of course. I can assume that is a level of “spiritual flexing” that I have not yet reached. Which is fine because in the grand divine scheme of things this is not a competition.
We are all where we are meant to be. Spiritual and non-spiritual people alike.
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