Several years ago, I landed my “dream job”, just when I needed it most. Broke and on food stamps after a drawn-out divorce, I was hired for a very high position and at a salary I never dreamed possible, especially since I had no experience in the industry. I was good at sales and great at managing a sales team, however, and was able to sell myself as the best candidate. Shortly after landing the job, I bought a house; and a month after that my dream car was sitting in my driveway. It was surreal.
My old car, for which I was still making monthly payments, had a lot of miles on it. It was also out of warranty, so I had to pay the cost of repairs as well. It had become a financial black hole. I lived close to a Mercedes Benz dealership, and one day on my way home I decided to stop by. Why not, I thought, it doesn’t hurt to look. When approached by the salesperson, I told him I was interested in buying a car. I then showed him what I had to trade in and said I didn’t think I could afford any of the cars on the lot. I glanced at all the shiny Mercedes Benz cars and wondered if he could see the drool sneaking out the corner of my mouth. I think he did…
He proceeded to show me some used models, all pristine and with low mileage. He opened the door to a beautiful black one and invited me to look inside. It was the epitome of luxury. It was polished and slick-looking. It had the air of something some super-rich tycoon would drive to a club or event. I sat in it and took in the smell of leather, the feel of the leather seats and leather steering wheel. It was luxury to the max. Being in that car put me in a different mindset than the one I was used to.
I was used to lack and perpetual struggle, especially since the divorce. Getting this car meant that I belonged, that I had claimed my place in society, that I meant something. It meant success, a success that I had attained on my own. No one could say that they were responsible for my well-being anymore. I was on top of the world and could now afford the “finer things in life.” Having this car meant all of that and so much more. It also meant that because I had this expensive car – a symbol of wealth – I would attract people and circumstances in my life that would attract even more abundance. 
I test drove the car. It was like a piece of art on wheels. I found it was not only a thing of beauty, but of superior craftsmanship. Basically, it was like driving on butter, and I suddenly couldn’t imagine driving anything else. How could I, after knowing what the ultimate vehicle rode like, felt like and smelled like? Suddenly nothing else mattered; I had to acquire that car and was willing to move Heaven and Earth to do it.
Of course, the salesman could read me like a book. He gave me back all the reasons why this car was the right car for me and said he would work out a price and payments that would meet my budget. He honed in on all the reasons – my “hot buttons” – of how this car was the answer I was seeking in comfort, reliability, style–even a positive perception by others. Yes, I thought, perception by others is important to attract the right people into my life. Buying this car would also give me “bragging rights,” the proof I needed to show my ex that I made it without him. And so, even though my gut was nudging at me, almost screaming at me to walk away, I allowed myself to be sold this beautiful, luxurious and expensive automobile. It would be a financial stretch, even with the bigger salary, but I justified the decision by telling myself that I needed to think positively. After all, the salesman had made it easy for me to pay it off in five years.
You may be asking why I have chosen to share this experience. People buy cars they can’t afford all the time, right? Well, that is the point. Every day, many of us make decisions and accept information without discernment. This is a major problem. We tend to trust others and situations because we deem ourselves trustworthy and kindhearted. Many of us don’t understand the importance of discernment and that the situations and people we encounter may not be as trustworthy or benign as we are. Moreover, the consequences of not using discernment don’t always show up right away; it could take days, months or even years before we realize that we’ve fallen into a trap.
While discernment, or the lack thereof, is a problem in our daily lives, the real purpose of this article is to address the lack of spiritual discernment, specifically, its role in the deception and disempowerment of individuals who could potentially make a positive difference in the world. The lack of spiritual discernment is the reason so many of us get duped into false spirituality; that is, spirituality that keeps us “entertained” or distracted. It provides the language and concepts used to define us and establish our connection with God. It is used to explain situations, states of mind, and problems in the world. It is even used to define others. It is a mini-reality or microcosm, no different than those created within sports teams or corporations. They, have their own “subculture” — rules of conduct, language and ideals. What is considered as truth in these “subcultures” pertains to that mini-reality only and is not the Prime Truth that pertains to the Macrocosm or Universal Intelligence known also as God or Prime Creator.
Within this microcosm framework, we are provided with comforting things like praise, accolades, snippets or “truisms” that may hold true in certain situations but should not be universally applied. We are given information that keeps us hooked because it is embedded within a truth. The errors within it are not evident, but hidden, like the sour center in a sweet lollipop. If we were using discernment, we would ask ourselves why anything would need to be hidden to make it more palatable, appealing, or accepted. My point is that if something was of Truth – the Highest Truth coming from God-Mind/Heart – it would be exposed, standing on its own merits – naked.
So why do we freely embrace false spirituality without questioning, without paying attention to the early warning signs or feelings that say “something isn’t right here.” Well, there are a few reasons. You may identify with one, or a couple of them, or maybe even all of them. The intention here is to look at this and understand why this is happening so that we can stop the negative behavior and come from a place of empowerment. If we’re empowered and not addicted to the “sweet-tasting lollipop,” we have a better chance of snapping out of the sugar-fix or fluffed-up-disinformation and take a proactive approach to improving our own lives and the lives of others.
Eagerness –
When we want to have something so badly or hear something so badly that confirms what we believe in or want, we put discernment on the back burner. Actually, discernment becomes like a bad friend or enemy. We tend to subconsciously think that it’s there to prevent us from acquiring what we want or getting the information we need to validate something or to act on something. So, we sabotage our inner “Knowing” for the quick gratification given via the products, services, information or confirmation from others.
Many of us have an eagerness for a “spiritual graduation” otherwise known as Ascension or Rapture. We willingly put aside our gut feeling that tells us to “watch out”, and we sweep that feeling under the rug in the hope that we’re wrong. We gamble with our spirituality and jeopardize our true connection with God-Source.
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Feelings of Unworthiness –
We are more prone to put discernment away when we feel unworthy. This unworthiness pertains to how we perceive ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually. In other words, if we perceive ourselves to be unattractive, we will value the information and/or guidance of someone we deem to be more attractive than ourselves. We tend to give credence to those people more because we may feel that being attractive is an accomplishment or that they have an “in” on how to do this. The same holds true with feeling spiritually challenged or not having attained a certain level of spirituality. If we find someone who has a good “talk” and acts the part of having achieved a level of spiritual mastery, we will tend to follow the words, advice, concepts and teachings of this person. We justify this to ourselves subconsciously, thinking that they are closer to God or Source than we are, and therefore they must know the Truth. This makes us “star-struck”. This behavior is induced by a negative perception of ourselves versus the perception we have of another person who we like better. Because we perceive them to be “better” than us, we tend to lower our guard and trust them implicitly, in lieu of what our gut tells us.
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Selective Discernment –
This is similar to selective hearing or selective attention. We will pick and choose when to be discerning. We pick and choose based on what is convenient at the time and what is pressing on us. So if we need to hear something about a potential love interest and the possibility of this person being a part of our life, we’ll be less discerning about the information we are seeking in reference to this outcome. We want to know this information at all costs, regardless of where the information comes from and how accurate it may be. So, with selective discernment there is always an attachment to “outcome” and there is emotion at play.
When we become emotionally attached to something like an item, a situation, a person, information, etc., we will forgo all good judgment for immediate gratification – the outcome. We become totally immersed in the emotion and have no objectivity. When we have no objectivity, good judgment is not practiced and discernment goes out the window. We have a need that has to be filled and this is our number one driving force. Therefore, we “select” what needs discerning and ignore the signs given by that feeling in our gut. We define this “nudging” as being a sign of apprehension, nerves, stress and/or stomach problems. We want the outcome so badly that we allow ourselves to get fooled.
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Having Judgment versus Being Judgmental –
Many of us who have embraced the concepts of New Age Spirituality believe that it isn’t good to judge. The problem with this is that this is a truism that is used universally to justify non-judgment with everything. Judgment is not only important but very necessary as it is the basis or foundation for discernment. We cannot have discernment without good judgment! Being judgmental is a totally different thing. This is when we hold ourselves out as superior to another and use this platform of “superiority” to criticize and/or put them down, often for the purpose of demeaning, defaming, and hurting.
False-spirituality or misguided spirituality doesn’t differentiate between the two. The definition of the two is convoluted in order to confuse, making us less likely to use our judgment. Consequently, we are less likely to be discerning. Because we are not discerning to begin with, we don’t recognize what is happening. It is similar to a software virus that infects the actual anti-virus software that would normally detect this virus and eradicate it. If the anti-virus is compromised, the virus goes undetected and continues doing damage unchecked.
How is non-discernment in spirituality a problem for us? We take in concepts and beliefs without questioning them, concepts that keep us enslaved to that “microcosm.” We then become good participants within that microcosm, as we follow the guidelines of that subculture, spiritual group or spiritual practice. But this in turn makes us dysfunctional in the macrocosm, or world at large. We accept and embrace concepts like “everything is in divine order”, “everything is being taken care of”, “divine intervention is forthcoming”, “ETs will rescue us”, and “we bring into our reality that which we focus on”. These are just some of the concepts and beliefs we are given in order to give us a false sense of security, false hope and to keep us from noticing the world around us.
When we actually snap out of this hypnotic fog, we see that the world around us needs much improving. We realize that while we were busy holding on to the idea that we were one more year away from jumping into a higher-dimensional earth, the world was experiencing unprecedented entropy. This entropy has occurred on our watch, while we were absorbed with deceptive, spiritual practices.
Discernment is a choice. We have the choice to follow our gut – that nudging from a Higher Power – or we can go with the information, guidance and services provided by those who dwell in a defective system of a lower-density world, also known as the Matrix. If those folks are not plugging directly to the pristine information of Prime Creator or God, then it has a very good chance of being erroneous. The question is, why don’t we just go directly to that Source to begin with? Then discernment would be much easier for us, as nothing that is not of that Higher Vibratory Octave would be allowed into our being or consciousness.
When we stop depending on others for our spiritual well-being and plug directly to God-Source, we will find our self worth; we will know truth; and we will become empowered to do what we came here to do – whatever that may be. When we think that what needs correcting in our lives or the outside world will happen via external sources, it puts the responsibility on something outside of ourselves and we become observers instead of participants. We become passengers instead of captains of our own ships. We become complacent and lazy, like a thirty-year-old still living with their parents instead running their own household.
Each one of us has amazing gifts and talents to offer the world. We are more than likely here, at this time, to be of service to others and help empower them to achieve their greatness and become valuable members of society. This world needs all of us to be at the top of our game. In order to do that, we must break the habit of depending on others for our spiritual well-being and guidance. It is wise to acquire our self-reliance and “Knowing” by going directly to the Source of all pure Truth – The God of your Knowing, Prime Creator. By doing so, you will always practice good judgment and have optimal discernment.
My lack of discernment that day, when I drove out of the Mercedes Benz dealership with the car of my dreams caused me to pay fifteen hundred dollars a month on car payments and thousands of dollars in repair fees when the car went out of warranty. When I was laid off from that great-paying job, I was stressed-out trying to keep up with the payments and with the maintenance of a car that was more than a mortgage payment for some. Could I have paid attention to my gut? I should have. I chose not to… and I lost the car. I could have saved all the money I spent on the payments and down payment for that rainy day when I would lose that cushy job. Hindsight is twenty/twenty, but our gut feeling–our discernment—is always on target. It is foolproof. Don’t sweep discernment under the rug. This is a tool given by Prime Creator to protect us from the harm of others and the harm we could do to ourselves by chasing “golden carrots” that are not so golden when they eventually rot.
– Ari Kopel
The concept for this article is taken from a chapter of Ari Kopel’s new book “Spiritual Warfare & the Art of Deception: The Hijacking of Spirituality” coming Winter 2015. If you’re interested in subscribing to the mailing list to get notified on the launch date, sign up here:https://arikopel.wordpress.com/books/
About the Author:
Ari Kopel is a graduate from the University of Miami in psychology and communications and attended Columbia University in N.Y. for postgraduate work in psychology. While at the University of Miami, she worked with Dr. Cesare Emiliani, helping to run the Harold Urey ( who was nominated for a Nobel Prize ) Laboratory on Pole Shifts and Ice Ages. Later, she worked as the assistant to Dr. Robert Jastrow, Chairman of the Board for NASA at Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
Ari is the author for the new book “Spiritual Warfare & the Art of Deception“, the founder of 2012Emergence.com and the radio show host and creator of “Shattering the Matrix” on BlogTalkRadio.com/ShatteringTheMatrix. Ari’s goal is to wake up the “sleeping Light Forces” that agreed to come to humanity’s aid; and whom have been deceived through infiltrated spiritual teachings, false spiritual leaders and false spiritual “movements”.
I have been that parent. Maybe you have been too! I struggled and was beaten down. At times, I didn’t eat to give my kids a meal. I didn’t have the money to get them Christmas presents or new clothes. I couldn’t afford birthday parties or birthday gifts. I was angry that I couldn’t get a job because I was over-qualified. I was short-tempered and stressed. I didn’t know what I could do to get out of this abysmal situation. And I often wondered how I may have affected my children, how they perceived me, what traumas I may have caused them or what deep wounds may have formed into scars .
and pushes us to the brink of breaking us. But by leading us to that point of almost breaking us, we also have the ability to bend like a tree and thus weather the storm.
Ari Kopel is a graduate of the University of Miami with a major in psychology and minor in communications. While at the University of Miami, she worked as an assistant to Dr. Cesare Emiliani in the Harold C. Urey Laboratory for Paleotemperature Research, on projects involving the study of Pole Shifts and Ice Ages. She later attended Columbia University, New York, for her graduate studies and worked as the assistant to Dr. Robert Jastrow, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, while also serving as Jastrow’s teaching assistant at Dartmouth College, NH.
Ari Kopel 
