Spiritual leprosy, spiritual bypass, and id monster

Here are three spiritual conditions I have suffered from at various times, and can still be prone to.

Spiritual leprosy

In leprosy, nerve endings are damaged, so people can't feel. In spiritual leprosy, there is dissociation from almost all sensory input, except very particular signs of 'danger', and signs of 'danger' (in inverted commas because we're talking psychic danger: inputs reminiscent of childhood [psychic] 'attackers') trigger cascades of defence responses. This is sometimes accompanied by dissociation from physical input: I do not realise that environmental settings (heat, cold, noise) need to be adjusted; I am physically damaging myself but have no idea.

Solution: Coming back to the present; asking myself what I am feeling physically; deliberately identifying and investigating the micro-responses to incoming stimuli.

Spiritual bypass

This is where I do not want to look at the mechanisms of the ego, wishing instead to shoot straight past to feelings of light, joy, oneness with God, etc. Watch out for crystals, kaftans, cushions, ceremonies, accoutrements, divination, moving to Totnes, booking flights to Nepal, excessive focus on physical methods, and the creation of an external aura of 'spirituality'. These can be (although are not necessarily) warning signs. Real spiritual work is ugly and painful. It's not cosy, nice, perfumed, or suffused with Celtic pipe-and-harp music. It sounds like Brooklyn, not Sedona. There's nothing wrong with any of those external things, by the way, but they can't be pasted on like nicotine patches to induce a spiritual awakening. Spiritual work can equally well be done on a late-night bus travelling through a rough part of Hackney with the smell of kebab filling your nostrils and a psychotic person having an episode about COVID or foreigners two seats away. The real work is about looking at my ego's construction of an entire universe where I am the victim, you are the perpetrator, I'm on the attack, and you've got it coming. There's no way past: there's only through. Save the Enya for later.

Solution: Brace myself. Do the work.

Id monster

This is where I'm asleep, and the wanting monster is in charge of my mouth. Talk, talk, talk, high on its manipulative power.

Solution: Why am I talking? What is my purpose? Is the purpose legitimate? Is talking the legitimate means? Are these words neutral? Is there an underlying motive?