New Age Spirituality Practitioners Should Stop the Propaganda
By: Magda Erockfor Ayuk
Tags: Covid 19, Spirituality, Culture, Health, Pandemic

New Age Spirituality Practitioners Should Stop the Propaganda

If not wearing a mask makes you “woke,” you’re in dire need of a nap

Photo by Elisabeth Wales on Unsplash

I’m a spiritual person. I pray, talk to my ancestors, perform New Moon rituals, and believe in scripting. But, it irks me how some spiritual influencers are using their platform to advocate forgoing masks and social distancing. “Freedom is our birthright. Choose love instead of fear. Love is the vaccine,” they say.

I guess surgeons are shaking in their clogs when wearing masks during surgery.

Yawn.

As someone who has spent the greater part of the last six years in Korea, I can’t really wrap my mind around this North American association of masks and control. In Korea, people would wear masks — even before COVID — because air pollution reaches dangerous levels at times. Before COVID, I’d wear masks occasionally. And, since COVID, I always wear masks in public. Well, now, I no longer go out — but, more on that later.

Neither I nor the 51 million people who reside in Korea are being controlled via masks.

I left Korea two weeks ago. Now, I’m in Atlanta with my family for some time. And, you know what? In Korea, airport staff checked my temperature at three different checkpoints before I boarded the plane and told me to self-quarantine for 14 days. Once I got to LA, no one checked my temperature. Furthermore, the airport was crowded, and staff made no mention of quarantining. No one respected those six-feet-apart signs on the floor, either. At the Atlanta airport? The same was true. Plus, I saw a maskless little girl rolling on the floor and touching her face among a crowd of people as her maskless mother texted away.

Jesus, be a mask.

New Age spirituality practitioners are not against masks because they’re enlightened. They’re simply sipping on the same North-American cool-aid as a huge chunk of the population. New Age spirituality practitioners just clothe their ignorance in spirituality and decorate it with crystals.

Now, I don’t think all anti-maskers have bad intentions. I think the spiritual influencers I’ve seen actually think they’re helping. I also know that, oftentimes, spiritual folks pride themselves in knowing more than everyone else. Once “englightened,” they feel like they’re the sole holders of the truth. If you don’t think like them, you’re a sheep.

This is why, in my opinion, they readily jump on the conspiracy-theory bandwagon — which is a huge part of American culture.

I do wonder why anti-maskers aren’t looking to other countries who have long implemented masks. The coronavirus continues to spread rapidly in the States, with cases surpassing China, where it all began. Yet, Korea was able to get it under control. Yes, I know the population in Korea is much smaller than that of the States. However, it is also more densely populated, which makes it easier for the virus to spread. Insert Black girl shrug emoji.

Are there a lot of shady things happening among the “elite” worldwide? Heck, yeah. Is COVID man-made? At this point, does it matter? One thing that has been scientifically proven is that masks reduce the risk of transmission.

My mask prevents my spit droplets from infecting you, and your mask prevents your spit droplets from infecting me.

But, North Americans aren’t really used to the concept of reciprocity. I say this as a North American.

Canadians aren’t much better than Americans in that regard. There’s a reason Canada is sometimes referred to as “America Light.”

I think people want to be woke so badly that they become insomniacs. Lack of sleep, mind you, weakens your immune system.

A few weeks ago, I even saw a post written by a White spiritual medium saying she communicated with George Floyd, postmortem. What did he tell her? He said he was against the protests and that we should stop focusing on racial injustice. People are constantly using spirituality to cover their ignorance and biases.

I understand the need to believe you are protected/untouchable. Right now, all I can do is hope for the best and keep my immune system up, as my sis-in-law, who I currently live with in Atlanta, just tested positive for COVID. I am asymptomatic as of now. Should I go around town and share the love? Or should I do the responsible, humane thing and sit my ass at home?

I’ll repeat: Masks are meant to protect others from you. Maskless people aren’t enlightened; they’re irresponsible, as they could be spreading COVID.

When asked how many people would need to wear masks to slow the spread of COVID, UC San Francisco epidemiologist Dr. Rutherford said, “What you want is 100 percent of people to wear masks, but you’ll settle for 80 percent[…] In one simulation, researchers predicted that 80 percent of the population wearing masks would do more to reduce COVID-19 spread than a strict lockdown.”

Korea as a whole never experienced a lockdown. We just wore masks.

So, technically, not wearing masks infringes on your freedom.

To tell people to put others at risk because of your beliefs is anti-spiritual in my opinion. Aren’t we supposed to love others as we love ourselves?

Speaking of love, New Age spirituality practitioners are also really good at spouting that love is the only answer to racial injustice.

My question is: How are you going to co-opt practices from Black and Brown cultures (smudging with Palo Santo and sage, using other forms of plant medicine and blessed candles, and building altars, etc.) and then tell people within those cultures to fold their arms and love away oppression?

COVID is also disproportionately affecting Black and Brown communities. The Navajo Nation is actually the worst hit area in the United States. So, anti-maskers are “free” to infect essential workers who are disproportionately Black and Brown in America while using their ancestral practices to deep dive within. But, oops, I’m still in the matrix and anti-love for pointing this out. We’re all one, and race doesn’t exist. Forgiveness is the highest frequency. My bad.

This world is a funny place, ain’t it?

As previously mentioned, I am a spiritual person. I bless my water, have precognitive dreams, talk to my ancestors, my spirit guides, my higher self and God, and I still wear a mask — for the same reason I have protected sex. Now, I’m wondering if New Age spirituality practitioners don’t believe in condoms, because #freedom.

Moral of the story: Wear your masks, folks. To the anti-mask New Age spirituality practitioners in the room: Just like you’ve seen the wisdom of African and Indigenous cultures, please see the wisdom in Asian countries that have long been wearing masks and are faring far better than the West.