does anyone have a previously really close female (or male) friend/partner who found spiritualism...

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... and now thinks they exist on another level? Rendering it impossible for you to have a decent conversation/relationship with them? With them acting as the sage and as if you are the unenlightened novice? Without them putting your thoughts, feelings and stuff that happens to you in life down to karma, past spiritual trauma or your desperate need for reiki healing?

No

So I'm the only one?... recent ex

Could be

No but I have got some previously very good friends who have become, anti-vaccing, home-schooling, sounding £'000s a month on holistic nutritionist advice, vegan, gluten and carb free obsessives.

The way I see it, it's fine for me to tell them I don't want to talk about their latest fad and think it's bullshit, but I respect their right to chose those things for themselves, it's their life and their business, I just don't want to hear about it. Unfollowing on FB helps

I have a friend who found Forever Living.

It seems there are no ills that cannot be cured by putting Aloe on it, eating Aloe or selling Aloe.

I have a friend who thinks everyone should cure cancer with vegetables by going to some vegetable retreat in Bulgaria instead of getting medical advice.

ive dabbled in ghost hunts and spritualism in a minor amateur way but no way would i think i know everything or even bore my friends with my experiences ,

Have a friend currently heading down the Scientology road ...

Yes and sadly many of them use it to act immorally and selfishly.
I have experienced this a lot I shudder is someone tells me they're into crystals.

I know someone who regularly travels to India and she speaks about going home. We get stories and we think, what on earth are you talking about. She has mentioned that the traditional treatment for Cancer is not the only way to be cured. She truly believes she is a spiritual leader. We think she is on a different planet and that her head is up her backside and Narc comes to mind. We all know she is fake. I did read somewhere that wearing orange or white does not make you a spiritual person but I don’t think she would agree with that.

These spiritualist mediums are a bunch of frauds IMHO and best avoided. I do know somebody who went to one and said then knew stuff. But anyone could have faked it.

I am glad i am not the only one.

It is very hard when someone that you were previously close to develops a belief in their superiority like this - especially as it’s couched in such “loving” / spiritual terms that they never take responsibility for anything.

If you point out the change, you are apparently the one bringing the negative energy.

my ex had a religious experience and just believes in oneness now and no separation between us all, so apparently individual interactions mean nothing to him and he is above that. He and also believes he is a reiki master and all the stuff about cancer you are all saying. In fact, you are widely disapproved of in his book, and considered to be “selling out” if you go down the conventional medicine route.

He also thinks that completely
painfree childbirth is possible for everyone if they are spiritual enough.

What a cunt.

Do you really think it’s a way that some narcs operate?

My eldest sister decided she can tell the future, talk to the dead, angels. They can give you advice that you couldn’t have thought of. If you do much an
raise an eyebrow or breathe she’ll scream abuse. I don’t talk to her.

He's your ex, not your problem

People have experiences, some are profound and they believe they need to change their lives to accommodate what they've seen as "The Truth"

Some of those can be quite religious or spiritual, others are more paranoid and see conspiracies everywhere and yet others are instantly sceptical of absolutely everything outside their five senses.

The thing about all of them is the blinkered vision and unshakable certainty that they and only they know "The Truth"

That's as far as my tolerance will allow me to associate with them.
As soon as they start trying to tell me I must listen and embrace their "Truth" I run a mile. I'd advise you to do the same.

I had an ex who found religion and became like you describe. I think you just have to tell them to stop.

They won't be told though, that's the arrogance of them. It's very extreme and childish and so far from open mindedness.
It infuriates me.
I once nannied for a (as above) family who told me that their son (toddler learning to walk) was tripping over my negative energy and that they'd have to send me home unless I agreed to have a crystal healing (which naively I did)
So weird.

When I first got married my PILs told me I needed to go for "healing prayer" so that my "unresolved emotional wounds" wouldn't harm their PFSB son. I thanked them for their concern, never mentioned it again, and changed the subject if they brought it up.
Also have another relative who is very into the spiritual realm and somehow manages to tie this into various conspiracy theories. I try not to engage but sometimes it's so ludicrous I can't help but argue.

Yes. My mum. I no longer talk to her

Why are you even listening to him? Just smile politely and say, "Oh that's interesting" and slam the door.

Yes. My sister. Many years ago now, but if I dared to question her I would be dismissed as 'being negative/causing negative energy etc. She was diagnosed with an early stage cancer and was completely cured by conventional medicine, but always claimed it was really the faith healers and reiki etc. She is a counsellor in these arts herself now and has a pretty collection of crystals. She will give them away to clients if they feel a certain affinity towards a particular one. It then takes her ages to replace it, traipsing around the country looking at and feeling crystals to find her new replacement which must have the 'correct energy'. All very odd.

We don't have much to do with each other these days.

Some people really need to get a grip. I once lived on on a street in trendy bit of London where I heard mums talking to toddlers in this way, cosmic energy and all that stuff and heard one woman be rude to another at the till about 'white bread'. They need to lighten up!! And are usually pretty miserable buggers too

I do think its a way that some people use to elevate themselves above the common herd without having to go to all the trouble of learning a skill or being good at anything.

Tell him about the interesting study that shows people who join a cult lose 20 IQ points in 18 months and see if he dives headfirst into 'its not a cult'.

Spirituality and Spiritualism are two different things Op.

Do you think it's a sort of manifestation of dissociation? People who feel like everything about real life is just too hard but they're too proud to admit that so they just disappear into la la land? Maybe they feel they've never fitted in and instead of working on their people skills they elevate themselves above 'ordinary folk' by wishing to attract followers therefore having someone they're in control of?
That dynamic is common. I'm yet to meet one of these people who doesn't either look down on, pity or want to convert people to their way of thinking as though they've never grown up enough to understand that everyone is entitled to and does view the world differently and that that's perfectly normal.