The Council of Spiritual Practices was convened in 1993 and organized in 1994. They are a collection of researchers, scholars, clergy, and spiritual guides who disseminate information about sacred experiences to the public. The CSP fosters extensive research on psychedelics and religious/numinous experiences. Their charter states such experiences can have profound and lasting benefits.
In 1995, the Council published their Code of Ethics for Spiritual Guides. Since then, the code has served to guide the actions and behavior of leaders in spiritual and religious communities across the globe.
One of the core missions of the New Earth Almanac is to address problems as they arise, head on and with integrity, while also providing solutions to those problems. In response to this edition’s article on coercion and assault in our spiritual communities, we’d like to offer the link to the CSP code. You may find the full text online here:
https://csp.org/docs/code-of-ethics-for-spiritual-guides
The document is under a Creative Commons license and may be distributed, printed, and used freely, provided that users include a reference back to the source page. You may hand this code out at your circles, in your practices, and to staff and friends as you see fit. We feel it should be required reading for anyone serving as a spiritual guide.
We leave you with a few of its well elucidated key points.
From the section on Integrity:
- “During primary religious practices, participants may be especially open to suggestion, manipulation, and exploitation; therefore, guides pledge to protect participants and not to allow anyone to use that vulnerability in ways that harm participants or others.”
From the section on Serving Individuals:
- “Participation in any primary religious practice must be voluntary and based on prior disclosure and consent given individually by each participant while in an ordinary state of consciousness.”
- “Guides shall make reasonable preparations to protect each participant’s health and safety during spiritual practices and in the periods of vulnerability that may follow.”