Recently, I took a plunge into one of the most materialistic and superficial cultures alive on our planet—Los Angeles. Historically, I was never drawn here. In fact, my earlier brushes with the area left me certain that it was about as far from home as home could get. Yet, in the infinite irony that has become the humorous backdrop of my life, I found myself heading that way shortly after my 40th birthday.

I came to one of the most materialistic places on earth to deepen my spiritual practice. And, in the way spirit often works, what I encountered held an essential key. I learned that my relationship to the material—most specifically, my body—was required to harness and build a home for my spiritual wisdom.

There are days in LA where it feels like the end of days—more traffic than seems possible, an unbroken sea of billboards selling everything imaginable through sex or fear, ash from nearby fires drifting from the sky, homeless people lining the sidewalks, all mixed with a level of privilege most of the world will never know. There are those who walk its streets as if behind protective glass, adorned in the jewelry of their gods—whether Rolex or Krishna.

Like many things we find ourselves doing that we thought we never would, my time in LA was both a call to my future and a reckoning with my past.

It is an ideal place to witness what serves and what obstructs spiritual development. And I’ll cut to the chase: the foundation of what is missing is ethical understanding and spiritual discipline. People have lost direct contact with spirit.

There is an abundance of spirituality for sale in SoCal. People hawk their services with varying degrees of sincerity. They change their names to something that sounds more enlightened and don the costume of tantrika, shaman, or guide—as if the exterior is enough.

Some are simply making a few bucks or pretending to be something special, and they pour out of every crack and crevice within a hundred miles of LA.

I don’t entirely argue with spiritual costuming. For some, it is a place to start. How can we grow into spiritual beings without first clawing through the layers of what keeps us from our birthright? Most of us begin misguided. But everything has something to teach us, and most things fall somewhere on a spectrum from helpful to harmful.

So how harmful is this spiritual charade?

It would be easy to write about this from a place of being above it all, but my most powerful teachings have come through what I have walked through and the scars I wear as a result. I am well-versed in the feminist politics of the body. I viscerally know the impact of Christian asceticism. I am smart enough to see ageism. I am aware of the deep dissociation that has become a normalized human experience.

And yet, my blind spots were larger than anticipated.

As Hollywood marries spiritual practice, showmanship becomes more important than character. Thrilling spiritual events become more desirable than prayer, and selling spiritual crumbs to lost souls becomes effortless. The desperation is palpable.

My time here has highlighted the spiritual impoverishment so pervasive that if someone dresses the part and carries an artifact—a feather, a rattle—most people have no idea if they are a shaman or a charlatan.

It pushed me to ask: How do we find our way back to sanity and help people reconnect to their own spiritual authority?

The answer lies in what is missing and what has been corrupted.

The Pysical

We cannot have a deep respect for the spiritual without a deep respect for the physical. There have always been systems that honor the body as essential to spiritual development and those that believe evolution comes only through separation from it.

Being body-centric in everyday life has its strengths and its limitations. We can love our bodies into health and beauty, or we can manage, control, and even abuse them into something we think they should be, believing that will bring us love, acceptance, or status.

LA highlights this split—ranging from deep health consciousness to extreme plastic surgery.

Without a good relationship with the body—the physical—we cannot have a good relationship with our spirituality.

What I came into contact in with LA left me more disconnected with my physical body and the healthy connection with the physical world than just about any other experience of my life. This opened the door to the gross distortions that are regularly normalized.

As Alan Watts said, we are not a materialistic culture. If we were we would have a lot more respect for the world around us. What is the result of a “spiritual” practice that leaves us neglectful of our bodies and our world?

Ethical Understanding

My most recent sojourn into New Age spirituality has made one thing abundantly clear: most of us walking around barking up spiritual trees and calling in ascended masters have the character development and spiritual discipline of toddlers.

And yes, in case you were wondering, maturity and wisdom matter.

Think of it this way: you decide to make a pilgrimage to a holy master. You know that if you show up without the right question, she will turn you away. You may never get another chance. You would prepare, wouldn’t you? You would approach with clarity and respect. You would pray for guidance and support.

You would not drive up, honk your horn, complain about the journey, and ask the master what she had for breakfast.

Yet, this is more or less what we are doing.

Spiritual wisdom has become a commodity, purchased with two tickets to Burning Man and a matcha latte. And it’s definitely being sold that way.

What is missed is that you cannot receive true wisdom when you approach it this way. You may be able to tell your friends you were at the master’s house, and they may think you are cool—but you did not gain spiritual insight.

Deciding whether you want to be cool or walk a spiritual path determines whether you reach the master and receive true wisdom, or if she sends someone of your same development level to indulge your illusions.

I am grateful to my family—particularly my father’s parents—for imprinting on me the importance of sound moral judgment. I have my list of challenges, but I was raised by people who had principles and did their best to live by them. Even with their mistakes, they taught me that character matters.

Before opening intergalactic communications or calling in the wisdom of the ancients, we need to learn character “codes” that help us develop and hold our spiritual authority.

The problem? This work isn’t sexy. It won’t sell to the masses. I have watched people claim they want deep teachings when, in reality, they are fooling themselves. They want ego validation—not wisdom.

While I have certainly had my oversights and made my errors, I have learned the most about the importance of ethics from both my teachers and my students. Without substantial effort in this direction, true spiritual development is impossible—regardless of costuming.

Foundational Practice

Is it possible to walk a spiritual path without misstep? Not for most of us. There is much to learn. But that is not the point. The point is that we do all we can to be as ethical as possible and develop the ability to see our own level clearly.

When we are out of touch with our physical selves and have lost sight of what goodness really means, we fall into every spiritual trap—and there are many.

One of the most dangerous delusions is believing we are beyond foundational practices. We assume we have attained such a high level of understanding that we need not humble ourselves to do what every true spiritual master has done: work tirelessly at the foundations.

We overlook teachers and organizations that require real work and seek out those that will stroke our egos. We believe ourselves discerning, thinking that spiritual development should adhere to our preferences.
But spiritual truths do not bow to our preferences.

But spiritual truths do not bow to our preferences.

I came to SoCal for spiritual growth. What I found was a landscape of distortion that, through deep reflection, became a mirror—revealing with stark clarity what is illusion and what is real.

The impact this region has on global spiritual development is immense. SoCal is not merely a participant but a driver of consciousness, influencing not just the United States but much of the world. The distortions found here are not contained; they are packaged, polished, and shipped worldwide, shaping spiritual discourse in ways that are both profound and problematic.

I am grateful for my time there because it allowed me to witness firsthand what obstructs our collective spiritual evolution. It challenged me, deepened my understanding, and humbled me in moments when I lost myself to the current.

Ultimately, I left not only knowing that the true path of spirituality is found within the heart willing to do the work—but with a far clearer understanding of what that truly means. As a result, I am stronger, more resilient, and more equipped to be a better guide for others on this path.

By Dr. Kate Siner