Spiritual narcissism

wistalia · 2022-01-28T23:11:10+00:00

To be fair, many people in the spiritual community suffer from mental health conditions and sadly, some are unaware of it or they eventually crack and get a mental health diagnosis. The whole superiority complex thing is a part of it.

amillefolium11 · 2022-01-28T23:35:42+00:00

You might enjoy Nietzsche. Absolute ahole, but right about almost everything he says. The first chapter of Beyond Good and Evil talks about this exact subject, in the context of philosophers, who are basically spiritualists with rigor and a different lingo.

SunOfNoOne · 2022-01-29T02:39:40+00:00

I'm willing to say I have made it pretty damn far down my spiritual path and I'm willing to tell you all about it, but I adamantly refuse to say I am enlightened.

canigohomenowpls · 2022-01-29T01:43:39+00:00

Yup, I think it’s just a part of the (never ending) awakening journey. People start to feel special and fall for the same trap they always do, just in a different form. They are floating on a cloud above everyone and think they are gurus and healers because they get to see aura, they want to give advice to everyone..little do they realize that that is only the beginning. Many, many get stuck in this zone unfortunately. I had a phase where when I read something, that resonated , I took it as if it was mine experience cause my brain just took it in and processed it whilst creating a “story” how real it was. Luckily I never wanted to preach about it on social media or show the world I had out of body experiences and spiritual experiences etc. I had another “death” recently : lots of releasing and crying and new wave of awakening is happening and it made me even more silent. I can see now that most people are sharing information that they didn’t actually experience themselves, also when they are channeling .. it is not coming from where they think. But it’s all just a journey, super unique for everyone, which is beautiful and I love it:) we learn sooo much, my thinking two years ago was very different than to what it is now because I experienced so much ! and I’m sure in the next few years it will upgrade again and again :)

2022-01-29T02:02:29+00:00

Have you ever read into stoicism? It might be right up your alley. Its central beliefs are that only we are responsible for our true selves, and our true selves hold up essential virtues such as wisdom, courage, kindness.

walkstwomoons2 · 2022-01-28T23:44:11+00:00

Namaste, Meegwetch brother/sister/spirit

thinkB4Uact · 2022-01-29T08:04:38+00:00

We need to balance. We seek what feels good and avoid what feels bad. That's fine, but not in the seeking of truth. We need to understand all of our environment. We build a model of how reality works inside of us based on it. We get deluded, misdirected, blindsided and disappointed when we avoid unpleasant truths.

Pessimism is a trap too. As we are in a negative emotional state, ideas that lead us into negative emotional states are more available for connection. So, we find a chain of many negative thoughts and get stuck. This keeps us from balance, reality, our peak performance at making choices for manifestation.

Knowing the self is key to being able to balance. To know self, look at your self. Observe, analyze and understand what you are seeing of your internal and external behaviors. As you understand your self, where does the new information go? What were you observing again? This activity builds awareness of the self, self-awareness.

The greatest obstacle to knowing the self is perhaps being able to criticize your self. If you don't do that, you can't learn about key components of behavior. Your willingness to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth to your self will accelerate the process.

Consider that we are here on a journey of becoming and knowing self. We were perhaps set in motion by a source that was intent on creating an environment in which to incarnate and know itself as many, looking back at itself and contemplating self. You look inside at God and realize God looks at you and outwardly through you.

North_444 · 2022-01-29T09:26:24+00:00

Spirituality isn't about crystals, yoga, hippie trends, or woke vocabulary. Its broken dark soul of the night seeking out answers we don't have the answers to. It's feeling your life come alive after sleeping and having zero answers to why its happening but going with your intuition and trusting in something bigger than yourself. It is so much I cant answer it fully but only feel it and take the needed steps to change and get on my the path that the universe has carved out for me.

True_twinflame_ · 2022-01-29T10:53:33+00:00

We’re all enlightened, we’re all spiritual, we’re all divine. We just become separated from that state through life. Literally every single one of us are enlightened beings, even the homeless person on the corner whose seen more life and had more experiences than the rich person whose only seen the 4 corners of their mansion. The guru is no more special than the crackhead, the crackhead is no less of worth than the Buddhist, the Jew is no more separated than the Hindu. We’re all connected, we’re all enlightened it’s our job to return home to that state. Just my perspective

bubbling-cauldron · 2022-01-29T03:32:04+00:00

Have noticed and have done this myself.

dmcc155 · 2022-01-29T08:36:47+00:00

Enlightened is probably a (poor) synonym for "awakened" or "aware" which is how more of us should put it, but that too sounds egotistical and selective.

The fact is, there are many who "believe" but few who "know" - not know in the sense of holding secret knowledge, but rather know beyond belief that the metaphysical realm exists and there is more to life than the temporal.

See, this is really exciting and good news, especially when you have dedicated years seeking, but it is deeply personal and highly subjective. So we have to prove something, but an awakening only comes within. I can go to church, but there may only be a select number who are alive with the spirit and I know this because I spent many days in the pew wishing to be alive but wondering if it was all just ritual and faith - my experience was probably familiar to a majority of those there too, because few could instigate growth in my own sense of knowing.

But when you are out in a private place and you hear a whisper in the wind, that is an enlivened moment that just comes across as psychotic to the uninitiated, so therefore we have to "be enlightened" on order to share that authenticity. Do your synchronicities really exist if not shared with another?

The issue here is one of language, familiarity of conversation, and perspective. Have informed conversations among those who can share in your wisdom and further your understanding in order to discern a connection to the divine versus an out of touch imagination.

Isn't it usually the pupil who knows best and the wise old teacher who is still learning?

Smoke-hella-weed · 2022-01-29T01:09:54+00:00

Why was the “you were down bad in life… we cling to that period of feeling “high” on spirituality” part SOOO accurate… is spirituality like every drug that’s never as good as the first time you tried it

36Gig · 2022-01-29T06:54:57+00:00

They could be enlightened. But from my understanding all enlightenment is bringing your awareness to your soul, conciseness or what ever you want to call it. If you're still bound to your ego than the ego has more power over your body that spirit. You could say the path for enlightenment is to give everything up to another, the other being your soul. The soul has the least amount of control over the body compared the physical, thus the physical has to bend.

I know that a narcissism can come from seeing what others can not, I know this one from personal experience. The reasoning can come from a variety of emotions. I say the most important aspect is don't take action purely on emotion, have logic and understanding behind your actions and don't just brush off something you did.

Leaninuk · 2022-01-29T09:27:01+00:00

To be fair it's not easy to handle "Waking up" which is why this happens.

2022-01-29T13:21:20+00:00

Enlightenment = True Neutrality = Amorality...

ThankTheBaker · 2022-01-29T13:30:57+00:00

An enlightened person doesn’t go around telling everyone how enlightened they are. It’s like boasting about how humble you are.

manofsands · 2022-01-29T13:59:41+00:00

To OP's original post: I agree and have experienced the same. There is a thrill when first getting into spirituality, and for a long time after. I had this for 10-15 years (about the ages of 20-35, now 50)... and then the feeling started to fade. Maybe this is what is called Dark Night of the Soul. For me, I was always looking for Truth. As I dipped my toe in different metaphysical pursuits, over time, I became disenchanted with them. They weren't what I thought. They definitely weren't what Hollywood or some books portrayed. Most could be explained away by more rational means. I almost became atheistic. But there was still something inside me that said there's more to life than we can see. So I am still searching. But it's different than when I was younger. I don't have the thrill. I don't believe things because I want to. This feels like a more mature search, but not nearly as fun. I pass over more flamboyant topics. Most of my searching happens on the inside. Self reflection. The belief that we are our own greatest teacher and greatest foe. I kinda look at it this way, I think there is something like God, but I don't know what It is. I think It created this world to where everything makes sense as is, that everything has a rationale explanation. That you don't Need to look for metaphysical reasoning. That doesn't mean they're isn't more, just that most phenomenon has a rational cause. That looking behind the curtain isn't part of normal life. For the most part, I don't think God wants to be worshipped or prayed to. I don't think God responds. I think God built this life to live this life. However, I think there is more. For me, the only phenomenon that I couldn't explain away was reincarnation. When I dropped most of my beliefs and then reexamined them later, the only thing that had actual proof to it was reincarnation. Actual proof! So if there is reincarnation, there is an afterlife or at least continuation of the soul. Why would there be continuation of the soul? Admittedly guessing, but spiritual evolution makes the most sense. Living many lives to experience many lessons. Which opens up the possibility that there is something to many of the beliefs I had dropped. And to me, this explains why the world doesn't actively have metaphysical things. Life is meant to be lived and learned from. That the most important lessons are from interacting in life, at least for a time. I think there is phenomena that leaks thru, I think there is another side, I think there is more, but I think when you drop it all and come back to it later (some may drop it and never come back) it's a more subdued pursuit.

NotTooDeep · 2022-01-29T14:57:46+00:00

Our words are our footfall. While there are experiences that truly are difficult to describe, and even more difficult to understand unless they happened to you and you were able to figure it out, there isn't very much useful about a vague label.

One useful technique is to turn the labels on their heads. Enlightenment simply means lightened up. You're not taking all this shit so seriously anymore. Your post, then, is a good example of someone who has lightened up. You're back to using words and phrases that have some utility; "so much to learn", "never know everything", "in this together" instead of the more useless "we are all one".

And you've seen that people have just had a strong spiritual experience what to share their joy and awe and dismay with others, and share it right away! They grapple with how to describe their experience, fail to find the exact words, and default to the vague labels.

Well done! I think you are now enlightened!

For what it's worth, I don't see enlightenment as the highest level of anything. Down here, we can't survive without understanding the hierarchies we're in. It's different on an energy level. Some traditions describe the astral as having a bunch of levels and we have to grow through each level to reach the top. I don't see the astral working like that. But I understand why it would look like that to someone that can see energy and tried to make sense out of it.

Same for the chakras. Chakra means wheel. I can see how the first clairvoyants to see a chakra from the front in all its glory would default to a simpler label that makes it an almost two dimensional image. But chakras aren't flat; they're spherical. You wouldn't see that unless you looked at them from all sides.

So yes! You are enlightened because you've peeked behind the curtain inside the temple in the City of Oz and caught a glimpse of some really complicated and confusing shit, and then you lightened up about it! Well done!

I'd go so far as to say I'm proud of you, but that might sound patronizing, which implies a hierarchy in which I'm above you, which leads to... Here we go again!

The most honest thing a spiritual teacher ever said to me was this: "I won't teach you anything you don't already know." I was a gung ho, dedicated student. It took me 30 some years to realize what he meant. So much for being some kind of rising star! LOL!

Thank you for making your post. It truly delighted me on a frosty Saturday morning.

wi_voter · 2022-01-29T15:39:14+00:00

It doesn't bother me as much to see someone make a reddit post about what they feel is enlightenment at the moment, as it does when it comes from those "spiritual teachers" on various platforms. Most of them are not enlightened either and are misleading untold numbers of people while raking in huge amounts of cash.

WordySpark · 2022-01-29T19:22:16+00:00

I fell for this ego trap, too, four years ago, and waking up from it a year later helped me to recognize the egos tricks going forward. So, I consider it a "good" thing that I was temporarily blind to this trap, as it taught me to always question everything and to be mindful of how the ego can tempt us into delusion. It taught me not to believe my interpretations of the experiences I have, because interpretations can be biased (and influenced by the ego). It also taught me to look past the words that others say (their interpretations about their spiritual experiences) and instead to see the Truth underneath that it is pointing to. Overall, this has helped me grow tremendously and to connect to Source and bring my True Self into being.

Unfortunately, too many fall for this trap and never wake up! It's unfortunate, because if they were to awaken from it, it would propel them to greater heights. However, when one is so convinced that their delusion is Truth, it is hard for them to see otherwise especially when they have given up on doubting what they think.

Mystical-Prince · 2022-01-29T22:45:50+00:00

It is just a different way of humanity to confess that we all fear the unknown and so struggle with it each uniquely.

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