Summary

The article discusses the three stages of spiritual growth that individuals often experience, emphasizing the challenges and lessons in ego-reduction and true understanding.

Abstract

The spiritual journey is depicted as a progression through three distinct stages. Initially, individuals seek knowledge through books, podcasts, and courses, leading to an inflated ego and a sense of superiority. In the second stage, the belief in one's god-like ability to awaken others takes hold, often resulting in a disconnection from genuine spirituality and an overemphasis on the ego. Finally, the realization dawns that true spiritual growth requires humility and an understanding that one knows very little, prompting a return to the basics with a more subdued ego and a focus on personal soul development rather than trying to change others.

Opinions

The first stage involves an intense pursuit of spiritual knowledge, which can lead to an inflated sense of self-importance and a detachment from the true essence of spirituality.
In the second stage, individuals may mistakenly believe they have the power to awaken others, sitting in judgment and attempting to force their beliefs onto others, which is seen as a misstep in their spiritual journey.
The article suggests that the universe intervenes to teach individuals operating from a place of spiritual ego that they, in fact, know very little, which is a humbling experience necessary for genuine spiritual growth.
The final stage is characterized by egoless thinking, where individuals learn to respect the paths of others and focus on their own soul's development without trying to impose their views on anyone else.
The spiritual journey is not about being superior or having the answers, but about guiding others through inspiration and leading by example, without force or judgment.

3 Stages Most Spiritual People Go Through Before They Truly Get it

It takes the universe showing up with a jackhammer

The moment we establish we’re spiritual, there’s a subtle sense of pride that rises within. (Photo: Basker Dhandapani)

Stage 1 — Figuring it All Out

This is the stage where most of us stay up into the night reading spiritual books and articles, listening to podcasts, digging for information and seeking the truth. We spend our days taking courses, attending retreats and masterclasses, keeping up with astrology and other spiritual stuff.

With how the universe works, when you seek, you find, so we find the truth we seek and our mind expands. Our egos also expand and get a little swollen.

Now we think we know everything!

We give ourselves fancy little titles like master, healer, teacher, guru, coach, etc. We get on a moral high ground feeling as if we are better than those who don’t know the things we know.

The moment we establish we’re spiritual, there’s a subtle sense of pride that rises within.

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Stage 2 — Thinking We’re Now God

This is the stage where we believe we have the power to change people because we know everything. We believe we can go around shaking others awake because we are awake. We don’t approve of them sleeping.

The reason we fall into this stage is that we disconnect from God. When you disconnect from God, you become a slave to your ego. The ego becomes the driving force in your life and you miss the bigger picture.

We sit on our high thrones with our fancy spiritual titles and we look down on others who aren’t on our level and, in other words, those who haven’t had a spiritual awakening. We believe they are a problem we must fix. We must wake them up.

We try to get them to believe our awakened life is the ultimate life when, in reality, awakening can be very difficult and painful.

We pretend we’re all good and we don’t tell the whole story. We only talk about bliss. We don’t tell them about the shadows in the darkness and the monsters under the bed.

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We pretend our life is cupcakes and others’ lives are shit. We lie to them and ourselves because we’re a false god!

We feel we are special and that’s why we woke up, but the truth is that we woke up because we were going down the wrong path and not because we’re better or special.

We constantly throw in people’s faces that they are lost in the matrix.

We go around pointing out things that are wrong in others and the world, and we turn a blind eye to our egoic ways.

This is when the universe disapproves.

The universe and our own souls control everything, including who wakes up and when. The spiritually awakened doesn’t. The awakened can trigger an awakening through enlightening teachings, but not by force. That's not the way.

The moment you try to force awakening on others, you’ve got it all wrong.

Stage 3 — Realizing We Know Nothing at All

The real test for spiritual people is to practice egoless thinking, and the universe isn’t always very nice in teaching us when we are full of ego. The universe is capable of moving the ground from under our feet just to teach us.

The universe pays us a visit with a jackhammer to drill sense into us because obviously; we woke up and we still don’t get it.

When we’re operating from our spiritual ego, the universe makes us understand that we know nothing at all.

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We realize that we’ve got this spiritual stuff all wrong and we must come down from the throne we placed ourselves on.

We’re made to start our journey all over again — from the chaotic beginning — but this time we do it the right way. We do with the ego in the backseat watching our back instead of leading.

We learn that even those who are fast asleep still provide us with what we need to continue evolving and we must never judge the path of others but go about ours with humility and respect for all people.

We learn that people aren’t awake because it’s not their time to, and it isn’t our job to wake anybody up but to focus on our soul's development. That’s all we need to do and everything else falls into place.

When we put our ego aside, we become emotionally stable while the higher self leads the way.

At this point, we are no longer interested in trying to change others, but to be a true leader that others just want to follow and learn from.

We realize our duty is to help other people find freedom from suffering in an educative and inspiring way.

Human existence and human behavior become more interesting once we look at it from a place above ego and pride.

Some people think of this as a state of nirvana and we wish for others to experience it too, but we don’t force it. We guide them there.

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Note: This article is only meant to provide spiritual guidance and light-hearted content.

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