The spiritual ego is the most dangerous type of ego of all.
If you aren’t mindful, it can wreak total destruction in your life – but not in a violent or aggressive way. Instead, the spiritual ego is disguised under the mask of “good intentions,” “higher vibration,” “awakened perspective,” and humble pomposity.
Beware of the spiritual ego. Watch out for spiritual narcissism.
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Spiritual egotism is a trap that many of us spiritual seekers can and will fall into at some point (whether internally or externally through the hands of others).
On a personal level, the longer we remain in the stagnant standstill of spiritual egotism, the more likely we are to turn into a spiritual narcissist.
Indeed, spiritual narcissism is perhaps the most tragic malady to befall humanity of all and the worst pitfall we can experience on our spiritual awakening journeys.
We’ll explore why a little later in this article. But first, let’s explore what the spiritual ego is exactly and how it evolves into spiritual narcissism.
Table of contents
What is the Spiritual Ego?
Firstly, let’s touch on the basics. What is the ego? The ego is our separate sense of self or the illusory “I” story that we carry around in the world as an evolutionary survival mechanism.
Yet, while the separate sense of self (“me, myself, I”) helps us to distinguish ourselves from others and therefore survive, it is also the source of all our suffering when we take this separate self seriously.
Why is the ego the source of our suffering? When we feel like small and separate little islands, we feel innately cut off from our true home and True Nature which is boundless, whole, and not subject to birth or death (i.e., it is infinite). Ancient spiritual traditions have called this Divine essence Spirit, God/dess, Higher Self, Life, Oneness, Christ Consciousness, Nondual Awareness, and so on.
So what is the spiritual ego? The spiritual ego builds on top of this fundamental ego that we carry around – it is the ego on crack, the ego on steroids, and the ego inflated beyond its usual garden-variety size.
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Yet the unfortunate and rather tragic thing is that many people often don’t realize that they’ve developed a spiritual ego until shit hits the proverbial fan.
How Does the Spiritual Ego Develop?
The spiritual ego is a product of spiritual materialism – that is, using spirituality to serve the ego, instead of approaching the spiritual path with the intent of trying to move beyond the ego.
When spiritual paths, practices, and concepts become a slave of the ego, the spiritual ego is born. In other words, when a person’s central idea about themselves is ruled by the belief that they’re a “spiritual person,” this is the spiritual ego.
When being a “spiritual person” eclipses all else that a person is, this is the spiritual ego in action. Yes, there are positive benefits to building your identity around spirituality. But there are also some pretty scary consequences that we shouldn’t ignore.
The Development of Spiritual Narcissism
Walking the spiritual path properly is a very subtle process; it is not something to jump into naively. There are numerous sidetracks which lead to a distorted, ego-centered version of spirituality; we can deceive ourselves into thinking we are developing spiritually when instead we are strengthening our egocentricity through spiritual techniques. This fundamental distortion may be referred to as spiritual materialism.
– Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Spiritual narcissism is the very culmination of spiritual egotism: it is the ego that has become so solid, so fixed, so unyielding in the idea of its own spiritual greatness that it is pathological. It is narcissistic.
As we know already, narcissism is a mental disorder where a person has an inflated sense of their own importance (amongst several other spiky issues). The exact same problem applies to spiritual narcissists: they have such an unwavering belief in their own awakened perspective, their own “special” spiritual achievements and knowledge, that they cannot connect with (or tolerate) their humanity.
Spiritual narcissists cannot tolerate other people either – even though they may fine-tune the external image of being compassionate or wise – others ultimately pose a threat to their delusional grandiosity.
Spiritual narcissism begins with spiritual materialism. Within spiritual materialism (the trap of using spirituality to serve the ego), there is always a seed of spiritual narcissism. And if that seed keeps being fed without going unchecked, without being uprooted or challenged, it grows and grows.
Eventually, we can become so sidetracked, so deluded by the ego that has used spirituality to make itself indestructible, that we are worse off on the spiritual path than when we began.
Examples of the Spiritual Ego
So what does the spiritual ego look like in action, and how does it corrupt our spiritual awakening paths?
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Below I’ll share a few examples that are commonly seen in the spiritual community – and while some of them are borderline spiritually narcissistic, others are flat-out expressions of spiritual narcissism. Let’s look at some examples of the spiritual ego:
- Claiming to have “special access” to a spirit guide/angel/spirit/ascended master for the purposes of self-aggrandizement
- Believing oneself to be the reincarnation of a superior being, famous spiritual historical figure, etc., and broadcasting that to everyone
- Taking frequent pictures of one’s spiritual practice and posting them online in order to boost one’s self-image, status, and gain attention or validation
- Declaring that others can’t possibly understand you because you have attained a certain state of ‘high vibrational awareness,’ awakening, liberation, etc. – and showing contempt for those who aren’t at the same ‘level’ (instead of being compassionate)
- Using Dharma-talk to avoid being psychologically vulnerable, showing empathy, and facing human emotions (e.g., “Just let go and let be,” “You attracted that experience,” “Who is there to experience this?”)
- Looking down on “low vibe,” “unevolved,” “unawakened,” and “asleep” people
- Boasting about and flaunting spiritual achievements or gifts (e.g., amazing mystical experiences, clairvoyant abilities, yoga certifications, etc.)
- Imitating what a “spiritual person” looks and sounds like
You get the picture.
I’m sure you can think of a few more examples, and you’re welcome to share them in the comments below.
15 Signs of the Spiritual Narcissist
The spiritual ego is so dangerous because it is nearly impenetrable, and that makes the spiritual narcissist a special flavor of dangerous.
People can spend their entire lives (or lifetimes) stuck in the trap of unknowingly misusing spiritual words, ideas, practices, and paths to inflate their egos.
Sadly, the spiritual ego can result in instances of abuse and even murder, such as the Jonestown tragedy, the abuse committed by Bikram Choudhury (founder of Bikram yoga), Swami Rama (Indian yogi), Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (spiritual teacher), Sogyal Rinpoche, Andrew Cohen, and even Chogyam Trungpa (who coined spiritual materialism), and so on. The cases of spiritual ego are so wide and varied that they are impossible to include here.
The reality is that as spiritual beings having a human experience, we are imperfect. Hell, I’ve fallen into the spiritual ego numerous times – and it’s not pretty. But the crucial thing is to practice humility, openness, and the willingness to be honest with ourselves (all hallmarks of authentic shadow work) – these qualities are the best defense against spiritual egotism and narcissism.
So, without further ado, here are signs of the spiritual ego that has evolved into a spiritual narcissist that you need to look out for (both within yourself and others):
- Overly publicizing (aka., boasting about) special spiritual accomplishments
- Claiming a stance of superiority (directly or indirectly) due to one’s spiritual gifts or talents
- Attempting to transcend the physical/earthly and take on godlike qualities
- Believing that one’s connection with the Divine is somehow deeper or more special than other people’s connection
- Focusing on how “more spiritually evolved” one is to others and …
- Judging others for being “less awakened,” “asleep,” “unconscious”
- Attempting to look like, dress, and sound like a “spiritual” person
- Using spiritual words and concepts to avoid being wrong, mistaken, or facing vulnerable emotions
- Flaunting how spiritual one is on social media (with photos that demonstrate spiritual postures, setups, locations, tools, etc.)
- Becoming overly identified with spiritual knowledge (and how much “you” know)
- Trying to convert people to one’s perception (preaching to them or debating)
- Resistance to being “called out” and resenting those who try to do this
- Claiming access to special and exclusive spiritual knowledge that others can’t access, and only they can access (e.g., such as through having a kundalini awakening, being a psychic healer, being a channeller of some higher being, etc.)
- Lack of curiosity and receptivity to life
- Wearing a mask of niceness, positivity, or wisdom
Essentially, those trapped in the hell realms of spiritual egotism frequently try to reaffirm their spiritual specialness to the world through covert and overt methods.
While spotting a spiritual narcissist “in the wild” is fairly easy, seeing these tendencies within ourselves is much harder. Why? The answer is that when we’re so close to and identified with a pattern of behavior that brings us some sense of satisfaction, we find ways of justifying and perpetuating its existence.
Why Are Spiritual Narcissists So Dangerous?
Quite simply, spiritual narcissists are so dangerous because they’re dressed in robes of light. They appear to be awakened, illuminated, wise, and all-loving on the surface – but beneath the facade is power-hungry delusion and darkness.
None of us are beyond the possibility of becoming spiritual narcissists if we aren’t mindful.
What makes the spiritual ego so dangerous is that it makes us feel all-powerful, even untouchable. And as such, to challenge the spiritual ego challenges the very foundations of our own self-worth and self-image – and that can be positively terrifying (which makes the spiritual ego so tricky and, therefore, dangerously unyielding).
In fact, we can even feel like we’re committing a profane and sacrilegious act by calling out the spiritual ego because it’s so inflated and has such a good opinion of itself (a delusion which that we have entirely bought into).
Not only that, but the spiritual ego is also dangerous because it limits all growth: it is the death of any transformation because to evolve means to go through the cycles of death and rebirth. And if the spiritual ego has “already arrived,” there is a stasis, there simply cannot be any more growth.
In fact, the deadliest virus on our paths is to believe that “we’ve arrived,” have become “enlightened,” or somehow spiritually superior to others. The ego has not only become narcissistic, but it has developed a full-blown God Complex or the state of believing that one is, in actual fact, God. But this is not in an egoless, non-dual way (non-duality also being subject to the same dire issues): this is pure ego-centrism, the very definition of darkness or the absence of light.
The more ego-based we are, the further we are from the Light of Consciousness, which goes beyond the self. Furthermore, if residing in the ego equals a disconnection from the Divine, living from a place of ego-centric God Complex goes one step further: it is like living in total darkness – the very definition of hell.
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When a person is living in hell, they will harm others – this is basic knowledge that even a child can understand. When there is a total absence of light, there is only darkness – and how can a person see, feel, think, or behave clearly in such a state? The result is suffering, both for the one experiencing the God Complex and for those unfortunate souls happening to be in the proximity of the spiritual narcissist.
How to Stop the Spiritual Ego
As I mentioned previously, we need to approach the spiritual path with humility, openness, and the willingness to be honest with ourselves.
A crucial place to start is by practicing a combination of self-love and shadow work – two central inner work practices.
We all have a shadow side (i.e., the face of the ego that isn’t presented to the public), and we need to become aware of it in order to prevent issues such as spiritual egotism and narcissism from arising.
If you would like to learn more about shadow work, see our free shadow work guide.
To guard against spiritual egotism and narcissism, you can start by asking yourself questions such as:
- “If I saw someone else behave the way I do, what would I think of them?”
- “Am I willing to face my inner contradictions and hypocrisies? If there is resistance, what doesn’t the spiritual ego want me to see?”
- “In what areas do I feel spiritually superior to others?”
- “How consistent am I in what I feel, think, and do?”
You can also ask trusted friends, loved ones, or spiritual mentors to help point out areas where you might be falling into spiritual delusion. Regular introspective journaling (see our shadow work journal), is also another way of calling out the spiritual ego and guarding against becoming a spiritual narcissist.
Final Words
Guarding against the spiritual ego and learning how to identify spiritual narcissists on our spiritual journeys is of profound importance at every stage of our path.
Of all the spiritual traps and pitfalls we can fall into, spiritual narcissism is the worst because it not only endangers ourselves, keeping us stuck in a stagnating cesspool of darkness, but it also harms others by alienating, belittling, using, and dehumanizing them.
Along with sharpening our spiritual discernment and mindfulness (aka., having a clear mind), developing an open, humble, and honest heart is the key to preventing ourselves from either falling into the claws of spiritual narcissists – or becoming one ourselves.
May our minds be clear, and may our hearts be open always.
Tell me, what are your thoughts about spiritual narcissism and the spiritual ego? I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments below. Also, feel free to suggest any methods that can help people guard against this spiritual trap.
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We have found that meditating daily on the 5 agreements inspired through the writing of author Miguel Ruiz which are:
1. We will be impeccable with our words.
2. We Don’t take anything personal.
3. We Don’t assume.
4. We will do our best.
5. We remaim skeptical while keeping an open mind.
We also were inspired to add a 6th to our daily meditation which is We will never give our power away and instead share it through connection with the universal source love God.
Since beginning this practice our life has become richer and fuller then I ever dreamed possible. This doesn’t mean we’ve had an easy time as learning to connect and love ourselves has been certainly uncomfortable at times. The rewards make it worth it though and the sense of security and peace we are slowly experiencing is immense.
Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to share our insights.
Namaste,
Well done for ‘calling’ the community’ on this! Only this morning I was reading online about self-styled gurus sexually abusing women at ‘ayahuasca retreats’. Apparently – judging by the reaction from other women who had been on similar retreats – this is not uncommon. So perhaps the spiritual retreat community will need to have its ‘me too’ moment too?
For me the title ‘spiritual ego’ is rather misleading. In fact it’s a contradiction in terms; it’s the ego alone that’s responsible for this ‘guru’ mentality and behaviour which seeks to project itself onto those who are willing to submit to it. If it isn’t quite ‘controlling behaviour’ it would become so given time and the power of group reinforcement as exemplified by the female leader of the community on the Thai island in the film ‘The Beach’. No enlightenment there!
The other component required for such ‘non-spiritual’ behaviour by the guru-figure is the willingness of the retreatants/followers to submit themselves so comprehensively to his/her will, especially the women. This devotion creates authority for the guru whether he/she (though it’s nearly always a ‘he’ in my experience) wants it. So, men who are not used to having authority over others are suddenly given it. That’s an intoxicating and dangerous combination.
And it’s all well and good adopting a questioning attitude towards the gurus but we feel that that will almost certainly reduce the effectiveness of the course and our involvement with the other attendees so we feel reluctant to protect ourselves in this way.
I would prefer to call it ‘guru-ego’ rather than ‘spiritual-ego’. Then its nature would be clearer in my view and we could see the abusive rascals for what they really are; opportunistic ego-manipulators/controllers who prey on the openness of others, especially women.
I think this would be an opportune moment to call your web site out ‘a bit’ on this score in that the images you use seem to be intended to cultivate an impression of ‘spiritual authority’. Not quite ‘spiritual superiority’ but … By this I mean the images involving people are always of slim, handsome people – usually young women – often in ‘approved’ meditation poses. If you wanted to send out a slightly exclusive signal to the older, unattractive members of society – which I’m sure you don’t – concerning your excellent work on spirituality then this would be a good way of doing it.
As for the choice of images, we communicate through aesthetics – the language of feelings – and I have tried for 21 years to overemphasize essence on while under emphasizing form but it has been proven a dead end in a society where “the medium is the message”. Why? Because we communicate through aesthetics and I recently watched someone say that 60+30% of communication pertains to two different categories of form (forgot which) while only 10% is logic. Ten percent? That’s about what my dogs used to understand of what I spoke to them and walking my path in modernity has been the path of Golgatha. Aestheticize yourselves like the Athenians did; sculpt yourselves in your daily practice.
What???
Thank you David for sharing your insights on this and interesting anecdote of the Shamanic scandals.
I can see your point about ‘spiritual ego’ but I feel that replacing it with ‘guru ego’ is inaccurate also, as the spiritual ego is susceptible to anyone on this path of spirituality, not just these gurus. If anything, these gurus only exist because of our spiritual ego; our willingness to give up our autonomy to anyone who claims to have ‘higher understanding’ than us in order to attain some ‘enlightened’ state (the spiritual ego’s ultimate goal). A more accurate description would be ‘an ego who’s fueling itself through spiritual concepts/ideas’ to distinguish it from a regular ego but that would be a mouthful.
I agree with your critique of the images we use. We keep in mind inclusivity in selecting from a variety of cultural backgrounds, but unfortunately, as we rely on ‘creative commons’ copyright laws, we can only choose from a selection of images that are copyright free (making a lot of them relating to spirituality what you describe). Due to the nature of the topics we discuss and the audience we have, about 75% of it is female between ages 18 and 45, so we use images that reflect this. I’ll keep an eye out for more inclusive providers of copyright-free images :)
Thank you for your reply Mateo.
Your response to my contention that ‘spiritual ego’ is a ‘contradiction in terms’ begs the fundamental question: what is spirituality? Conceptually – and I don’t believe it’s just a matter of semantics here – I see we have quite different views on this. We shall have to agree to disagree here.
Concerning the aesthetics of the images you use I thank you for explaining the background to your choices and decision-influencing on this. Good luck with sourcing images that reflect a more inclusive appeal to all your visitors.
This article was very interesting. I’m brand new to all of this. I found your book, Awakened Empath, somewhere in an article I was reading and bought it for myself for Christmas. I also bought this book for a person who felt she was more evolved than others. I thought we could read it together and have some healthy discussions. She immediately read it and proceeded to tell me how to feel about what I was going to read. She then just cut me out of her life. I also went through my past and could identify other times/people that used this path on me. I never identified these times until I read this article. Most of the times I’m sure unintentional but I remember how I felt during those times. Thank you for this article.
Thank you for sharing that Terry, it sounds exactly like what we’ve described in the article. I’m sure many of these people don’t have ‘malice’ in what they do, but it’s important to be aware of the mechanics of what’s happening to stop it from making us feel inferior or less worthy than them while also keeping a healthy distance. :)
For myself, I had no clue what was happening. People said meditate. It wasn’t until I started my 12 step work. Where you have to look at your moral inventory. Look at what everyone’s taught you about yourself. It’s difficult to focus on your own path. Seeing everything you’ve done. My ex is where I was at one point. He listed every bad thing I did. The old me would retaliate with his wrongs. I know what I did. When I drink, I can pick every insecurity inside someone and hurt them. I acknowledge what I did. It’s when he’s on drugs he can go up and down.
People kept saying to ground myself. The steps have helped me. its not just a one time thing. You need to do it daily. Showing gratitude. I’m Native American so we believe in song, dance, smudge and drum.
Right now there’s lot of race on race hate. It’s difficult to see. I like to share things that show that we have all gone thru genocide. I’ve even read the Bible. There’s common end goal for all. It’s not our place to judge nor tell anyone it’s wrong.
Have some humor. Not everything is about an argument. Share ideas. To discuss ideas without shutting down their ideas is key. Many people don’t listen. Get to know people.
My uncle and abuse counselors enjoy hearing about my journey. I’ve always been someone that people ask for advice. It’s not me helping them. They’ve helped me too. They made me realize my worth.
All this stuff on the internet to help you with your spiritual journey has thrown me off. I had to go to the teachings of my people. They are the only ones who see struggles as strength. I’m 3 generations of cultural genocide. This was finding myself.
It’s important to retrieve your spirit from the spirit world though. That’s how you prevent it from escaping. It’s all about balance. When there’s balance there’s peace. Many Great Chiefs have said it in the past. I was raised by the White man. They are the ones that look down on me. I can’t expect everyone to agree with our ways. Every culture has their methods. I’ll respect yours if you respect mine.
Give thanks for the insight.
Wow . Another awesome mail. Thanks. And i totally agree.
I see it as fake spiritualism,when someone fakes it. And thats sad,cause spirituality is real and awesome and peacefull and total love and it goes on and on. Its more like a treasure that you feel like hiding all for yourself. And only when asked,then ill share my treasures . Hahahaah. Maybe !
Thank you Rudi, too true, often this ‘fake spirituality’ will send genuine seekers running and hiding which isn’t a solution either. It takes immense courage to stay in the marketplace, unperturbed by all that is going on. I’m happy to see you sharing a few of your treasures here :)
Thanks .
Its very interesting to see different comments from different people in a different side off the world.
I’m from south Africa.
And I totally love your work that you are sharing. Im fairly new to spirituality. Still learning alot. And your work i am treasuring.
Gracias for lighting the candle in the dark room with this article!
Es un placer John :)
Fantastic Mateo, this could very well be the most important subject that you’ve written about and maaan have I suffered from both worldly narcissists and spiritual narcissist these past years and culminating in 2018-2019.
If it can help anybody recover and consequently have an effect on Humanity this below is worth mentioning:
Last summer-fall I had someone christened (!), meaning having his 13th chakra opened, assault me due to reasons mentioned in this article. He did this while having fuel put on his fire by his 253 spirit guides of which some are archangels and all of them are allied to the Galactic Federation of Plight, and they did this against someone who has been shot down from Grace. The GFL used him, a poor guy with an immensely difficult upbringing in a narcissistic family ++, as proxy for sake of disturbing my energies to the point that I do not ascend. Reason is that I’m on to them and their interbred bloodline proxies here on Earth but I can’t develop that here. My point is that if you would read our conversations during those three attacks you would scratch your heads wondering who of the two is the Fallen guy and who is the Christ character. What I’ve found over the years is that what we have in our rucksacks before we ascend determines what and how we develop after Enlightenment; nurture over Nature.
“Mr. Christened’s” third attack was foreseen by a medium on Youtube who has the capability to see various future timelines for people she has been in contact with, much similar to Sauromon the White through his crystal ball and within a year or two she will probably become a “white” magician. Anyways, I love her for all the support she has given me and we’re all victims of GFL’s spiritual war but she could not take that due to our lack of qualitative programming (read classic schooling) we have severe limitations in understanding our times and especially E.T. actors. I was correcting her some times as any team player would according to their gifts, but since we have just barely started waking up and are not schooled in strategy and clueless about the Foucaultian governmentality of the GFL and their bloodlines while we ourselves are serf descendants, her own ignorance made her loose face while trying to play the role of the “omniscient mother”. We lack in humility and it is due to an elitist programming that in fact is spiritual war due to (at least up until 2019) humility was one of the Cosmic Laws, but as we ascend we lack the right community around us to keep us in check…
2020 began fantastic, last week I had a third one telling me and everybody on Youtube how she is a descendant of the Anunnaki and if she could “unzip” her skin she would show she was glowing like them inside. She had gotten antagonized by me speaking for that there is a Spiritual War going on in which Earth is the prize of the Universe and in which the Galactic Federation of Plight is led by “Mother” Isis and that ALL angels and archangels we know of are on her side against the majority of the universe but who are outgunned by the Empire. I was speaking for the suffering Humanity has and is enduring, 1 million children dying yearly for sake of nothing, due to GFL’s interbred bloodlines ruling Earth and that we need to wake up and act in our defence. Instead of empathy for her kin what we viewers got as an answer was a slave crying in defense of her slave master – the pharaohs. The ancient elites and their current organizational form of the New Age Order has programmed us (especially individualized Westerners as opposed to us with a guerilla or partizan background who have been brought up into collectivists, holistically if you will) to be weak while worshiping the strong. There’s hardly anyone to find within our New Age community who stands by universal principles no matter what, and what that nurturing resulted in last week was a typical house negro syndrome; one who puts his or her interests in defense of the plantage owners above universal principles.
All above three stories are extremely simplified but my point is to show a gross lack in humility even among them I never thought I would find ego’s of such proportions, and on top of that ego’s having grave consequences on Humanity during this continuous Spiritual War and a GFL/NAO planned Holoharvest (which will never happen if and only if we get our sh*t together…). Hopefully these words will contribute to something positive for us and the Universe.
On another note Mateo, I see your missus has her right eye opened and in case this is spiritually caused then I have to advice her on not trying to balance that growing spiritual force out by concentrating more on the left eye. Thing is that I did that in 2012 because I did not want to look like the “One Eyed” mentioned in scriptures but not knowing that me balancing the eyes would cause the phenomenon to seize. Tell her to let the Force flow!
This was such an excellent article. One of my biggest fears on my own path is falling in to just this trap. It’s such an insidious one. I spent almost 3 years in a theravada buddhist women’s monastery, and what I experienced there with regards to what you wrote about was both frightening and humbling, but also the best learning experience I could have received. The harm that was done to so many people under the guidance of these teachers, in the name of wisdom and personal enlightenment and spiritual infallibility was something I hope I don’t forget. I do know there are many teachers and seekers that are genuine in their wisdom, but there are even more who are not, but think they are, and learning how to discern the difference- either through falling into this trap and finding ones way out again, or by falling prey to another who is caught in the trap, has to be one of the most important lessons to be learned and learned again.
Thank you Talia for sharing what must have been a terrible ordeal. I couldn’t agree more, this topic is one of the most important lessons to be learned but I also know it’s not one of the most popular. I mean, who wants to learn their own worst enemy can be inside of them? That’s why we dedicated our first video to it, to hopefully give it enough limelight.
That said, I entirely agree that we need to have spiritual discernment along this path while known that sometimes the discernment comes from falling into these traps. Hopefully, awareness of this topic is enough to prevent a few from the pitfall.
The TRUE want to know that their worst enemy is within; within the self and within all other categorizations they associate to – GFL not the least – and you know this because the false don’t.
Great article. Thank you. In realizing these spiritual narcissistic missteps on my spiritual path, I have found that, while I’m in my body, I am always mastering and parenting my ego. In addition, there is no place of spiritual perfection or of being “there” as in Nirvana. Whether we are in a body or not, it seems to me that awareness is an aspect of The All That Is that is forever expanding. That sense of expanding awareness is, for me, the exciting part of Infinite potential. .
That’s exactly it John, to ‘arrive’ means to be completely perfect, while also means to be dead. Anything alive is flowing and changing, in this way Nirvana is but a shift in perception, of seeing something clearly that’s always already been there. It’s like those visual puzzle games that appear like noise but when we slightly shift our eyes, it’s full of shapes and figures that were always there, we just couldn’t see them.