The Spiritual Ego Trap

Spirituality is the most beautiful thing that happens to a lot of people, including Saqib. But there are some traps that one should be careful of. The most dangerous of these traps is the spiritual ego, which ironically, takes you away from spirituality. In this talk, Saqib talks about what a spiritual ego is and what its different types are. If you like this talk, then check out Saqib's course here on Insight Timer: "Non-Duality."

Transcript

Hi there,

My name is Saqib and I welcome you to this talk which is called The Spiritual Ego Trap.

In this talk,

I want to tell you about three kinds of spiritual egos.

But first let me brief you about what kind of spirituality I am addressing here.

We are living in a time when on the one hand we are experiencing extreme displays of hatred,

Whereas on the other there is a wave of awakening.

It has only been a few decades since a new form of spirituality has been spreading like wildfire throughout the world.

This new spirituality is different from the old religious spirituality in the sense that it is a personal enquiry with total freedom over what you believe,

Instead of the traditional orthodox spirituality in which you are supposed to follow specific rules and regulations.

Some have termed this phenomenon as the New Age Movement.

The basic idea of this new form of spirituality is that your connection with the universe,

Collective consciousness,

Soul or God is highly personal.

How you want to lead your life depends upon what you feel deep within.

Your feeling or intuition comes from your divine connection to the universe or God and hence it cannot be wrong for you.

Each individual has a different and unique path in the journey of their soul.

No matter how awkward,

Embarrassing,

Painful or sacrilegious your unique path might seem,

It is right to listen to your inner voice's guidance.

Your unique path makes you go through circumstances in life that are important for you to encounter for your learning,

Growth,

To change your unhealthy patterns and to make you strong.

This is totally different from the religious spirituality because as per most of the religions,

There is a spiritual master or prophet who is considered to be closer to God than rest of the humanity.

Therefore that prophet is the one who will communicate with God for you and will tell you that what it is that God wants from you or for you.

Though religious spirituality continues to prevail over the planet in terms of numbers and population,

Personal spirituality has been on the rise since the 1970s with an increasing number of people turning inwards into their own selves for answers rather than turning to religious books or preachers.

Another basic idea of this new kind of spirituality is that all sentient beings in the universe are one.

At a deeper level,

The consciousness of all beings is connected and together we all form the collective consciousness.

The separation between us is just an illusion and each individual is equal no matter how unequal their physical lives may seem to be.

These ideas are beautiful and I personally believe that the freedom to follow our own journey and the concept of oneness are incredibly empowering and that these will help us raise our consciousness.

However,

I have noticed a trend in the past few years that might destroy the purpose of practicing this form of spirituality.

This phenomenon is known as the spiritual ego.

The free form of personal spirituality has given birth to various kinds of practices.

These practices include meditation,

Energy work,

Manifestation,

Channeling,

Crystal healing,

Fortune telling,

Tantra,

Past life regression,

Etc.

These practices have eventually led to the formation of various groups and communities.

The members of such communities meet every now and then for discussion groups,

Prayers,

Meditations,

Reading,

Healing retreats and other spiritual retreats that involve the practices that I mentioned previously.

There are also communities where followers of a particular spiritual guru gather together to learn and celebrate their shared admiration for their master.

Although all these practices are empowering and can really help us in our spiritual transformation,

We should be cautious of developing a spiritual ego,

Especially in the early stages of our transformation.

So what exactly is a spiritual ego?

Although there is no standard definition of spiritual ego,

In my understanding,

You develop a spiritual ego when you develop the desire to show off your practice of spirituality.

It defeats the purpose for what you devoured into spirituality in the first place,

That is,

Your personal connection with the divine.

You can also find traces of spiritual ego starting from a person who has just been introduced to spirituality to a person who has developed a large following and claims to be a spiritual guru.

I want to talk about mainly three kinds of spiritual ego.

1.

Spiritual ego of the novice 2.

Spiritual ego of the member 3.

Spiritual ego of the guru Spiritual ego of the novice For someone who has just started practicing spirituality,

It is easy to fall into the trap of spiritual ego by assuming that they have figured out the right path only by consuming some content or doing a few practices for a few months.

This is the person who is just beginning to read spiritual books,

Practicing meditation,

Attending retreats or group practices,

Watching spiritual videos or participating in online courses.

This is the time when you feel the urge to convince others of your path and change them so that they can see the world the way you see it.

It is essential to understand that no path is right or wrong.

What you might think is the right path is only right for you.

It might not be right for another person.

Everyone is unique and every journey is different.

It is crucial for everyone to listen to their own inner voice or intuition and decide the journey for themselves.

That is the most spiritual thing to do.

Even if they choose not to practice spirituality for their entire lives,

It's absolutely okay.

Nobody has assigned us the responsibility to change anyone else.

Someone who really wants to transform would come to you by their will and ask you for your help.

Even then,

Your job is just to let them know about your experience,

Not force them into following your path.

Instead,

Empower them to pursue their own inner voice.

I myself have been a victim of spiritual ego of the novice.

In the initial months of my spiritual study,

I thought that I knew better than the other people around me and decided to convert my friends and relatives from being religious to being spiritual.

You might have guessed by now what followed.

Severe backlash and hatred.

I was labelled as a crazy person who has totally lost it.

Soon I realised that I had fallen into the trap of the spiritual ego and decided to continue learning and practicing personal spirituality without talking to anyone about it.

Spiritual Ego of the Member Spiritual ego of the member is when someone joins a community and feels a sense of pride for being a part of that community.

This is a more dangerous kind of an ego as it holds the potential to destroy the idea of personal spirituality.

We human beings have an innate craving to connect with people and share experiences.

Therefore,

We form groups and communities with like-minded individuals.

Although it is lovely to be a part of a community,

At times what happens next is quite unfortunate.

We tend to divide ourselves and start considering other people and groups as separate from us when they have different beliefs or practices than ours.

We start thinking that the views of our community are better than those of others.

And that is precisely when we fall into the trap.

Having some experience of being a part of various groups and communities,

I have encountered some people and groups who would carry a badge of honour and welcome only people who would agree with their beliefs.

There are even communities who have developed uniforms as an indicator of their separate identity.

Such a mindset is harmful to say the least and would lead to further division of the world.

The pillars of spirituality are unity,

Oneness,

Love,

Compassion and empathy.

We need to keep asking ourselves,

Are we uniting humanity or are we dividing it?

Spiritual Ego of the Guru It is funny how a lot of so-called spiritual gurus carry some of the biggest egos.

The question of whether someone is a guru or not is highly subjective.

However,

Unfortunately,

The world has started identifying gurus based on their popularity.

The higher the number of followers they have or the more number of views they have on their videos,

The apter the title of guru becomes for them.

I would say the person with high popularity might not be the most excellent guru.

In fact,

He or she might be an incredible marketer.

A true master might be someone who lives a humble life in the mountains,

Not known to many people.

It is the message that matters,

Not the messenger.

In fact,

True masters would never have a desperation to gain followers.

Their message is usually so strong that they become magnets and the right people get automatically attracted to them.

Sadly,

There have been many cases of so-called spiritual gurus throughout history who after gaining the trust of their followers have exploited them.

Hence,

We should be careful to whom we are surrendering ourselves.

And if you or I have a message to spread,

Then we should be cautious of falling into the trap of considering ourselves as an omniscient guru.

Unless and until we are truly enlightened,

There are always many things for us to learn and we will forever remain students no matter how much knowledge we gain.

Spirituality is beautiful and it has brought beauty to the lives of many.

But it is essential to be careful of getting trapped by the spiritual ego.

Mahatma Gandhi said it beautifully that when the ego dies,

The soul awakens.

I hope you found value in this talk.

I would love to know what are your thoughts about the spiritual ego.

Take care and Namaste.

Reviews

Thank you sir, a very helpful track this will help me stay grounded.

A very interesting talk, and certainly food for thought!

Namaste 🙏

Very wise words There is no Ego with true spiritual connection.

I have my individual learning to be done within myself & connected to the oneness. To be truly humble & seek my truth 🙂.

🤍💛💚💙💜🧡🏵🪷🌼🌻🪻⚘️🌸

Thanks 🙏🏼 This is something anyone who calls themselves “spiritual” needs to hear. We all have been there, thinking we are superior to others just because we meditate or do some other “spiritual activity”
There is nothing more spiritual than recognizing that we all are hear to learn and that process never ends 💛🙏🏼

I’m so glad I have stumbled upon your lives and your tracks. I love all of the wisdom and love you spread, sharing with our universe. Namaste 🙏 thank you so much for sharing yourself with us. I love you. 🤟 much love to you and yours. 🕊️ ☀️ 🌙 🥰

Clarity explained beautifully about different egos - The ego can take over our lives but we must not allow it to do so and always listen to our inner voices’ guidance instead. 🕊️✨🤍

Thank you for your wise words and teachings, dear Saqib 🙏🏻

🌻❤️

Very informative talk. I have been guilty of the novice ego. Easy to fall into when you want to share the beauty you have found in spirituality and you "think" it's how it should be for everyone (enter ego).

Definitely a worthy discussion, it is easy to fall into the role of a novice spiritual teacher. Removal of ego is difficult but necessary.

Thank you for this talk on the Spiritual Ego. You worded it so well! I’d love it if you created more talks. Thank you!

- as a person new to mindful practice, but a long time holder of strong opinions regarding religion, and the human creation of doctrine that surrounds them.
Your thoughtful insight on this subject is very refreshing. Challenging one’s personal belief system is fraught with perils, especially when that person is completely bound into a particular belief. Throughout history humanity has proven its ability to destroy itself in the name of God.
Very wise thinking Saqib, I already feel the magnetic draw of my ego towards the sense of comfort in this mindfulness community. The pull of “us and “them”.
My search for inner peace and a better understanding of what makes me tick has just begun. I really enjoyed this conversation, keep up your good work!🙏💞namaste

I appreciate so much the thoughtful insights shared by Saqib in this and other talks and meditations. Many thanks to Saqib for sharing this wisdom. Blessings

I am guilty of this too. One of my favorite quotes that reminds me of my personal journey, is a quote from Dr. Joe Dispenza. He says, “you know you’re changing, it’s when you stop talking about it. Because when you are truly changing, you have to be the living example of everything you want to see in the world”…and when you do…”you give people the permission to the same.”
All is well.

Very insightful and beautiful reminder of our oneness, no division. Thank you

I appreciate this talk. I’ve been active in a 12 step community for forty years. A spiritual program. I find it interesting the people that are all about having many followers- but I’m drawn to those with a quiet spirituality

This came at a perfect time for me.
I found myself talking to others about this app and trying to sell it. Especially now that they are offering free membership for 3 new members. I want to find a path for my health and wellness. If someone finds a change in me and asks me what I am doing then I will share.

Thank you for the clarity of your message!! I found it very helpful and believe it provides valuable guidance for seekers!

Love this one! Really powerful. I will use this one regularly! Great lessons.

Thank you. Acceptance of your unique path is the message I recieved here. The messages words and vibration are the powerful keys to unlock enlightenment, the messenger is just a channel.

A comprehensive breakdown of the spiritual ego traps. There is so much value in this talk.

Great insights. Being fairly new in my spiritual journey I have found myself really excited to share my practice with others and have been disappointed when they don’t seem as interested. All I can be is an example. If someone expresses interest in what I’ve been doing, then I can share my experience to hopefully support their unique journey. Thank you!