Why Is Spiritual Awakening So Painful?

Last Updated on November 14, 2022

If you’ve lived an awesome life in the past, it’s heartbreaking to realize all of those great things were nothing but lies. And while clinging to those memories may give you relief, you have to face your reality one day.

In this article, we’ll discuss the pain that comes with spiritual awakening. We’ll brush up on why you need a spiritual awakening, what happens when spiritual awakening is delayed, and more. We’ll also dive into the dark night of the soul — what it is and what you can do about it.

This way, you’ll learn if it’s worth sitting through the pain of spiritual awakening and how you can be better spiritually.

Table of Contents

Why you need a spiritual awakening

The spiritual awakening journey or process refers to the state of being fully aware of your circumstances. While that definition seems simple enough, it’s not easy to get to this state. Some people aren’t even aware of it or that there is a spiritual connection between your hair and energy.

As spiritual teachers would advocate, this needs to change. If you’re not awakened spiritually, you have a predetermined sense of how life should be lived. As a result, you have a generalist’s perspective — something that can negatively affect the way you live life, as well as the people connected to you.

Here’s a list of other reasons why you need spiritual awakening:

Your connection to the universe will be more stable – If you feel detached from your environment, undergoing a spiritual journey can establish (or reestablish) a universal connection.
You’ll understand life from a more sensible place – You will have a spiritual understanding and won’t see life in black and white. And you won’t be prone to making rash or biased decisions.

You’ll have more meaningful relationships – You can clearly see and appreciate the people in your life. You’ll have an inner knowing of how they are, how they’re walking along the same path, and the positive vibes they bring.

Delayed spiritual awakenings

Spiritual awakenings are transformative — and should be done only if you’re ready. Typically, people in their late 20s or early 30s are going through spiritual awakening. This is the time when they are healthy, financially stable, and are looking for more in life

If you consult with a spiritual counselor, they would tell you there’s no set timeline for spiritual awakening. If you choose to tap into this process at a later time in life, though, your growth will be delayed.

Understanding the pains of spiritual awakenings

The spiritual awakening process is painful because it opens you up to the truth. Especially if you’ve gone through the formative years of your life in a comfortable manner, you may find it challenging — and maybe even impossible — to settle into the “real” world.

Below are more elaborate explanations of the pains that accompany spiritual awakening:

Physical pain

A person who hasn’t undergone a spiritual awakening may live a carefree life. They don’t prioritize their health, they don’t take care of their finances, and more. Regardless, this manifests in their childish nature.

Once they become awakened, that’s the time their care-free life will take its toll. The physical pain they’re about to experience may come in the form of:

Terminal diseases – Severe body aches, lung diseases, and many types of cancers are examples. Because they neglected the importance of their physical health, they end up with a lifetime of suffering.
Debts – They’ll have a difficult time keeping up with a carefree lifestyle. When there’s no one to provide for them anymore, they’re likely to struggle financially.

Over exhaustion – Because they’re not used to laborious tasks, they’ll experience challenges handling any physical task. Consequently, they’ll be drained physically and mentally, too.

Emotional stresses

The spiritual awakening process is comparable to a young person’s coming-of-age journey. It’s common that when a person is young, their parents and elders shield them from the truth.

As a result, this negatively affects their well-being and most especially, their emotional state. Often, they’re left with a lifetime of confusion.

Here’s a list of overwhelming emotional stresses they may face:

Fear – They’re always afraid. And they feel powerless over everything unfamiliar.
Worry – Worrying may not be a bad thing. But constant worrying, especially about situations they have no control over, is.

Anger – They have a wave of deep-rooted anger. And the worst part is, it’s not directed at someone or something.

Mental illness

Because a person who isn’t spiritually awakened was deprived of the truth their whole lives, they’re in terrible mental shape. They have no sense of right and wrong or what’s real and fake.

For this reason, it’s common for them to be troubled with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). they feel pressured, anxious, and stressed even in the safest and non-threatening environments.

What mental illnesses are they susceptible to suffering from?

Dementia – They’re prone to experience a significant cognitive decline. Parkinson’s disease and Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome are examples of what they may develop.
Mood disorders – They’re troubled with feelings of low self-esteem, hopelessness, and decreased enthusiasm. Alongside, they feel as if life isn’t worth living.

Eating disorders – They develop complex relationships with food. Often, they need the intervention of medical professionals.

A deep sense of fallacy

The pains that accompany spiritual awakening occur because a deep sense of logical fallacy is involved.

For instance, there’s one of the most common fallacies. It’s that you think you need to appease and serve a more supreme power to deserve decent treatment.

Truth is, you don’t own anything to supreme power. And neither does it own anything to you. You should have a decent place in the world whether or not you feel deserving of it.

Here’s a list of other fallacies that relate to spiritual awakening:

The belief that everything is linked to one’s beliefs – There’s nothing wrong with a person who holds strong beliefs. Unfortunately, even the most sensible belief system has no power over everything that happens.

Thinking a great action needs to happen before things get better spiritually – In theory, it makes sense to think an event happens because a person made it happen. But things can get better spiritually if the time is right.
The belief in a “chosen one” – There’s no such thing as a more highly regarded human being. No matter how a person is, they need to be treated like everybody else.

Religious and social identities

In relation to fallacies, another issue that comes into play is the aspect related to religion and social identities. This is arguably more problematic given the fact that this issue is deemed acceptable by high-ranking members of society.

From the perspective of the insider, there are unharmful actions preached by religious people and social groups. These same actions may even be thought of as acts of kindness.

But from the perspective of the outsider, these actions are the opposite. They’re demonstrations of apathy and can cause long-term damage to a person’s understanding of the world.

Here are some actions influenced by religious and social identities:

Self-imposed morality – You live your life with the notion that because you do good things, you are a good — and therefore — a better person.
A higher power will solve all problems – As a result of believing in this so strongly, you don’t make any attempts to solve problems. You just let things be even when some resolutions are up to you.
Punishment of wrongdoings – If you made a mistake, it feels as if it’s a norm to have consequences. In many cases, this is true. But it’s not a rule to be punished if you’ve committed wrongdoing.

What is the dark night of the soul?

This also relates to a period in a person’s life where they feel too down to continue with their existence. Informally, this is described as the dark night of the soul. This may happen during the onset and diagnosis of a fatal illness, the dissolution of a marriage, or a series of awful circumstances.

A person who is going through a dark night state may feel out of place. And their possible actions can dictate how they move forward in life.

They may:

Want to end their life – They see no point in living and nothing makes sense anymore. Even though it’s not actually the case, they’d feel as if they have exhausted all their options and the only way out of their dark night state is to be permanently absent in life.
Completely start anew – They want to forget everything that happened to them. This includes the memory of good and fondest moments.
Live better and differently – For them, their life needs a serious makeover. If they choose to escape the dark night state, they say goodbye to their old approaches and discover new ways of living.

Awakening and intelligence in a deeper sense

The importance of staying strong couldn’t be disregarded by someone undergoing their dark night or dark nights. After all, this period will test your character. You may not come out unscathed if you’re easily swayed by negative energy — and the opinions of others.

It’s vital you cling to your innocence and own sense of intelligence. When going through the dark night, what you can do is:

Deal with emotions – No matter how excruciating, it’s necessary to allow emotions into your life. If not give you a fresh perspective, your emotions will toughen you up until you won’t find it hard to deal with them anymore.

Bypass their inner critic – The dark night will be a moment when your inner critic will be in speaking in a loud voice. It’s important to always believe in your own power and potential. Never think less of yourself.
Practice gratitude – Be thankful for even the smallest acts (like being offered coffee at a coffee shop). Doing so ensures you won’t lose sight of all the positivity in your life, and it trains your subconscious to always appreciate good

The need to end the dark night of the soul

The dark night of the soul is simply a phase. And everybody is bound to experience it. Some people, though, refuse to welcome it into their lives,

So if you’re experiencing spiritual depression or a series of depressive episodes, don’t let these episodes define your life or your character. Instead, sit through your most uncomfortable feelings and look forward to brighter days.

Sooner or later, these hopeful days will come. And if you have the right mindset or after you learned your troublesome practices, they may even come sooner.

New realities to adopt

It’s important that once you become intensely aware of the toxic way of living you’ve gone accustomed to, you take actionable steps to be better. To exit the dark night of the soul state, you should be willing to leave the wrongdoings of your past. If this includes practically everything you’ve known your entire life, then be accepting of it.

Here are new realities to be aware of:

The world does not revolve around you – So you spent years living life with a flawed perspective. And consequently, you made mistakes that seem unfixable. But accept the fact that everyone makes mistakes, that it’s okay, and that it’s never too late to change your life for the better.
You’re free to do anything you want – The world has a plethora of wonders for you to see and experience. Your troubles are small compared to the whole universe of majestic out there.

Only you can save yourself – Nobody is required to help you. If you want to achieve a better outcome, it’s up to you to make it happen.

Conclusion

Spiritual awakening is painful — and there’s no use denying that. But surely, you’ve heard versions of the classic phrase, “no pain, no gain”?

And as it advocates, there are many promising things in life that can only be achieved through painful experiences. And as painful as it may be, it’s one of the things you need to muster up the courage for.

If you’re brave enough to withstand the pain that comes along, you’ll soon be thankful for the positive vibes it’ll soon bring.