This kind of hedonistic pursuit of pleasure under the garb of spirituality is a worldwide phenomenon that has brought millions into its fold. There are countless “gurus”, masters, experts and so on who promote this kind of acquisitive spirituality through their discourses, workshops, retreats and books. For practitioners of this faux spirituality, enlightenment is a lofty idea that promises the beneficiary great insights, esoteric power and even otherworldly gains, besides all the material goodies.

Mindless and transactional

I must confess that, for a brief time in my life, I too was drawn towards this “egocentric spirituality”. So I understand why so many fall for its lure. I guess it happens because we are incessantly surrounded by conflicting messages of a decadent culture that is infected with the what’s-in-it-for-me virus. This nearly all-pervasive consumerist culture, fuelled by ever-growing tentacles of the internet, reduces everything to a means to a selfish end. It’s automatic, mindless—no wonder it colours most of our pursuits.

But something about this ethos never felt right to me. It is pretentious, phoney.

Being spiritual in order to gain something—whether it’s a material object, someone’s love and affection, a professional achievement or simply an emotional reward—seems to me to be rather transactional. It is the antithesis of what authentic spirituality is all about. I wonder how different is this paradigm of spirituality than the traditional god of religion who is viewed simply as a personal wish-granter—never mind that we give this spiritual god secular names like the “universe” or “consciousness”?

In his book Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism Chögyam Trungpa, the controversial Tibetan monk and teacher, explains this phenomenon thus: “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.”

To be sure, there are often many worldly benefits that may accompany a spiritual pursuit and there’s nothing wrong with enjoying those benefits. What’s disconcerting is when the primary reason for walking the “spiritual” path is for material ends. This is akin to putting the cart before the horse.

How I see authentic spirituality

As I understand it, authentic spirituality has nothing to do with the outer world. It isn’t practised for personal gains; on the contrary it is about losing the false sense of identity that we acquire due to years of programming. Authentic spirituality is about living with greater awareness of self and the world. The true spiritual path is not a “search” in the conventional sense of the word, because there’s nothing [and no one] to find. Instead, it has to do with learning to see reality as it is, and to recognise the truth beyond all concepts.

The thing about authentic spirituality is that I can continue to interact with the world and pursue material goals simultaneously. There is no conflict. The process of discovering who I am is an inner phenomenon. Worldly gains may flow in as a result of such self-inquiry. But all these benefits can be called the happy side-effects of spirituality.

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While the phenomenon has its roots in concepts like the peacock tail effect in evolutionary psychology, the word “bigger” here doesn’t merely refer to size. It refers to a higher level of sophistication, forms of superiority and validation of authenticity of the spiritual experience. Apart from the base idea of one religion being better than another, this phenomenon shows itself up in multiple ways, especially in an age of ‘power yoga’ and ‘power spirituality’. These are just some instances in which you might see the spiritual competition manifest itself in the world of spirituality.

Signs of spiritual ego

The inner circle syndrome

In many ashrams or retreats there are likely to be one or two key spiritual leaders who are at the so-called helm of affairs. It is quite common in such situations to see some followers losing focus on their spiritual pursuit, while aiming to get closer to the Guru or spiritual leader. They want to become part of the inner circle — it is the spiritual ego at work. Demonstrating the typical spiritual competition mindset, there are some who even go to the extent of wanting to be the “favorite” follower or disciple. While there is nothing particularly wrong with this, it simply isn’t what a spiritual journey should be about.

The journey/destination conflict

In spirituality, there are several roads that lead to the destination, and many a times the spiritual experience is the road itself. There is an unsaid clash of different mindsets here. While one set of people pursue spirituality to get to a final point of bliss, enlightenment or whatever you choose to call it, there is another set that attributes more importance to the spiritual journey rather than the destination. Of course there is a third group that gives equal importance to the spiritual journey and the destination, or see no difference between the two. While there’s some truth to each of these mindsets, it certainly doesn’t establish the superiority of one mindset over the other. All it establishes is that people need to pursue spirituality based on what works for them.

The time myth

The time frame factor plays a crucial role in people’s perceptions of a spiritual practice. While there is no debate that, with time and preparation, one gets better at anything including spiritual practice, the duration is not certainly an indicator of spiritual progress. It is as if a quick path or easy access to a spiritual experience is not real or authentic. There are some who’ve had profound spiritual experiences in their very first attempt or class while there others who’ve had a life-changing spiritual experience after many years of practice. There are still some for whom a trek in the mountains or just watching children play in a park triggered a spiritual awakening.

Another dimension of the spiritual competition around the time myth is related to the time spent doing the spiritual practice itself. For example, many meditators see the ability to meditate for extended periods at a stretch to be more advanced than meditating for a few minutes a day. Again, it is one’s spiritual ego that measures and compares. Though it might require a certain amount of practice and ability to even sit in the same position for more than an hour, it is certainly not an indicator of the quality or level of one’s spirituality.

The experience trap

It is not uncommon in any spiritual practice for people to have interesting experiences at different points. These experiences could be anything from getting a feeling of immense peace, to stillness or even feeling the presence of god in one’s own way. What mostly gets missed out is that spirituality is beyond these experiences. Unfortunately, many individuals get sucked into or sometimes even get addicted to these experiences. Worst still, people even equate the nature of the experience to spiritual progress. This is nothing more than reducing spirituality to a mere set of experiences —a sure shot sign of spiritual ego.

A spiritual experience can’t be described

Many believe that a spiritual experience needs to be complex. No it does not. There are talks by some spiritual gurus that specifically state that if someone can describe a spiritual incident to you then it is not real because a true spiritual occurrence cannot be described in words. While an extended spiritual experience could be more difficult to explain than simpler feelings and emotions, it is certainly not a metric to measure the caliber of the experience itself. The fact of the matter is that it is perfectly possible for someone with a good enough vocabulary to explain the range of feelings and emotions that one has experienced during a spiritual trip. That does not take away from the quality or genuineness of that experience. On the other hand, it is also true that some deep spiritual experiences are nothing more than simple feelings like gratitude, humility, peace, love and togetherness, which are well understood by most people.

Worshiping the unknown

This is an extension of the previous point and a cornerstone of sorts when it comes to spiritual comparison and, by extension, spiritual ego. In many parts of the world, the whole idea of spirituality leans heavily on God, mythology and other beliefs. A belief is something that one has conviction in and takes for granted; something that is held as true, despite the odds. So the concept of belief is foundational to spirituality. Even with respect to spiritual experiences, our treatment is no different. When someone has a spiritual experience that is inexplicable, unclear and perhaps incomprehensible, it is given greater importance than an experience that is more direct and clearly understood.

For instance, when a person is involved in a spiritual practice and experiences a series of colors passing through their closed eyelids, feels a burst of energy from their gut and transcends into a space of peace and tranquillity like never before, it is treated as a blessed event—perhaps one that is showered on the person by the almighty and one that the person was ‘lucky’ to experience. On the contrary, if someone sits down for a spiritual practice but gets lost in thought, they think about their school days and school friends and feel great and light at the end of it, but it is treated as a daydream. This is also the same reason why an out-of-body experience is treated as a more spiritual experience than the feeling of bliss you experience while lying on your couch on a Sunday afternoon reading your favorite book.

In conclusion: Beware of the spiritual rat race

The truth is that no spiritual experience is better or worse. Driving a bigger and fancier car is no superior to riding on a bullock cart or vice versa. They are both different and have their own place in the scheme of things; the same concept applies to spirituality. To grow spiritually, you need to be one with the spiritual pursuit and experience. Stepping out of that and focusing on ideas, like the superiority of the experience and the tenure, takes people several steps back or at best keeps them marking time—they are trapped in  spiritual competition, which is just another form of rat race.

Last updated on 20^th October 2022

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Spiritual materialism is particularly insidious, because it’s pretty common to think that devoting oneself to a set of spiritual principles, or to a particular religious understanding, ‘ought to’ lead somewhere.

Myth: Spiritual Materialism is about getting something—some reward

I was on Facebook today, and saw a graphic go by. It read, “I am Buddhist. I am proud to say that. LIKE if you agree—and SHARE if you’re proud of it!” I almost did. But then I slowed down, and asked myself, “What’s going on inside me about this?” I realised that my reason for ‘clicking’ would be for gaining attention. There was no other reason I could come up with. I remembered that my practice, in and of itself, is enough.

My wife Darbella and I taught meditation to injured workers. They too wanted to know why we thought meditation, yoga, Qi Gong, and Zen living would help with their pain. Some of the workers did the exercises, and low and behold, their pain levels were reduced. Or, perhaps, their attention had shifted off of 24/7 focus on their pain. So, that’s a ‘reward’, right? They got something for their efforts, right?

Yes and no.

There is no question that the things we engage in ‘get us stuff.’ Our employment gets us money, which gets us stuff. Our belief systems provide a perspective for being in the world—and the recognition of our peers. And meditation certainly did help our students with their pain.

The problem with materialism, though, is that it’s actually an attempt to escape from the reality of living. You see, in all cases, the real issue is suffering, or better put, the choice to suffer.

Materialism says, “If I stack up enough stuff—possessions, degrees, time spent doing my spiritual practice—I’ll shield myself from pain, loss, and nothingness.

Or, to go back to the Facebook illustration, if I’m “proud” enough, I’ll get noticed.

The true gift of a practice is that one gains the balance necessary to work with the suffering of living

We don’t like the idea that the things we commit to, or own, or do, don’t add up to some benefit. We think: “If I’m really good, God [universe, source—pick your favourite] will bless me, reward me.”

And if stuff isn’t showing up, someone will sell you on a future reward—paradise or heaven, streets paved with virgins—to munge a few popular rewards together.

Since spiritual materialism is silly, is there an answer to why one might nevertheless walk a spiritual path?

Again, yes, and no.

Yes: the perspectives, practices, and the effort itself help to prepare us for actual living. In my own case, my practice helps me to maintain a certain steadiness when [not if] things go ‘off the rails.’

This is the point Trungpa Rinpoche was making—spiritual materialism is an attempt to escape from the inescapable. None of us live a crisis-free life, and if by some fluke we did, well, no one has gotten out of here alive. As the Buddha noted, we, at the least, will die, and most will confront illness and old age.

The true gift of a practice is that one gains the balance necessary to work with the suffering of living, and to sit patiently with whatever is occurring.

For example, our injured workers discovered that if they brought their attention to their breath, their pain seemed to recede. And when the pain came back [!] they did not whine about it—they focussed again on their breath.

None of us live a crisis-free life, and if by some fluke we did, well, no one has gotten out of here alive

The ‘No’ is the point of this article

Don’t waste your time with this article if you still believe that anything can buy you a pass from the reality of living.

Nothing can, nothing does. Your beliefs really don’t matter—what you choose to do with your life does. Your spiritual practices don’t matter—they are just tools for staying present and available as life does what it does. And that pile of stuff you’re accumulating to insulate yourself from life? It all goes to your relatives.

This is why I didn’t ‘like or share’ that Facebook post. I’m not proud of my spiritual practice. I don’t need to ‘honk if I love Jesus or Muhammad or Buddha.’ I don’t need the dubious pleasure of belonging to the ‘Zen club.’

I do, however, find something as I sit, as I remain present. It’s just not a reward!

The ‘spiritual’ games we play and fool ourselves

I once worked with a client who I would describe as ‘New Age.’ She liked to believe that she was deeply spiritual. She showed up to me with a problem. Said she: “My affirmations aren’t working, and your job is to fix them.”

Her belief was this: If she constructed the perfect statement, and repeated it religiously, the cosmos or god or some magical system would give her what she asked for, in abundance. She wasn’t getting what she wanted, so she thought the system needed tweaking.

Here’s what she wanted: Her husband was building her an art studio, and she’d fallen in lust with the carpenter. She wanted to have an affair with him [a Spiritual Union, if I remember her language…] AND she wanted his wife and her husband and all their kids to approve and support the relationship. And, alas, no one was noticing and approving!

This is all three of the materialisms, rolled into one. She wanted the guy, she believed she deserved the guy, and she wanted everyone to be proud of her deep spirituality for having found her soulmate.

Now, we might laugh at this woman, but really, when we are trying so desperately to keep ourselves above the fray of living, when we are trying to avoid dealing with life as it is, when we are doing what we do for show, we are acting just like her!

The trick is to keep our focus on what is right in front of us

Let me be clear. I have no problem with the woman falling into lust, and with her doing the horizontal mambo with the carpenter.

The thing I have a problem with is this: each of our actions has consequences. In her case, the likely consequence might be animosity, anger, and two divorces. What she was looking for, through her Spirituality, was ‘no consequences.’ Or better still, ‘only the consequences she thinks she should get.’ She was trying to game the system, and the system wasn’t cooperating. It doesn’t. There is no escape from the reality of living in a real world, where consequences abound. On the other hand, a deep, profound and abiding spiritual practice can be, and is, an anchor in the stormy seas of living.

The trick is to keep our focus on what is right in front of us—no drifting off into the fantasy that there is some other world than ‘this one.’

Every crisis or win gives us the opportunity to stop, to look, and to examine our ‘selves’ and our games. If you do stuff for reward or praise, just notice that there’s never enough of either. A noble venture might be to do what we do, because that is what we are doing.

And leave the games and the ‘materialisms’ for others.

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