Something can happen when you’ve been on a dedicated, spiritual path for a while. There comes a time, in almost everyone’s journey, when they stop feeling the presence of the Divine (in whatever manner they had been experiencing that). They feel alone, abandoned, confused, adrift. Their spiritual practice no longer consoles them, and they wonder if they’re doing it right, or even what they’ve done wrong. Depression and even despair can set in.

Several things can happen at this point:

• They walk away from their practice, disillusioned, and decide that the Divine does not exist.
• They continue to practice, with no understanding of what has happened.
• They change up their practice to see if they can get the feeling of devotion back.
• They decide that their baseline has changed and act accordingly.

Here’s the thing. If someone devotes themselves to a spiritual path, they evolve, they raise their vibration, they move closer to a daily, personal experience of the Divine. The beginning of the journey, or at least the middle, brings a sort of high to it; every time they experience connection, there is an energy surge. After a time of doing this work, however, they are no longer feeling the energy surge, because that raised vibration has become their constant, their baseline.

If their dedication was about enhancing their connection to the Divine, there’s no problem, as long as they can figure out that this is what is going on. If, however, the dedication was about, or had become about, that energy surge, then they are just chasing the dragon; they are practicing spirituality like a junkie chases a high.

Mother Teresa is an interesting illustration of this phenomenon. After her death, it became publicly known that she had strong doubts for must of the latter part of her life. Yet she was seen as a dedicated servant of her path, and she unquestionably did some wonderful things for the poor. Her Nobel Prize attests to that.  As the article I linked to points out, she kept going, despite her doubts.

If your spiritual practice isn’t bringing you solace, isn’t raising your spirits, isn’t doing it for you anymore, it may be time for some self-examination. If you continue to rededicate yourself to your path, you will likely get more information, but you may never have that same ecstatic experience again, or at least not in the same way. Are you okay with that? What has your journey thus far really been about for you?

I may very well make some people angry with this post. Truthspeaking can do that. I would hope that I am also helping some people who are in a dark place right now, helping them to see what is going on, so that they can exit the darkness and find their way back along their path. You have not been abandoned, you have not done anything wrong. In fact, you have done so well that your connection with the Divine is no longer a novelty in your life. Push forward, continue in your practice, seek the next level. There is always room for growth. The experience will continue to be about the journey, not the destination.