5 Signs You Have a Spiritual Ego

When I first began my spiritual journey, a couple of my office colleagues liked learning about my metaphysical findings. We’d take long evening walks after winding up work, where I’d talk about past lives, soul contracts, karma and so on. These topics are fascinating and they draw a seeker’s attention quite naturally. But at the giving end, I was filling my cup with spiritual ego. 

I found myself basking in the glory of ‘feeling better’ than them for knowing all these ‘deep truths’, or enjoying the appreciation I’d get from them as they wowed in wonder.

The spiritual journey is such in nature. It’s difficult to not get cocky at times! You hop between one illusion to the other, and always coming back to reality, even if just for short periods. Our spiritual ego catches us off-guard in many ways, and I thought it’d be fun to reflect on some of such situations.

Well, fun for the soul, but not for the spiritual ego, of course. So, brace yourself! *wink*

#1 – You have spiritual ego if you consider those that are non-spiritual to be missing out on life.

I’ll be honest, in the first leg of my courtship period of an arranged marriage, I kept wondering if my partner would understand me because I was ‘spiritual’.

However, one day when I was reading the book, Tao of Pooh, it hit me. My husband is the embodiment of Taoism.

Someone that is already happy-go-lucky, doesn’t have a temperament, and is chilled out in life doesn’t need to pursue spiritual awakenings as actively people like you and me. We are struggling to take things easy, and spirituality is just one beautiful way to learn that. 

It has also been recounted on several occasions that the seemingly ‘non-spiritual’ people can actually be much more evolved. And that is one of their soul contracts with us – to help us learn lessons of acceptance, compassion and patience while they behave in difficult ways.

So, no good comes from assessing the progress of another person on their spiritual journey. It’s good to drive in your own lane, and focus on how fast you’re going now versus your past self. Not versus another person.

#2 – You have spiritual ego if you think there’s a specific ‘way’.

One day, I received a nasty comment on LinkedIn. The person’s profile said some bold things, as far as calling this guy a Spiritual Teacher. His comment ridiculed me for reading so many spiritual books, but still not attaining any more enlightenment than the 99.99% people of the world.

He went on to call me and some other people supporting me, as “stupid idiots”. It was funny, honestly. Here, someone was busy demeaning our spiritual journeys, claiming to know the Truth and yet not understanding one fundamental truth.

EVERYTHING is a part of the way. 

Though externally our lives appear different, our paths seem different, we are all learning the same lessons in our own unique lives. The end goal is same. 

The Universe doesn’t need all of us to only read a specific holy scripture. It doesn’t need all of us to meditate. And it definitely doesn’t need all of us to actively pursue this path.

Our uniqueness is what’s helping us all expand the Universe’s consciousness. So you do you, and let everyone do whatever they want to. Ultimately, we’ll all get ‘there’! 

#3 – You have spiritual ego if you think you’re an old soul.

The idea that you’re an old soul feels great. It flatters the ego, because it gives us the sense that we’re wiser. Well, sure. You might be.

But it’s only because you’ve reincarnated so often, that you’ve mastered certain lessons that others are still struggling with.

Now think of this analogy. Spirituality is like a school, and our life lessons like different grades. Does it make sense for you to compare yourself in 10th grade to a student in 5th grade? Sounds silly, eh? 

In the same way, what’s the point of classifying souls as old or young? In fact, there’s so much misinformation. Old souls get “tired”, old souls are “aloof” and introverted, and so on. Let’s clear this up, once and for all.

If you’re tired, it’s because you aren’t managing your energy properly. That definitely doesn’t sound evolved. Wouldn’t an old soul have mastered their energy to a large extent?

And aloofness originates from the fear of distraction or influence. Us empaths don’t want to be around so-called toxic people, because we get so influenced and absorb their energy. We become an emotional sponge. Again, this reflects that we aren’t in our power and we don’t understand energy. 

Then what is our spiritual ego boosted for?

#4 – You think you don’t belong here, or that you’re doing Earth a huge favor by being here.

Nobody belongs here. We don’t belong anywhere, and we belong everywhere. It’s not paradoxical. Let me explain.

Sure, you may have taken more births and associate with being a star seed or pleiadian, for example. Sure, you might consider yourself an ascended master, a reincarnated saint or something along those lines. But the truth is, these are all roles we have been playing as a part of the illusion of life. 

So, we don’t belong anywhere, because none of this is permanent. Focusing on these things is identifying with being something. And identification will keep us trapped in the illusion of the ego mind. That’s not what we want, do we?

And we belong everywhere because we are the universe experiencing itself in motion. The entire you-niverse is in YOU. So why the biases towards one place versus the other? 

Sure, Earth life is challenging. And, if you’re evolved enough to help ease the pain, then that’s great! You’re doing something great.

But it doesn’t make us above anyone. If we’re busy glorifying ourselves and how hard we work, we’re missing the whole point of this work. 🙂

#5 – You still engage in some form of drama.

Remember, the soul loves simplicity but our spiritual ego chases drama. Some forms of drama in our life are:

• Letting anger or other emotions explode out of proportion
• Gossiping or spreading negative vibes in your conversations
• Watching scripted TV shows (including sensationalized news)
• Engaging in debates on social media websites
• Unable to let go of toxic relationships
• Remaining unconscious towards addictive behaviors and habits

When we begin healing ourselves and doing deep inner work, we realize that these things hold no value in our spiritual journey.

Of course if you went through the checklist above and thought to yourself, “oh, I don’t do any of that”, it’s your spiritual ego trying to boost itself! 🙂

Concluding Thoughts

It’s natural to have an spiritual ego, because it was originally in place to protect us. However, overtime, it’s become the cause of our identification with this duality of life.

One step at a time, staying aware of its tendencies can help us master the ego mind. 

Vasundhra Gupta

Vasundhra Gupta is a spiritual writer, speaker & coach. Through her blog, My Spiritual Shenanigans, she works to simplify metaphysics and make spirituality a more practical, daily experience.