Modern Spiritualism Sets You Up to Fail

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I was scrolling through Facebook the other day and one of those spiritual posts popped up. You know the type. “7 Stages of Awakening” with pretty colors and vague labels that promise enlightenment if you just move through the stages like climbing a ladder, one step at a time. It rubbed me the wrong way. Not because I don't believe in stages, but because it treated the process like a straight line.

That's just not how it works.

In real life, it’s more like two steps forward, one step back. Sometimes five steps back. You make progress, then fall into something that brings up more old wounds. You think you’re past a stage, but there it is again, staring you down. It’s a cycle. It’s messy. And it’s normal.

In my own journey, there have been weeks or months where I felt like I was in stage seven, full of joy, peace, and purpose, only to end up right back in stage one. I’ve learned not to panic when that happens. It’s part of it. The truth is, if spiritual growth was simple and easy, everyone would’ve figured it out by now.

The List That Started It

The post I saw listed these stages (no source given, of course):

1. Unhappiness and Emptiness
2. Perception Shifts
3. Seeking Answers and Meanings
4. Finding Answers and Experiencing Breakthroughs
5. Disillusionment and Feeling Lost
6. Deeper Inner Work
7. Integration, Expansion, and Joy

The False Comfort of a List

That list might’ve been well-meaning, but it sells a false sense of progress. And that’s the real danger. It gives people a script, like you can just tick boxes and move on. But this isn’t a vacation or a workbook. It’s life. It’s healing. Real healing knocks the wind out of you sometimes. You don’t breeze through it.

There are times when you hit a wall and everything feels like it’s falling apart. That’s not failure. That’s usually a signal that your system is trying to catch up. I’ve hit that wall. I’m there now. It feels like being thrown back to the beginning, even when you’ve done so much work. But I’ve been here before. I know it’s just a pause. A moment to let everything settle before the next shift happens.
Ancient Teachings Knew Better

For the record, I do believe the idea of spiritual stages came from older traditions, especially Hinduism. The Varaha Upanishad, an ancient Hindu text, talks about seven stages of knowledge:

• Śubha-iccha – the virtuous desire to learn
• Vicāraṇa – inquiry and exploration
• Tanu-mānasi – thinning of mental distractions
• Sattva-patti – attaining balance and clarity
• Asamsakti – detachment from the material
• Pada-artha-bhavana – contemplation of truth
• Turiya – transcendental consciousness

Even this old system shows that the path is about becoming quieter and more present over time. It’s not flashy. It doesn’t happen overnight. These aren’t “one and done” levels. You can’t skip ahead. These steps were meant to unfold across a lifetime, sometimes more than one. You're not meant to race through them. They aren't checkpoints. They’re shifts that come from deep personal work, not something you can buy from a coach with a big online following.

And that’s the part modern spiritualism seems to forget. It grabs bits and pieces from these older traditions, but it leaves out the time, the work, and the patience. It gives people the idea that awakening is quick. Like it’s just one powerful moment and then everything makes sense.

That’s a setup for disappointment.

The Real Problem – The Ego Trap

Modern spiritualism, especially the kind that shows up in online spaces, is often more performance than practice. It makes people think they’re doing something wrong if they fall back into old patterns. It sells the idea that if you're not “ascending,” you’re failing.

That’s the trap.

Here’s what gets me: when people talk like they’ve “reached” a certain stage, like it’s a badge of honor. They start using spiritual words as a way to sound enlightened... but it’s still ego. It’s just wearing someone else's clothes, not your own. Bragging as if they have graduated from pain is just another way of pretending.

I get frustrated when I see people fall into that. Not because they’re stupid, but because they’re being misled. They're told to follow others instead of turning inward. That’s not freedom. That’s a new kind of prison. A prison where someone pushes their own spiritual timeline onto yours. They want followers. They want control. They want to sell you something: no matter the cost.

I get it. No one is immune to this. I myself fell for it too. I saw myself doing it. That’s why I speak up, not to get attention, but because I don’t want others to get caught in the same trap.

This work is not about following someone else. It's about finding your own way. It's about getting quiet enough to hear yourself, not someone else's ideas of what you should be or what stage you are supposed to be in.

I write to help others avoid the same pitfalls. If even one person reads this and questions what they’ve been told, then that’s enough for me. Because when you start to see the cracks in the system, you can step out of it.

Real Growth Looks Like This

Let me tell you a little about what I’ve been going through.

I’ve had pain for years. The kind that wears you down. Last night I was lying in bed, not sure if I should bother going to yet another doctor. I was exhausted, anxious, and ready to give up.

But I went.

And for the first time, the doctor listened. Really listened. He didn’t jump to conclusions. He didn’t brush me off. He did an actual exam, something most skipped. And he found something. Not life-threatening, but real. Something that can be treated. Something that explains my pain.

I almost didn’t go. If I hadn’t, I’d still be stuck in that loop. That’s the spiritual lesson. You have to keep going. Even when it feels like you're back at the start. Even when it hurts. Sometimes the breakthrough is right behind the moment you want to quit.

That’s what a spiritual journey looks like.

Setbacks Are Not Failures Because There's No Finish Line

The truth is, you don’t “finish” this kind of work. In a lot of traditions, the end doesn’t even come in this lifetime. It comes after. What you don’t heal now carries into the next.

So when someone promises a shortcut, or a straight path, or a way to reach “Stage 7” in six weeks, remember, that’s not how this works. And it never has been.

You will fall back to old habits. You will question everything. You will get tired, angry, bored, and confused. That’s part of it.

There’s no straight path. No finish line. It's a process of learning, unlearning, and starting over. Over and over again. And that's not failure... that is the work.

So when someone tells you there’s a quick path to enlightenment... walk the other way.

Keep going. On your own terms. That’s the only way any of this is real. You’ll grow. You’ll fall. You’ll rest. You’ll rise again.

But there’s no ladder. Just the path beneath your feet.

End Note: Final Thoughts from A Rambling Mind

I want to leave you with this.

I found the Varaha Upanishad by accident last year. I was working on an essay for a class and saw it on the wrong shelf at my local library. I picked it up out of curiosity and read through the whole thing in one night. I spent the next week rereading it. That book helped me understand why modern spiritualism sets people up to fail.

At the time, I felt like I was failing too. I believed I had to follow what others had done, not realizing that the system I was trying to follow was built on lies. In finding the source, I found my way back to something real.

Now, I know how hard it is to help others see that. Most people don’t think they need help until they’re burned out or too far in to turn back. I’ve talked to people who believe all life coaches are scams, because they were taken in by online gurus playing a role.

That’s the wall I’m up against. That’s what I’m working through. And that’s why I write.

Not to gather followers. Not to sell hope in a bottle. But to help people see there’s another way. A slower way. A real one.

I write because sometimes people need to see how someone else failed and kept going. That’s how we learn, not by following, but by remembering what we forgot.


If any of this felt familiar or gave you something to think about, I invite you to keep the conversation going. You can join my Facebook group where we talk openly about the real work of spiritual growth, the highs, the lows, and everything in between. If you’re looking for more personal support on your journey, you can also visit my website to learn more about the life coaching work I offer. This path isn’t meant to be walked alone. Let’s keep moving forward, together.

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