Unable to escape from spirituality

 Unable to escape from spirituality

The Trap of “Spirituality”

I came across a discussion online about the difficulty of breaking free from what people often call “spirituality.”

These days, the word spirituality is used by many different people in many different ways. But that doesn’t mean every message labeled as “spiritual” is necessarily positive or uplifting. Some can actually have the opposite effect.

In Japan, the word spirituality became popular largely through the influence of psychic and TV personality Hiroyuki Ehara. His teachings emphasized the importance of emotional maturity and personal growth. Yet over time, the term has been blended with more occult-like ideas—such as connecting with the universe or mysterious cosmic forces. As a result, spirituality has come to mean very different things to different audiences.

When we talk about being “unable to break free from spirituality,” it isn’t just about spirituality itself. It reflects a broader human pattern: the tendency to get stuck, unable to move on from certain beliefs, ideas, or ways of thinking. Looked at through a spiritual lens, it’s less about spirituality alone and more about the universal struggle of being trapped by something we can’t easily let go of.

The psychologist Sigmund Freud proposed the pleasure principle: the idea that human beings, whether eating, sleeping, or even relieving themselves, inevitably experience some degree of pleasure. At the core, we are creatures driven to seek pleasure.

In an extreme sense, one could even say that “a sense of existence” equals “a sense of pleasure.” When we feel happiness, we simultaneously experience both a strong sense of being and a strong sense of enjoyment.

The inability to feel one’s own existence is not merely a matter of perception. Because the body and mind are deeply interconnected, this absence can manifest as stress—a state the body interprets as a potential threat to survival.

A stress response typically pushes us into one of two modes: fight or flight. Both require energy, and in turn, both generate energy within the mind and body.

This dynamic explains why some people cannot break free from spirituality. For many, spirituality has been the framework that sustains their sense of existence. When that framework disappears, they lose touch with their own sense of being. Stress soon follows, and the energy that stress produces often drives them back toward seeking spirituality once again.

Unable to escape from “spirituality,” “low spiritual level”

From a spiritual perspective, the inability to break free from spirituality itself can often be linked to what is sometimes called “low spiritual maturity.”

I have often spoken about the growth of the soul. Just as intellectual growth happens through moments of insight and learning, the growth of the heart—what we might call spiritual maturity—also develops through one realization after another.

As spiritual maturity deepens, one’s presence in the world becomes stronger. With that comes a greater ability to create, to enrich the hearts of others, and to see life with a broader perspective. In simple terms, it is about becoming a true “adult” in the spiritual sense.

On the other hand, when spiritual maturity is low, a person’s presence feels weaker. They tend to prioritize fulfilling their own desires over enriching others, and their limited insights narrow their perspective. Spiritually speaking, this is more like being a “child.”

A person with low maturity is more likely to be passive, desiring to receive rather than to give. In this sense, those who cannot break away from spirituality often remain dependent—constantly seeking something external to fill their hearts instead of generating fulfillment from within.

The inevitable force that keeps you trapped in the “spiritual” realm

The inability to break free from spirituality can itself be seen as part of a larger spiritual force at work.

In spiritual thought, the Earth’s overall energy is said to be shifting—from a predominantly masculine energy toward a more feminine energy. This isn’t a sudden switch, like flipping black to white. Rather, it is a gradual transformation, much like the interplay between the sun and the moon, and it influences everyone on the planet regardless of gender.

The rise of feminine energy is still only in its opening phase. At this stage, it often manifests as childlike emotional energy, prone to opposites—joy and sorrow, anger and compassion. This creates visible patterns in society: polarization, contradictions, sudden reversals, and wave-like instability.

Men tend to control their emotional energy by suppressing and containing it, which often makes both mind and body rigid. Women, by contrast, tend to control emotional energy by releasing and expressing it outward, which makes both mind and body more flexible. Because flexibility is more adaptable than rigidity, this marks the beginning of an era of rapid change—driven by feminine energy.

Masculine energy has traditionally sought value in the visible and material, while feminine energy seeks value in the invisible and emotional. As this shift continues, perspectives that focus on the heart and spirit—what we call spirituality—will likely gain greater importance. And as that value rises, so too will the number of people who find themselves unable to let go of spirituality.