What is a Spiritual Journey? 3 Essential Stages

What is a spiritual journey?

What does it look like? Are there actual stages we all follow?

What are the signs we’re making progress?

What are the spiritual blocks that can occur along our journey?

We’ll address these questions and much more in this in-depth guide.

Let’s dive in …

CONTENTS

What is a Spiritual Journey?

A spiritual journey is the process of getting to know ourselves, heal ourselves, and realize our true nature.

While a spiritual journey will be perceived differently depending on an individual’s religious orientation (for example, a Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, or secularist), the stages one goes through are relatively the same.

That is, while the experience of the spiritual journey may vary from individual to individual, it will still follow a universal structure, as we’ll see below.

Under ideal conditions, the spiritual journey to realize our true nature would be a natural and organic process. However, these “ideal conditions” rarely, if ever, exist. As such, heroic effort is usually needed to “complete” this journey.

Photo by Yanny Mishchuk

3 Powerful Triggers for a Spiritual Journey

The “call to adventure” that initiates one’s spiritual journey can come from numerous sources, including:

A personal crisis
A genuine interest in personal growth
An inner calling

Let’s look at all three.

A Personal Crisis

With a personal crisis, there’s usually an intense emotional upheaval that rattles the individual to their core. This type of crisis may include:

Getting divorced
Losing a loved one
Being laid off from work
Getting diagnosed with an illness
Losing the battle against an addiction

Whatever the crisis, the old programs running within one’s ego structure get disrupted, allowing something new to emerge.

An Interest in Personal Growth

As we’ll see below, the initial stage of the spiritual journey is marked by an interest in self-discovery. Initially, the focus is often on self-improvement, self-growth, and professional development.

While this self-discovery phase is not necessarily “spiritual,” it’s often still a sign the individual has said “Yes” to their adventure.

As they get to know their personality, something else will likely well up within them that will command their attention to go deeper into understanding themselves.

An Inner Calling

Other times, an internal tension begins to rise spontaneously from within. Something deep within the individual begins bubbling up from the unconscious with no external, preemptive cause.

Here, an inner calling triggers one’s quest. It’s as if something deep inside us is searching for an understanding of ourselves, personal meaning, and the nature of existence itself.

This quest for meaning can lead to existential angst and create a crisis of meaninglessness. In some cases, it leads to existential depression that plunges the individual into the pit of despair.

These existential bouts often occur at midlife (“midlife crisis”). Christians frequently refer to this existential angst as “the Dark Night of the Soul.”

Shrouded in darkness, the individual, whether realizing it or not, is trying to return home to themselves. But they may not yet realize that they have initiated their spiritual journey.

Photo by Isaiah Guillory

9 Confirmatory Signs You May Be On a Spiritual Journey

So, how do you know you’re on a spiritual journey?

Here are nine signs that may confirm you’re on your way:

A cloud of discontent grows within you. You’re realizing that the material world just can’t be all there is. In fact, many of the things you once valued now seem empty and pointless.
Instead of just chasing fleeting pleasures and dopamine hits, there’s an internal directive searching for something more meaningful (even if you don’t know what that is).
You often find yourself thinking about topics like meaning, purpose, or metaphysics (beyond the physical). You might experience melancholy or depression of an existential variety.
You may feel more “raw” or sensitive than you ever have before. Your interactions with others may be less enjoyable now. Consequently, there may be an impulse to isolate yourself.
You are feeling progressively ungrounded, as if the world you knew is falling away, and you can’t seem to get your footing with what is real.
You are starting to realize you’re not the person you thought you were, but you’re unsure who you are or what it all means.
Whereas before you sought perpetual comfort in distractions and the material world’s regular programming, there’s now a renewed willingness to explore more challenging topics, lean into discomfort, and see where it leads you.
You find yourself reading lots of spiritual books from various traditions, as if you’re hunting for the Truth.
You may be experiencing meaningful coincidences (“synchronicities”), as if some hidden hand is guiding you in a particular direction.

Now, let’s turn our attention to the specific spiritual journey stages.

The Hero’s Journey: The Cycle of Departure and Return

The Quintessential Stages of the Hero’s Journey

As we covered in this guide, a spiritual journey follows the quintessential hero’s journey structure illuminated by the late mythologist Joseph Campbell.

Campbell discovered this “monomyth” structure by studying the religious stories, myths, and legends from a wide range of traditions throughout recorded history.

Although Campbell’s framework has 17 “steps,” the core of the hero’s journey has three main stages:

Departure: Accepting the Call to Adventure
Initiation: Trials and Tribulations
Return: Synthesis and Integration

First, let’s quickly run through each of these three stages before we apply them directly to one’s spiritual journey.

Stage 1: Departure

In the departure stage, the hero leaves the safe world where things are known and enters the unknown. Here, we depart from the “conventional world” of the status quo and enter a “special world” that is largely foreign to us.

Stage 2: Initiation

In the initiation stage, the hero faces many ordeals. These trials and tribulations illustrate that the journey isn’t easy or safe. In fact, the journey can be dangerous. Defeat in battle is possible. Friends and foes are encountered during this stage. The hero also meets a sage-like character with supernatural aid.

Stage 3: Return

In the final stage, the hero returns home with battle scars, having endured the trials and hardships of the initiation phase. The maturation process, shaped by revealing experiences and life lessons, transforms the hero internally. That is, the individual who began the journey is no longer the same.

Stages of the Spiritual Journey

3 Essential Spiritual Journey Stages

Now, let’s take this essential 3-part structure and apply it to the spiritual journey specifically.

These three development stages are:

Departure: Self-Discovery
Initiation: Self-Healing
Return: Self-Realization (Returning Home to the Self, or God)

But first, let’s clarify our starting point before the spiritual journey begins…

Our Social Masks

Before we start our journey, we wear various social masks that Carl Jung called personae.

When we identify with our social masks, we might say things like:

I am an athlete.
I am a parent.
I am a lawyer.
I am an artist.
I am a [insert your religious affiliation here].

The point is that we identify with various masks and roles as the core of what we are.

It’s not that there’s inherently anything wrong with, for example, identifying yourself as a “Christian wife and mother of three children,” or an “ambitious executive and talented athlete.” But these are just external labels.

They represent roles and ways in which you interface with the external world. However, these social masks do not inform you of your core personality—of who you really are.

All of our personae and self-identities are shaped virtually exclusively by prior programming and conditioning from the outside world. In Campbell’s language, these social masks are part of the “ordinary world.”

To begin our spiritual journey, we need to examine the individual behind these social masks.

And with that, we move on to Stage 1 …

Stage 1: Departure | Self-Discovery

In accepting the “Call to Adventure” of our spiritual journey, we begin the self-discovery process.

Here, we get to know our conscious self, or the personality in its current form:

What do you value?
What do you truly stand for?
What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?
What are your fears, desires, dreams, ambitions, and goals?
What’s your personality type (for example, your Enneagram type)?

This beginning stage is about taking a personal inventory of one’s life. This self-discovery phase is driven by:

A desire to know yourself,
A curiosity about what you’re going to discover, and
A prevailing sense of purpose.

Personal growth takes center stage in this initial phase of the journey.

Stage 2: Initiation | Self-Healing

While getting to know your current personality is part of the process, this initial inquiry is still an exploration of what’s mainly conscious and known.

The second phase of our spiritual journey is where things get messy. Here, we begin a deeper exploration of the unknown—the stuff buried inside of us (the unconscious). As such, the genuine ordeals, trials, and tribulations begin to unfold.

In this stage, we explore our past and get to know the archetypes (or parts) within our psyche. Even though we consciously don’t recall many events from childhood, it’s all recorded within our field.

Our childhood traumas are unearthed during this stage of the spiritual journey. These traumas created divides within our psyche that need healing.

In this stage, the focus is on self-analysis, inner observation, cultivating understanding, and self-healing.

Stage 3: Return | Self-Realization

The final stage of our spiritual journey comes after the splits in the psyche are brought to consciousness and mostly healed. A lot of the stagnant energy caused by trauma and repression is released and returned to us.

The self we were before is now seen as the false self. It was a set of concepts based on prior conditioning and programming. We can fully see that now. In observing this, we stand separate from it (as the witness). It’s still there, but we are certainly not that.

Having transcended the prior two stages, we integrate all of this psychic material and hold to the Center, stabilizing within ourselves.

Now, we can return home to the Higher Self, Spirit, or God (depending on your background and worldview).

Ultimately, “the Return” is to our true nature, unconditioned and ever-present.

Photo by Jordan Heinrichs

10 Potential Spiritual Blocks and Traps

The spiritual journey can be treacherous. Like any true adventure, it isn’t safe, and success is not guaranteed.

Some individuals fall into various spiritual traps that can divert the quest for years, if not a lifetime.

While not all of these spiritual blocks and traps will be relevant to your particular journey, it behoves us to be mindful of them.

Potential spiritual blocks and traps include:

Falling for the Spiritual Bybass
Holding the Fundamentalist Mind
Repressing Your Fear of the Unknown
Succumbing to New Age Programming
Leaving Grandiosity Unaddressed
Holding onto Pride (The “I Know” Syndrome)
Maintaining Low Intrapersonal Intelligence
Playing the Victim-Perpetrator Game
Lacking Discernment
Avoiding Genuine Practice

Now, let’s examine each spiritual block in more detail.

1 – Falling for the Spiritual Bypass

Let’s start with perhaps the biggest culprit that can hinder one’s spiritual journey. In fact, it can stop the quest in its tracks.

This trap is often referred to as the “spiritual bypass” or “spiritual materialism.” It occurs when we use spiritual concepts and practices to avoid unresolved emotional and psychological wounds.

With the spiritual bypass, the individual learns spiritual ideas and methods in stage 1 (self-discovery) and tries to skip directly to stage 3 (self-realization). That is, they attempt to bypass stage 2 (self-healing).

As we covered above, stage 2 is where things get messy. Virtually all of the discomfort unfolds during this initiation stage, including:

Getting to know the shadow
Wrestling with inner demons
Confronting our closely-held but false views of ourselves
Becoming conscious of our past trauma
Understanding the source of our emotional triggers

Virtually every emotional trigger we have, everything that sets us off as adults, was installed long ago. Even physically addressing the pain and numbness stored within the body (energetically) can cause significant discomfort during stage 2.

With this pervasive spiritual block, individuals might sit in meditation, envision “beings of light”, and chant “OM” secretly to avoid getting messy and doing the real internal work necessary for self-healing.

2 – Holding the Fundamentalist Mind

Another common obstacle to one’s spiritual journey comes in the form of fundamentalism and absolutism.

When individuals engage in absolutism, they think in terms of dogmas and rules. Everything in life is perceived in black-and-white terms. Fundamentalism and dogma become a driving force, creating mental rigidity within the individual’s psyche and reinforcing one’s dark side.

Absolutism often goes hand-in-hand with groupthink and cultism. Individuals rooted in fundamentalism are highly susceptible to joining cults, whether they be religious, new age, intellectual, sexual, or some other form of ideology.

This type of mental rigidity is observable in individuals with and without an organized religion. As psychologist Stephen Larsen explains in The Fundamentalist Mind: How Polarized Thinking Imperils Us All (2007), fundamentalism is wired into a part of the brain.

If we don’t observe, challenge, and overcome absolutist thinking and the false sense of comfort it may provide, it will continue to dominate our consciousness and stall spiritual growth.

Photo by Sander Mathlener

3 – Repressing Your Fear of the Unknown

Behind fundamentalism is a hidden fear of the unknown. Having someone tell us what the truth is can bring comfort because it eliminates feelings of uncertainty.

Uncertainty and doubt create mental discomfort. The mind seeks to resolve, suppress, or repress this discomfort. Absolutism or fundamentalism is one way this “resolution” manifests. This rigid thinking keeps us from reflecting on questions like:

What if my beliefs aren’t true?
What if the cosmology I grew up with is wrong?
What if specific individuals created my beliefs as a system of control?
What if academia and other industries are funded by specific groups with a nefarious agenda?
What if …

Another underlying fear relates to feelings of meaninglessness and existential despair. To avoid such overwhelming feelings, we may cling to the known (that is, our cherished, pre-programmed beliefs).

The key to overcoming this spiritual block is to acknowledge one’s fear of the unknown rather than pretend it’s not there. Then, begin to lean into the discomfort and see where it takes you.

4 – Succumbing to New Age Programming

Individuals on a spiritual journey tend to be curious and open-minded. This curiosity, however, can get you into trouble, trapping you in unending, troublesome rabbit holes.

The “Love and Light” Game

New age ideologies are rampant in the modern age. Many individuals began departing from traditional, organized religions only to find themselves in various “New Age” religions instead.

Channeling is a common practice within the New Age, something the ancient traditions correctly warned against. With channeling, various “entities” (spirits, ghosts, demons) can enter your etheric field during this process (without you knowing it).

Those who embrace the New Age often use language like:

“Love and light”
“Ascension”
“Invocation”
“Light workers”

That is, similar to many of those in traditional religions, these New Agers become ungrounded, divorced from the dark side of their psyche.

As such, they are likely to:

Remain unconscious of their behavior,
Avoid genuine shadow work, and
Stall their psychological development.

(Even many forms of “new age meditation” are ill-conceived when one understands the purpose of traditional meditative practices.)

Behind the New Age Agenda

It’s worth noting that the roots of the new age movement are found in the works of Alice Bailey, Helena Blavatsky, and the Theosophical Society. Baily established the Lucifer Trust in 1922, before changing the name to Lucis Trust (as it’s called now).¹

If you research all the sponsors of Lucis Trust, you may better understand why caution is advised for this devious spiritual trap.²

In addition to being ungrounded, new agers often seek novel altered states of consciousness while being entranced by the endless phantasmagoria within the etheric and astral fields. This, too, is warned about within the ancient traditions, and for good reasons.

Gustave Doré, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

5 – Leaving Grandiosity Unaddressed

Grandiosity, arrogance, and ego inflation are other common obstacles that can thwart natural progress along one’s spiritual journey.

Grandiosity is the feeling of being “better than” others. Grandiosity is a form of elitism as well as cultism.

For instance, when we identify with a particular group and believe that the group is “special” and superior to others (because we’ve been told so), it naturally fosters grandiosity. The ancient Greeks referred to it as hubris, outrageous arrogance.

This dynamic can be referred to as the “Chosen One” syndrome, and it frequently occurs in religious organizations and cults.

This grandiosity is arguably even more rampant in academia, where atheists and “secular spiritualists” falsely believe they have the moral high ground and the “models” to prove it.

6 – Holding on to Pride: The “I Know” Syndrome

Pride is arguably another expression of grandiosity. Pride signifies a lack of humility.

Pride leads to the “I know” syndrome. “I already know that …” (even when you don’t).

Pride and the “I know” syndrome:

Inflates the ego,
Stalls spiritual development, and
Removes the drive for genuine spiritual practices.

After all, if you already “know,” why practice, why inquire, why carefully observe, and why self-analyze?

Why even engage in the spiritual journey at all if you “already know”?

The “I know” syndrome is common among religious practitioners, academics, and many other groups.

In the context of spirituality, individuals who are well-read in spiritual topics or who read scripture their entire lives may develop deep “spiritual pride” in their external knowledge. This pride becomes another challenging beast to conquer, for it most often causes a strong spiritual block.

Remember that true Self-knowledge is internal and not derived from any books or external concepts.

Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory

7 – Maintaining Low Intrapersonal Intelligence

The biggest challenge with having low emotional and intrapersonal intelligence is that you lack a strong internal radar and feedback system.

With emotional and intrapersonal intelligence, we have:

Self-awareness: Sufficient internal awareness to neutrally assess our thoughts, attitudes, impulses, reactions, judgments, and behaviors.
Self-regulation: The ability to examine and regulate our emotions and feelings.
Self-leadership: A strong internal observer who can evaluate and make course corrections as needed.

In the absence of these qualities, how can we successfully navigate through the spiritual journey stages (especially the initiation stage)?

As such, authentic spiritual growth requires us to engage in practices that help us build essential skills related to knowing ourselves.

8 – Playing the Victim-Perpetrator Game

An incredibly common dynamic that thwarts our natural progress involves playing the victim.

With this spiritual block, the individual plays the Victim role while blaming someone externally as the Perpetrator.

This victim-perpetrator ego game is age-old. It’s played on the individual level, on the group level, and even on the national level.

In the context of the spiritual journey, this game is most often played during stage 2 (self-healing).

And it’s understandable. In learning about your past, you’ll naturally see others as the cause of your trauma and misfortune. The perceived cause might be a parent, a teacher, a friend, or a school bully.

The victim’s position is usually perceived first. It’s not that this perception is entirely inaccurate; it’s just not the whole story (from the bigger picture perspective).

However, as long as we continue to play the victim-perpetrator game, we’re not ready to “let go”, arrive at acceptance, restore our internal power, and heal.

9 – Lacking Discernment

Discernment is “keen insight and good judgment.”

When we lack discernment, we fall into many spiritual blocks and traps.

We can end up following various ill-advised “paths,” fields, and practices, driven by our ignorance and childlike naivete. We often chase fleeting experiences (like altered states of consciousness) while neglecting the steady application of daily practice.

Be especially mindful of this trap if you have wandered into the New Age camp. Discernment is often not exercised within this arena.

Some of us are gifted with higher degrees of discernment; others need to develop it through everyday learning (making mistakes) and continuous feedback.

Along your spiritual journey, as you strip away everything you are not, moving toward wholeness within yourself, spiritual discernment becomes more readily available.

Remember that true discernment is internally derived (from the Self).

Photo by Anway Pawar

10 – Avoiding Genuine Practice

This final spiritual block affects individuals on devout religious, new age, and secular paths alike. Individuals may avoid genuine practice for various reasons, including:

A) Not having a strong foundation in the importance of practice.

Without a strong foundation of how spiritual practices can transform us and help us develop, spiritual knowledge tends to remain exclusively conceptual (with no direct insights).

Often, the individual has a fixed mindset and is unaware of alternative options.

B) Focusing excessively on scripture and reading books.

When developmental practices are not balanced with conceptual learning (book learning, sermons, and seminars), spiritual pride tends to grow instead of the individual.

That is, the authentic spiritual journey stagnates.

C) Proudly identifying oneself as “spiritual” or “religious.”

This spiritual block relates to the social masks we discussed above. When an individual identifies themselves as spiritual or religious, they are maintaining an external identification. This is a standard ego game.

For example, they don’t feel the need to engage in self-discovery or examine their shadow (unconscious).

Instead, self-actualization is aborted, and so is the individual’s authentic spiritual journey.

D) Not understanding the vital difference between states and stages.

Many spiritual practices exist that promote growth; however, it’s worth noting that many of these do not necessarily lead to internal development.

How is that possible? As outlined in this guide to 200+ spiritual practices, some methods can trigger altered states of consciousness while others can lead to structural changes in one’s consciousness over time.

Generally, structured stages promote development, while altered states do not. In many ways, our spiritual journey requires developmental progress.

The Three Poisons from the Buddhist Wheel of Life

Be Mindful of the Three Poisons

Along your journey, you will no doubt be confronted with what the Buddhist tradition calls the “three poisons.” These three poisons are:

Attraction, greed, or sensual pleasure
Aversion, anger, ill-will, or hate
Ignorance, confusion, or delusion

These three poisons are represented by a rooster (greed), a snake (anger), and a pig (ignorance). They are found at the center of the Buddhist Wheel of Life. This wheel itself represents the cycle of Samsara (suffering).

So, attraction, aversion, and ignorance are at the center of this cycle of suffering; they are the fulcrum upon which the Wheel of Life spins.

How the Three Poisons Hinder Us

All three poisons can, and often do, actively hinder one’s spiritual journey.

How to remove greed, avarice, and desire is a common theme in the Wisdom traditions. Our desires fuel the false self, blocking us from stabilizing and transcending the mind.

Anger and hate represent an unwillingness to release and let go of the past. This type of aversion will also stall growth and healing.

Ignorance and delusion are the source of most suffering in this world, including self-inflicted negative states.

The Antidote to the Three Poisons

One of the antidotes to the three poisons offered by the ancient traditions is found in cultivating the cardinal virtues.

For example:

Temperance or moderation keeps greed and desire in check.
Benevolence or magnanimity deflates anger and hate.
Wisdom or prudence quells the fire of ignorance.

Additionally, contemplative meditation combined with self-analysis helps one resolve these three poisons.

Ultimately, as you progress to realize your true nature (the Self), the three poisons become less noxious.

Spiritual Journey FAQ

Now, let’s run through a few frequently asked questions.

What are the benefits of going on a spiritual journey?

It’s not really a question of benefits or worth. One’s spiritual journey is about stripping away what you’re not (the false self) to return to what you are (one’s true nature as the Self).

From the material world’s perspective, a spiritual journey does not provide any so-called “gains.” The ego itself can’t profit from the journey.

As such, if there isn’t an inner calling to “say yes” to this journey, the journey will not be made.

Conversely, if the internal decision to accept the quest has already occurred, one way or another, the journey will continue until moksha (self-liberation) is realized.

Are there specific things we need to do to navigate each stage?

While everyone’s spiritual journey is different, there are “best practices” and methods that support each stage.

For a deeper look at these stage-specific practices, see this guide:

An Unconventional Guide to Spiritual Growth (3 Key Stages)

Do spiritual journeys necessitate a “spiritual awakening”?

Although it may seem that way from reading many online articles, no, it does not.

Some individuals may have a “defining moment” that will be perceived as an “awakening.”

For example, a major life crisis that radically alters one’s perception of reality.

But in many cases, the journey is just a relatively steady progressive process without a singular “awakening” (at least, as the term is most often used).

Can you help initiate someone else’s journey?

Unfortunately, you can not. The “inward turn” must be self-initiated.

If it’s not, the journey won’t be authentic or meaningful. It will just be another thing the individual does to get someone’s approval.

As such, genuine psychological and spiritual development will not unfold.

What if I feel stuck?

There may be many periods of feeling stuck along the journey, and for various reasons. For example:

Old programming and conditioning try to reassert themselves, as the old ego seeks to regain control.
Different archetypes from the unconscious possess the individual, taking them down different tracks.
Fear and the drive for safety and comfort temporarily win over one’s willingness to explore the unknown (discomfort).

If you are feeling stuck, try the following:

Accept the feeling of stuckness. There’s no point in fighting this feeling, as it will only strengthen it.
Let go of expecting things to unfold in a specific way. Embrace the unknown by letting go of the need for control.
Experiment with various grounding techniques and centering methods, and see where that leads you.

These methods will often help you get unstuck rather proficiently.

Photo by Zack Silver

A Few Final Reminders for Those on the Journey

Here are a few reminders:

Spiritual growth is a natural and organic process, so learn to get out of its way.
Especially in the early stages, pay attention to what interests you.
Notice when you instinctively gravitate towards specific spiritual texts and ideas.
Herculean effort and will are required in the early stages of one’s journey (to overcome prior conditioning).
Make sure you directly address negative emotions like fear, anger, and guilt, and their original source.
While the spiritual journey may follow specific stages, everyone’s experience is entirely unique.
Feelings of loneliness are part of the journey. Resist these feelings and you’ll suffer. Accept them, and something extraordinary may well up inside you.
Even though it’s beneficial to learn from others and seek knowledge, eventually, all that comes from the external world must be discarded.

And with that …

Realizing One’s True Nature

The ego (one’s current self-identity as “I”) is conditioned by one’s environment from the moment of birth onward.

In contrast, our true nature—the Self or Original Spirit—is unconditioned by this world. It doesn’t need anything this place has to offer, as it’s already complete and total.

The Self sees through all of the illusions (Maya), including all the false identification and contrived concepts that the mind likes to invent and play with.

Extensive prior programming (what the Taoists call “mundane conditioning”), contrivance, and inertia must be overcome along one’s journey to the Self.

As such, many never truly engage with the “adventure,” instead staying exclusively in the material domain (what’s known).

But for those that do say a “hearty yes,” eventually, that Herculean effort that supported earlier stage progress becomes a hindrance. It, too, must be discarded.

Now, instead of pushing, pulling, and exerting effort to realize one’s true nature, spontaneously, the Spirit (or Self) guides us forward.

Then, the Return home is near …