I've been involved in the spiritual community all my life, ever since I can remember. I've come across many types of people from the down right stuck up to those that love everyone and everything they encounter to all those in between. I do believe you can become addicted to spirituality, but it takes on many guises.
I've seen and experienced people who believe they are so connected to spirit that they are in turn better than everyone else because of what they've been able to accomplish spiritually. Every time I meet one of these people I become sick to my stomach. There is nothing like someone looking down on you because of what they believe to be true about themselves. I feel like they've missed the point of being connected to spirit/god. To me, when you feel the presence of the divine, it is like nothing else. It is a feeling/expression that flows up through you and bubbles out of you, making you want to share the experience with others, but not quite knowing how to. When you are connected, there is nothing but love and awe for the universe, but this is just my experience. I recognize the experience is different for everyone. To me, these people got a big dose of ego and they like what their ego is telling them. I often wonder if this creates delusions of reality.
Everyone of us lives on this Earth and we all create our own realities. We live in those realities. However, all of our realities co-exist on Earth, creating the Earthly common reality. This is what we see when we leave our homes and interact with people. All our realities are bumping against each other and meshing together. Many times, when I've encountered the stuck-up spiritualist there seems to be this belief that there is no need to interact with other realities because theirs is so much better. The fact that horrific violence occurs on a daily basis is no concern because it does not exist in their reality. In some of the views I've encountered, violence simply does not exist because they do not believe in it.
Now, I understand not wanting to live in a violent world, but to me, out right denial of something that exists for people all over the world is down right delusional. For me, if you want to change something like violence, you begin by changing it in the community you live in, instead of deciding it doesn't exist. I know people also think if you simply believe something you will manifest it into existence. However, the other part to manifestation that is often forgotten is the aspect that you have to go out and make it happen. You must initiate. If you want to believe violence doesn't exist in the world, then you might support community educational programs about domestic violence or support a women's shelter. So, instead of living in a bubble and pretending something doesn't exist because it is not occurring in your world, you are actually making it a reality in the world.
On the other side of spiritual addiction is the person who uses it as an escape from reality. On second thought, this is the same thing as what I've been talking about. The only difference is the personality. This is the true heart of addiction. Instead of being addicted to a substance they are addicted to a behavior - being spiritual. There are just different personas to it. Some believe they are so spiritual that they have reached god and are better than everyone else while others are always looking for the next big thing in spiritualism to heal them and to be a part of. Everyone is simply looking for a way to escape the current reality. What is it that they feel is lacking in life? Why do they need something like spirituality to keep them sane?
Like many types of addictions it feels good. The addiction feeds a void and once the "high" wears off you need to feed it some more. It is this ever spiraling loop and unless you get to the heart of why the void is felt, it will be a never ending cycle of being lost in spiritualism.
