The Dark Side of Spirituality
When we expand spiritually, it’s not all ease and light. As we step into our truth and embody more of our light, we often trigger discomfort in others. Their shadows rise, and we may feel the weight of their resistance, control, or hostility. This can lead us to shrink, compromise, or play small, abandoning who we truly are.
If we give in to this pressure, we risk staying stuck in old patterns. We lose the opportunity to fully embody our light and truth. We might even find ourselves trapped in cycles of disappointment, resentment, or self-abandonment.
But there is a way we can walk forward with an open heart and a quiet, unshakable power.
Mentioned in this episode:
Attracting a Conscious Partner
A transformational experience to awaken your magnetic presence and manifest a conscious, aligned partnership.
The Awakened Masculine Program
An 8-week immersive journey into the depths of unleashing your awakened masculine power.
Transcript
Today I am going to talk about the dark side of spirituality.
Speaker:As you awaken, as you step more into your light, as you expand your
Speaker:consciousness, you're not just creating more abundance, drawing in the right
Speaker:people who are aligned at a soul level and creating beautiful expansion.
Speaker:There is also a sense of destruction, a sense of crumbling that takes
Speaker:place, A dark side where we have to face ourselves like never before.
Speaker:Most people never touch this aspect, or they don't go all the way.
Speaker:But going all the way, facing this dark night of the soul
Speaker:fully is what changes everything.
Speaker:It's the difference between partly embodying your truth
Speaker:when it's comfortable and convenient, embodying your light.
Speaker:And feeling your deepest spiritual nature, or going all the way,
Speaker:opening your heart fully, embodying your deeper nature fully.
Speaker:It is the difference between the one whose life transforms
Speaker:in every way, and the one who still finds themselves in loops.
Speaker:Welcome to the Masculine and Feminine Dynamics podcast.
Speaker:My name is Lorin Krenn and I'm a coach, author, and hypnotherapist.
Speaker:I help you to understand masculine and feminine dynamics.
Speaker:Let's dive in.
Speaker:Spiritual work feels amazing.
Speaker:At first, you open your heart, life begins to flow, abundance, alignment,
Speaker:the right people, the right moment, everything starts to show up.
Speaker:But as your light expands, so does the shadow, not your own shadow.
Speaker:But the shadow in others.
Speaker:A fundamental truth of awakening is that the more light you embody,
Speaker:the more threatened others feel.
Speaker:The more hostile their shadow becomes, the more they try to control.
Speaker:At a certain step or level.
Speaker:In your evolution, people around you have two choices.
Speaker:Number one is to step up with you, or number two is
Speaker:to hide behind their shadow.
Speaker:But there is no longer an in-between.
Speaker:Even though that in between feels comfortable, it is a sense of comfort
Speaker:zone that we all create because of our identity that when others get
Speaker:uncomfortable, when others get triggered by our light, then we self abandon.
Speaker:And as you awaken, you shed all that is not true.
Speaker:So you shed an identity where you are playing safe, an identity where you
Speaker:are bending, an identity, where you are not making others feel uncomfortable.
Speaker:You, you shrink a little bit in this moment.
Speaker:And most people do it.
Speaker:Even people who do deep spiritual work, they shrink, they start
Speaker:to play small in these moments.
Speaker:And when you catch yourself in these moments and when, when you make that
Speaker:decision inside where you say, I'm no longer going to feed that identity,
Speaker:which is not who I truly am, something fundamentally starts to shift.
Speaker:It's an incredibly powerful feeling when the right people rise with you,
Speaker:when they can see your light, when they're transformed by your truth and
Speaker:by the medicine of your authenticity.
Speaker:But remember, there is also a sense of validation that the ego
Speaker:gets from this, because if I grow spiritually and everyone loves me
Speaker:and everyone approves of me, then my ego is getting a lot of fuel here.
Speaker:But if I grow spiritually and people get really uncomfortable and people make
Speaker:me aware that I am no longer playing a controllable part of their limited
Speaker:reality, and now they feel threatened, there's no validation in that.
Speaker:In fact, when you experience this, the only thing you can rely on is to
Speaker:validate yourself or even deeper to source your sense of self from something
Speaker:deeper than how others respond.
Speaker:I like to say to not judge your truth based on how others
Speaker:respond, but to judge it based on how it makes you feel within.
Speaker:There is that moment of speaking your truth, where you feel a deep sense of
Speaker:power, but then people don't respond in the way you want them to, and
Speaker:that power can vanish and you start bending, you start compromising,
Speaker:you start shrinking and playing small, and that's the identity you
Speaker:break, you release as you awaken.
Speaker:And as you do that, you have to face yourself in ways as never before
Speaker:because you start to realize how much you still needed validation on
Speaker:this spiritual journey, how much was perhaps still tied onto getting a clap
Speaker:and getting people to tell you how amazing you are, rather than truly
Speaker:devoting yourself to something higher and to something deeper than others.
Speaker:Perceiving you a certain way.
Speaker:When you become fully yourself, your light exposes what others have buried,
Speaker:and instead of being inspired by you, they fall deeper into darkness, because
Speaker:it is the protective mechanism that unfolds because their entire reality
Speaker:and who they are is now threatened by you simply no longer playing the part
Speaker:that most people play, which is to play small, to abandon themselves, to shrink,
Speaker:but to stay rooted in your light, even when you can feel the intensity
Speaker:of discomfort that might arise.
Speaker:And when I say these two is your medicine, usually the, we don't feel it
Speaker:'cause it feels really uncomfortable.
Speaker:But what you are really feeling is how their shadow is taking over.
Speaker:Their shadow then tries to control you, spin stories are about you
Speaker:even turn against you because your presence challenges how they
Speaker:live, it shatters their illusions.
Speaker:It reveals their unconsciousness with crystal clarity.
Speaker:And this is when spirituality stops being easy, because it's easy to
Speaker:meditate, it's easy to do spiritual work in peace, but to embody
Speaker:spirituality in the fire, when you are the black sheep in the family,
Speaker:the outsider, as an example, or when a relationship is no longer in alignment,
Speaker:someone is taking advantage of you.
Speaker:Someone is draining your energy, and you have to put your boundaries.
Speaker:You have to say no, specifically someone you care about, that's where
Speaker:the real or the deepest spiritual initiation lives and unfolds.
Speaker:And our mind will scream.
Speaker:It's unfair.
Speaker:It longs for a sense of unity, for love, for beauty, because I'm doing
Speaker:all these things for more love and more beauty and more alignment, bec,
Speaker:why do I have to face more darkness?
Speaker:Why does my medicine create pain for others?
Speaker:Why does being me fully and authentically cause discomfort?
Speaker:It feels right in my soul.
Speaker:Is there something wrong with me?
Speaker:No, there's nothing wrong with you.
Speaker:It's just you've become too powerful.
Speaker:Too powerful for unconscious systems, too powerful for toxic dynamics.
Speaker:These dynamics thrive only on people who hide, people who hide in identities
Speaker:of self abandonment, of manipulation, guilt tripping, control, whatever it is.
Speaker:And now these systems and these realities and generational curses,
Speaker:they're threatened because you are a walking threat, a living and
Speaker:breathing threat that illuminates their darkness, that illuminates
Speaker:their unconsciousness, and that they disconnect between the systems and
Speaker:dynamics and who we are truly meant to be, the spirit and divine within us.
Speaker:So you expand your consciousness and on one hand you're experiencing
Speaker:amazing things, but also you're facing painful emotions.
Speaker:And there is a chain of events that you have no control over.
Speaker:But don't people tell us that when you expand, you control everything?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:When your light starts to shine so brightly, you will set off a chain of
Speaker:events that are beyond your control.
Speaker:Some of these things they will unfold are amazing and they open your heart.
Speaker:Some will get you to your knees because here you are having
Speaker:wonderful intentions and yet the world is responding with hostility.
Speaker:So what do you do?
Speaker:Most people, they shrink, they play small, they only embody
Speaker:their light when it's comfortable.
Speaker:But then there's a second type of people who then go to an extreme.
Speaker:They only focus on this and get stuck in it.
Speaker:The only focus on people don't see me and people don't love me, and
Speaker:people can't see my heart, and I'm misunderstood and I'm always lonely,
Speaker:and then there is so much focus on that, that that becomes your reality.
Speaker:But this is not why you're doing the work.
Speaker:You're doing the work to always stand in your light.
Speaker:To always live with an open heart, not just when it's comfortable
Speaker:or convenient or at times.
Speaker:And for this to happen, the universe will put you through
Speaker:a dark night of the soul.
Speaker:And it's not just one, and then you're perfectly enlightened, or at least
Speaker:not in most cases, there are many.
Speaker:Each time when I thought I got it.
Speaker:I usually experienced one of them, which made me more humble, and I'm
Speaker:still, I still have a lot to learn.
Speaker:You see, this is the initiation we all need, but no one wants
Speaker:because it's so uncomfortable.
Speaker:It's like the universe pressing against your heart and soul and saying I see
Speaker:you, you're awakening, you're healing.
Speaker:You're doing the work, but it's time for you to no longer do this partly.
Speaker:It's not a part-time job.
Speaker:It's a full-time job, and it's not a job, it's who you are.
Speaker:So it's time for you to become fully who you are.
Speaker:Stop shrinking on that phone call with that one family member.
Speaker:Stop shrinking.
Speaker:In your relationship, out of fear of being abandoned.
Speaker:Stop shrinking of because of X, Y, Z, and stay rooted in your light and your
Speaker:truth and your divinity no matter what.
Speaker:That is the dark night of the soul.
Speaker:That is where your mind screams injustice, unfair, it shouldn't be
Speaker:this way, and you come to a conclusion.
Speaker:While it is or feels incredibly unfair, your disappointment in
Speaker:it will not change anything.
Speaker:What you do with that raw mess of life and truth is up to you.
Speaker:And that's the difference between the one who thrives and the
Speaker:one who, who suffers on this journey, or suffers unnecessarily.
Speaker:Let's put it that way, because not all suffering is self-made.
Speaker:The one who thrives says I don't have control over
Speaker:this, at least not entirely.
Speaker:So instead of trying to control and change people's perceptions and always
Speaker:feel disappointed when this happens, let me just face this pain that I call
Speaker:injustice, and it shouldn't be this way.
Speaker:Let me face it fully.
Speaker:Let me turn away from the world and the projections and let me go so deep
Speaker:inside that something has to shift.
Speaker:And that is when everything starts to shift.
Speaker:You stop pointing the finger, this system, this person, this dynamic, how
Speaker:hard the journey is, and you sit in the silence of your own heart and soul
Speaker:and surrender your story and your ideas of how this journey has to unfold.
Speaker:You allow the journey to be the way it is, and when you allow the
Speaker:journey to be the way it is, you find a quiet power within the surrender.
Speaker:A quiet power that does not feel disappointed by life, but instead
Speaker:finds a way to still see beauty, to still remain connected to love,
Speaker:and to still be in touch with divinity, even if you are faced
Speaker:with the hostility and aggression of the shadow and ego of others.
Speaker:The universe asks you the question again and again.
Speaker:Are you truly ready to stay in your light?
Speaker:Not when it's comfortable, but no matter what.
Speaker:Are you ready to embody spirituality in every part of your life?
Speaker:To become a teacher, not by preaching, but by keeping your
Speaker:heart open and facing everything?
Speaker:This is the dark side of spirituality, the pressure, the intensity, the burning
Speaker:away of anything false, including our stories of how life and ideas
Speaker:of how this journey should unfold.
Speaker:And the voice of the divine saying to us, will you surrender
Speaker:everything to this path?
Speaker:Because if you resist, if you fight, if you try to control or see it as
Speaker:unjust, you're not fully trusting.
Speaker:A part of you still believes it knows better, and that's where the suffering
Speaker:of the spiritual journey sneaks in.
Speaker:You might want to write this down because it's that important.
Speaker:Let it land again.
Speaker:The part inside you that is disappointed, that doesn't want
Speaker:to face this darkness, that that says it shouldn't be that way.
Speaker:It's the part that still thinks it knows better.
Speaker:It's the part that still says, no, no, it shouldn't be this way.
Speaker:But how can that be true if it is that way?
Speaker:If it is that way, then there is a higher in divine intelligence
Speaker:behind it and the reason for it.
Speaker:So why would we and decide no, it shouldn't be?
Speaker:That's our limited self.
Speaker:That is the illusion of spirituality and most people are still there.
Speaker:And I'm not saying it's one place of judgment.
Speaker:I used to be there, but I've had the privilege of being cracked
Speaker:open again and again and again until I could no longer be there.
Speaker:Let's put it that way.
Speaker:The universe decided that for me, there's my destiny.
Speaker:There is no escape.
Speaker:There is no hiding and avoiding, because that's not my path.
Speaker:The only thing you truly have control over is your surrender, your willingness
Speaker:to walk the higher path, to live and speak your truth no matter what,
Speaker:to embody your light in each moment no matter what is required of you.
Speaker:Most people do the spiritual work, but they're still hiding.
Speaker:The deepest seekers all walk through this.
Speaker:They have faced the injustice, but stop pointing the finger and
Speaker:instead surrendered their need for the journey to be any way
Speaker:different than the way it is, and become friends with that darkness.
Speaker:Not friends with the shadow of others, but friends with the pain of injustice.
Speaker:The intensity and brutality and even violence on an energetic
Speaker:level of this journey at times.
Speaker:And also remember, destruction often, comes before creation.
Speaker:And what falls was never grounded in truth anyway.
Speaker:It was always hanging by a thread, so anything that falls apart
Speaker:was already hanging by a thread.
Speaker:And the only thing that changed it is your expansion and your
Speaker:light, which just burned away that little loose thread.
Speaker:Let's reflect where in your life are you still hiding?
Speaker:In a family dynamic, in a relationship, in a friendship?
Speaker:Where are you being called to trust more and to surrender and
Speaker:give your heart and soul fully to the divine, to this deep journey?
Speaker:Where are you being asked to embody your light more completely?
Speaker:Where are you still shrinking and playing small?
Speaker:Where are you hiding still behind an identity that is false, that
Speaker:is not rooted in truth, that is hanging by a loose thread?
Speaker:Because on the other side of this path, through the projections, the rejection,
Speaker:the pain lies your deepest power.
Speaker:And what is that quiet power that you find as you clean up every area in
Speaker:your life energetically, where you are still hiding and playing small, and you
Speaker:embody your light fully and completely?
Speaker:It is real spirituality.
Speaker:And what is real spirituality?
Speaker:It is a spirituality that no longer judges that no longer controls,
Speaker:one that's not rooted in ego or in shadow, but rooted in truth.
Speaker:One where your heart stays open no matter what.
Speaker:One, where the darkness of the world can no longer bring you to your
Speaker:knees, not because it's not painful.
Speaker:Not because it doesn't feel unjust, not because it is somehow magically easy
Speaker:now, but because you have surrendered all of you to the highest path.
Speaker:Even that last part that still tried to control the journey, that still
Speaker:wanted it all to be a certain way.
Speaker:And the great paradox of life is that in that you find the love, you find an
Speaker:energy that is so much more beautiful than the word beauty could ever describe
Speaker:You find yourself, your true self.
Speaker:Thank you for listening to this episode.
Speaker:I'm so honored to have you here and to be able to support
Speaker:you in your powerful path.
Speaker:For us to continue to support you at the highest level.
Speaker:I ask only for a few seconds of your time if it feels aligned,
Speaker:if you can leave the show, five stars or a thumbs up wherever
Speaker:you are watching or listening.
Speaker:That goes a long way.
Speaker:Now, 30 to 60 seconds of your time leaving a little comment or
Speaker:review wherever you are listening or watching goes even further.
Speaker:And by sharing this episode with someone who you think can deeply
Speaker:benefit from this on your social medias also goes a long way.
Speaker:And if you want to benefit from more of my free offerings, I
Speaker:invite you to subscribe to my newsletter if you haven't already.
Speaker:Every Friday a value packed deep email is sent out, written by me, of course,
Speaker:and in there I often share personal stories and content that doesn't make
Speaker:it into my social media channels.
Speaker:Once again, thank you for being here.
Speaker:It's an honor to be of service.
