19/11/2025
✨ When Spirituality Becomes What We Want to Hear ✨
A recent post in the Koh Phangan Conscious Community got me reflecting.
Someone asked whether it’s “spiritual” to offer a service without a work permit. The comments split into two camps:
— some saying it’s fine because “we are all one”
— others saying it’s wrong because laws exist for a reason
What struck me wasn’t who was right or wrong — but how quickly we bend spiritual teachings to fit our own needs and beliefs.
We often talk about unity, freedom, and being children of the Earth. And yes, on a soul level, that’s true. But somehow these ideas get used to justify anything that benefits us personally. When a teaching supports our actions, we claim it as “spiritual.” When it challenges us, we call it “fear-based,” “3D,” or “not awakened enough.”
That’s when one question arises: Why do we practice spirituality yet reshape the teachings to fit our own beliefs?
Here’s one perspective:
We practice spirituality because we’re trying to understand life, ourselves, and the world in a deeper way. But every human being is unique — different backgrounds, experiences, wounds, cultures, and levels of awareness. So naturally, we interpret spiritual teachings through our own lens.
That’s why people translate the teachings to fit their own beliefs:
• We make sense of the world based on what we already know.
• We look for meaning that feels safe, comforting, or familiar.
• We choose interpretations that support our identity or worldview.
• Our ego sometimes filters teachings to avoid uncomfortable truths.
• Our culture shapes how we understand concepts like karma, God, or liberation.
Spirituality is universal, but interpretation is personal.
Even ancient teachings were passed down through different lineages because every teacher understood them through their own experience.
The real practice is recognizing this:
• Am I interpreting the teachings from clarity, or from ego?
• From wisdom, or from convenience?
• From truth, or from comfort?
Spiritual growth is not about collecting beliefs that match what we already think.
It’s about letting the teachings challenge us, transform us, and expand our understanding — even when it’s uncomfortable.
So yes, we interpret the teachings through our own lens.
But the deeper practice is learning to clean that lens.
