06/12/2026
Many people like the idea of awakening, individuation, and living a more authentic life based on their true Self.
They like the idea of alignment with Divine Will and living in alignment with their purpose.
However, many people underestimate how important the will is in this work.
Some even mistake spirituality for being passive, just going with the flow, doing what they feel like, and mistaking feelings for intuition or Divine Guidance.
Others do not realize how deeply this work can affect their lives, including relationships, marriages, friendships, careers, identity, self-image, and everything they hold dear and are attached to.
They may also underestimate how much disillusionment is part of the process.
Psycho-spiritual work is not just about having insights, reading spiritual books, watching videos, or having peak experiences.
Nowadays, many people think awakening is scrolling social media, liking spiritual posts and memes, and watching 30-second clips, mistaking quick dopamine hits for “resonating” and “awakening.”
It is not a pastime you engage in whenever you feel inspired.
It is not a self-improvement or self-actualization program for the ego-personality we mistake for the true Self.
Real inner work requires the capacity to stay with what is uncomfortable and often painful to see. This is where the will becomes essential.
Engaging sincerely in psycho-spiritual work and individuation will bring up all kinds of internal and external resistance, along with distractions, rationalizations, excuses, uncomfortable feelings, and many other defense mechanisms that keep us from engaging in the work.
I’ve seen again and again how much people lie to themselves and make up all kinds of justifications.
And I have seen it within myself as well: the excuses and lies I was telling myself, realizing what both Carl Jung and Gurdjieff also saw:
“People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls.”
- Carl Jung
“To speak the truth, one must know what the truth is and what a lie is, and first of all in oneself. And this nobody wants to know.”
- G. I. Gurdjieff
The programmed ego structure and wounded subpersonality parts stuck in grandiosity or inferiority do not readily give themselves up. They prefer the familiar and the comfortable.
We need to observe ourselves honestly, stay present with uncomfortable emotions, face our shadow, withdraw projections, and take responsibility for the parts of ourselves we would rather not see.
Spiritual will is not the same as egoic will or forceful doing.
It is not about pushing or striving from the personality. It is certainly not ambition. It may use the ego as its instrument, but it originates from deep within the soul as a movement to align with the Divine.
It is the strength to choose truth over comfort. It is the capacity to recommit when part of you wants to quit.
It is also the ability to feel all feelings without suppressing them or projecting them onto others.
Many people begin inner work because they feel inspired or called to do so. But once the work becomes challenging, the old personality often comes up with a million excuses:
“I’m too tired.”
“Now is not the right time.”
“This is too much.”
“I’m just going to trust the universe.”
“I’m going with the flow.”
Sometimes those statements may be true. But often they are the voice of resistance disguised as guidance.
This is why spiritual language can easily justify avoidance and a weak will. The ego can use “trust,” “flow,” “alignment,” and “surrender” to avoid the very friction that would actually help the soul grow.
The ego wants healing, awakening, and transformation on its own terms, without the death of its cherished self-images. It may want the fruits of the Work without the inner purification the Work demands.
Psycho-spiritual work requires the will to stay focused when the lower nature wants to scatter our attention, avoid discomfort, or retreat back into the known and familiar.
It requires the will to recognize our triggers, our self-importance, our victim stories, and our hidden agendas.
It also requires the willpower to push through the resistance of hostile forces that interfere with any sincere seeker, trying to pull him/her away from the path.
Real psycho-spiritual work requires both receptivity and effort. It requires openness to Grace and guidance, as well as the willingness to do one’s part.
As it is said, God helps those who help themselves. We need to build a strong will before we can offer it to the Divine and become conscious instruments of the Divine Will.
And to build a strong will we first have to become consistent. Consistent to our practice. Devoted to meeting ourselves on our mat every day.
When you realize how hard the real work is, you understand why very few are actually on the path. And why so many fall off.
But I know one thing….. I would never go back to living under the veil of disillusionment.
Some say - “ignorance is bliss” because we see people pretending and preforming.
But I say - Ignorance is illusion. True bliss is freedom, liberation. Only when one seeks truth does one find it. Only when one seeks the real work does one find their true authenticity. All else is charades.
