I’m Selling Tickets to My Spiritual Awakening

On the commodification of spirituality in the Western world.

Photo by Vi Tiểu Bảo on Unsplash

“I’m not religious, I’m spiritual,” is what they say. It’s kind of trendy to say that nowadays.

“I don’t practice a religion, but I can’t help but feel that there’s something more out there. There’s something deeper to life that I can’t explain.”

This is usually what they mean when they say the former statement.

In America today, spirituality is on the rise, but not sure many of us know what that even really means.

Personally, I’m a lot of things, but a spiritual guru is not one of them. I’m a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, but definitely a white belt in “finding my inner peace”. Nothing screams “lack of peace” quite like fighting people for a living.

I always felt like I had to fight for things to earn them in my life.

If there’s anything I’ve learned from this, it’s that spirituality is not like fighting. You can’t fight or search for spiritual peace — despite what the “guides” online will tell you. What you need is already inside of you.

And this is the conundrum of spirituality in the modern world.

The phrase “spirituality” is not what it used to be. “Being spiritual” is not the pursuit of a deeper truth in life, it’s a tool for social posturing.

When you have a smartphone, a spiritual awakening isn’t just a spiritual awakening. It’s a phrase you can use so that people will pay attention to you.

This needs to stop.

I lost my way these last few months.

Professionally, I’m doing better than I ever have, but personally, life has been challenging the last few months.

I had a big Jiu-Jitsu match in August that I won, and then I traveled the country for a week training and filming an instructional course, and then I was offered the biggest match of my career thus far.

Then, I met a girl.

Then, I had the most lucrative month in writing I’ve ever had, and I started going viral on Twitter. Life was amazing. I thought I was “happy”.