Why spiritual weakness is tougher to detect than physical weakness – Why spiritual weakness is tougher to detect than physical weakness – What happens when we become physically weak? Many of our normal activities become difficult or even impossible. We can’t lift heavy weights; we can’t even lift the weight of our own body for long; we need to sit or rest more than usual. Because physical weakness interrupts our natural state of being active, it can be easily detected. 

What happens when we become spiritually weak? We don’t always become inactive; we just become unproductively or even self-destructively active. Here’s why. Spiritual weakness essentially disconnects us from our spirit: with the core of who we are and what matters to us. Though such disconnection can sometimes disorient and immobilize us, it usually makes us increasingly susceptible to the many temptations dangled by our mind internally and our culture externally. When we eventually succumb to those temptations, we get caught in myriad activities that aren’t actually important for us, that may not benefit us at all, that may even harm us. Because spiritual weakness doesn’t stop us from being active, but just changes the nature of our activities, spiritual weakness often slips below our radar. 

How, then, can we detect spiritual weakness? By association and introspection. 

We need spiritually astute mentors who will hold us regularly accountable. When they ask us what we have been doing and we can’t give an honest answer without embarrassing ourselves, we realize that we have been under-using or even wasting our time. 

What if such mentors aren’t regularly available for us? Then we need to hold ourselves accountable through periodic introspective breaks. During such introspection, we can compare our actions with our cherished values and purposes. Urging such self-accountability, the Bhagavad-gita calls us to elevate ourselves with ourselves, not degrade ourselves with ourselves (06.05). 

One-sentence summary:

Whereas physical weakness makes us inactive, spiritual weakness makes us insensibly active — detect spiritual weakness through association and introspection. 

Think it over: 

  • What does spiritual weakness mean?
  • How does spiritual weakness differ from physical weakness?
  • How can you detect if you are becoming spiritually weak?

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06.05: One must deliver himself with the help of his mind, and not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy as well.

Why spiritual weakness is tougher to detect than physical weakness ,

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