Spiritual Gratification

Hours of meditation, reciting spiritual texts, prayer, thinking of Him, the All Benevolent, All Loving. All this can lead to something we may call a spiritual high. Spiritual highs are great, for a time, but they can be deadly to the spiritual seeker.

An obstacle for people treading the spiritual path is gratification. Gratification is a feeling of pleasure or satisfaction. Hours of devotion can lead to gratification. The feelings and emotions that produce a certain hāl (spiritual state) can be so pleasurable that we end up seeking that hāl rather than God. So devastating is spiritual gratification, one Sufi shaykh calls it the “the big idol” of the spiritual path.

While implicitly associating partners with God, we don’t stop there. By chasing spiritual states, we are bargaining with God, essentially saying: “I’ll do ritual acts of worship if you give me a hāl.” The adverse effect of chasing spiritual states can be seen in people leaving religion because they stopped feeling gratified via a hāl.

God created us to worship Him, not for a return, but simply because He is worthy of worship. May God grant us states that lead us closer to Him. May He keep our eyes fixed on the goal (i.e. worshipping Him as if we see Him) while on the spiritual path. Aameen.