Differences Between
Spiritual And Worldly Emotion

Blessed is he whose conclusions are guide by the Holy Spirit.

By
The Man Who Saw God Face To Face
Raphael Okechukwu Nweze

The Differences
         A person whose attitude changes often is said to be prone to mood swing. Most of the time, people feel excitement form social occasions or relief from religious ceremony. They mistakenly call this bliss, nirvana or blessedness. The fact is that they are far from the reality. For neither excitement nor relief is spiritual emotion that comes directly from the presence of God. Several differences can help you know when a person is undergoing worldly emotion and when the person is experiencing spiritual emotion.
         The follwoing differences shall help distinguish true spiritual emotion from ordinary human or worldly emotion:
  1. Expression of spiritual emotion is spontaneous, without pre-meditated thought and without preparations made in advance. For worldly or ordinary human emotion, it may be expected, such when a loved ones dies or when somebody loses something of great value.

  2. Experience of divine nature and expression: Spiritual emotion is in essence a state of experiencing God’s presence or nature in one form or another, within ourselves, and sometimes in others. During the encounter, actions are entirely determined and guided by unselfish love, and the actions are rendered without expecting rewards, thanks, praises, force or persuasion. But, with worldly emotion, a person is more interested in what he gains from the whole encounter. He expects commendation or at least appreciation form others. Absence of body consciousness or reduction in it: In some spiritual emotion, one loses body consciousness at the time and to the extent the emotion is captivating. He becomes unaware of time and its duration. If the spiritual emotion is all-captivating, the person may not remember himself at all. At such a time, he may not know what is happening in his immediate environment. With a worldly emotion, a person is usually aware of his immediate environment and what is happening around him.

  3. Absence of ego or it decrease: While in a state of spiritual emotion, a person experiences remarkable reduction in our ego, selfishness or self-consciousness. In experiencing worldly emotion, a person is very much concerned with his self, his appearance and his public esteem. He is more or less interested in his ego and is busy protecting or enhancing it.

  4. Cool tears: If spiritual emotion manifest in the form of tears, the tears are usually cool. Such tears are called tears of love or tears of mercy. In contrast, tears due to normal human or worldly emotion are warm to the touch.

  5. Feeling after the state: After a spiritual emotion of communion with God, the feeling persists for a while. At least, there is continued joy, relief or contentment. Also, we gain increase in spiritual knowledge, experience and maturity, as well as mental and physical stability, and conviction about spiritual realities, direct encounters, heavenly visits and God-realisation. As a side effect, we become more receptive to the teachings of spiritual science.

  6. Manner of crying: Crying due to spiritual emotion is usually silent, soft or devoid of noise. On the other hand, crying due from worldly emotion, is loud, noisy or sobbing.