What Is Spiritual Dryness

There are at least four actions we might take to deal with spiritual dryness during these times.

What does dryness mean in the Bible?

Life can feel like a wilderness, leaving us feeling lost, frustrated, and worn out. Spiritual dryness, a state of feeling exhausted or empty, can occur during wilderness seasons. Reading the Bible and praying feel rote and monotonous. Your enthusiasm and enthusiasm for God and life have diminished. You're perplexed, befuddled, and exhausted.

What causes spiritual emptiness?

Spiritual emptiness was a major problem in the educated European middle class, according to Austrian philosopher/educator Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925). He claimed that European culture had become “empty of spirit” and “ignorant of the demands, the conditions, that are required for the life of the spirit” in his 1919 lectures. Due to the “absence of will from the life of thought,” people experienced a “spiritual emptiness” and their thinking became distinguished by a “lazy passivity.” People would “let their thoughts to take hold of them” in modern Europe, according to Steiner, and these thoughts would increasingly be filled with abstraction and “pure, natural scientific thinking.” The educated middle classes began to think in a “devoid of spirit” manner, with their thoughts getting “dimmer and darker,” and their spirits becoming increasingly empty.

According to Louis Dupré, a Yale University philosophy professor, the “spiritual emptiness of our day is a sign of its religious poverty.” Many people, he claims, “never experience any emptiness: they are too busy to feel much absence of any kind”; they only realize their spiritual emptiness when “painful personal experiences — the death of a loved one, the breakdown of a marriage, the alienation of a child, the failure of a business” shock them into reassessing their sense of meaning.

Juvenile violence has been linked to spiritual emptiness. In his 1999 book How Juvenile Violence Begins: Spiritual Emptiness, John C. Thomas claims that kids in impoverished indigenous communities who are feeling meaningless may turn to fighting and aggressive crime to fill their void. In his 1999 book Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them, Cornell University professor James Garbarino believes that “neglect, humiliation, spiritual emptiness, alienation, anger, and access to guns are a few of the factors common to violent boys.” According to Garbarino, a professor of human development, violent males have “alienation from positive role models” and “a spiritual vacuum that fosters hopelessness.” The violent fantasy of American gun culture seduces these children, providing negative role models of tough, aggressive males who use power to obtain what they want. He thinks that giving boys a “feeling of purpose” and “spiritual anchors” that can “anchor boys in empathy and socially engaged moral thought” can benefit them.

Addiction is frequently linked to spiritual emptiness, particularly by Christian-influenced addiction organizations and counsellors. One of the effects of alcoholism, according to Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, is that heavy drinkers experience a spiritual emptiness. In his book Addictive Thinking: Understanding Self-Deception, published in 1997, Abraham J. Twerski contends that when people are spiritually empty, they typically turn to addictive activities to fill the emptiness. Unlike an empty stomach, which is a distinct sensation, spiritual emptiness is difficult to pinpoint, leaving persons with a feeling of “vague disquiet.” While some people try to fill the void by excessively having sex, overeating, or abusing drugs or alcohol, these habits only provide brief relief. When a person in crisis because of spiritual emptiness is able to stop one addiction, such as obsessive sex, they frequently replace it with another, such as gambling or overeating.

What does God say about emptiness?

Symptoms of empty spirits include empty bellies, empty lifestyles, empty dreams, and empty motivation. While emptiness is unpleasant, it may also be a benefit if it is dealt with wisely. Even though everything around us stays in empty, emptiness is a wake-up call to go to God, who is the only One who can change emptiness into fullness and fill us with His fullness and blessing.

What does it mean to be spiritually cold?

We've grown accustomed to live in a world where only what can be seen and touched is real. Making it simple to trust what our eyes can see and our hands can feel. Mindfulness and compassion practice can assist us in choosing to view the outside world from a perspective that is beneficial to our spiritual well-being.

Our soul, like our bodies, gets tired and run down and requires rest from time to time. When we stray from a consistent diet of love and gratitude, our spirit, like our bodies, begins to lack the appropriate nutrients that allow energy to flow. Our ability to choose love in difficult situations necessitates a healthy relationship to our soul, just as walking up a flight of stairs necessitates a certain level of fitness.

As someone who has suffered from depression for many years, I've learned that compassion can be the difference between feeling broken and having a spiritual cold. The spiritual symptoms of a fever may manifest as anxiety over paying your bills, rather than the physical symptoms of a fever keeping you awake all night. The physical aches and pains that make a cold so unpleasant are now manifested as feelings of being unloved and inadequate. Nagging, self-deprecating thoughts accompany headaches. It's time to take a break if serving others no longer brings you joy and you're starting to feel like you're doing thankless work. That's the tickling in your throat telling you to be kind with yourself and get some rest, because a negative attitude is just as contagious as a cold.

When our souls are in good shape, we are glad for our friends, social media is enjoyable, we can let go of what no longer serves us, and we can envision our future through a beautiful, optimistic lens. If we ignore our bodies' symptoms of exhaustion and don't relax, our bodies will eventually take control and shut everything down, whether we have the time for a break or not. It is not in our nature to be harsh or callous, just as it is not in our nature to be sick and frail.

As I mentioned in my previous article, just because something doesn't have a name doesn't make it any less real. Love, gratitude, and compassion must be considered as soul medicine. Because you can't package it or buy it over the counter anymore, pharmaceutical corporations aren't interested in disclosing this information to you. Love, on the other hand, can heal; gratitude may relieve worry; and compassion is nature's valium. If you take it every day, morning and night, I assure you'll see a return of your natural delight.

I'm writing this in the hopes that anyone going through a difficult period might change their mindset from fear to love.

As always, please let me know what you think in the comments section.

How do I renew myself spiritually?

Humans have yearned to understand their actual essence for millennia. Your spirituality is your connection to your actual self and the Universal God-consciousness that binds all beings. Spirituality is a lifetime effort, and depending on where you are in life, it may be time to take a step back and rediscover how to reconnect with God and achieve a refreshed spirit. Even long-standing spiritual practices might get tiresome, since it's typical to reach a point where you're looking for something new.

It's crucial that your spiritual life feels exciting, challenging, and helpful to the person you are today, much as continuing the same workouts at the gym day after day will ultimately reach its limit of efficacy. After you've spiritually rejuvenated yourself, it can seem like you've taken a deep breath of fresh air after living in a windowless chamber.

What does the Bible say about dry seasons?

When I'm fearful or depressed, I lift my hands in prayer and thank God for healing that I haven't yet seen manifest. The benefits are immediate: my spirits lift, and a sensation of calm washes over me. As long as I keep my eyes on God and not on my circumstances, I remember that He is in charge.

I feel God has been revealing me the spiritual underpinnings underlying the Israelites' triumph over the stronghold city of Jericho in Joshua 6 to underline the significance of worshiping Him before a breakthrough.

I'm amazed at how the Israelites, led by Joshua, yelled before the walls of Jericho went down: this required more confidence than rejoicing after seeing God hand them the city (Joshua 6:16).

I admire how the Israelites believed God had granted them victory over their foes before seeing it.

This season has taught me the importance of language. If I praise God prior to a successful recovery, I know that my words will not go unnoticed, but will serve the aim of reviving my health (Isaiah 55:11).

What does spiritual dryness feel like?

Spiritual dryness or desolation in Catholic spirituality refers to a lack of spiritual comfort in one's spiritual life. It's a type of spiritual crisis that manifests itself subjectively as a sense of being cut off from God or a lack of spiritual emotion, particularly during contemplative meditation.