If spiritual growth is supposed to bring clarity, why do so many spiritually aware people feel more uncertain—not less?
This is one of the most confusing and quietly distressing experiences on the spiritual path. You’ve reflected. You’ve done the inner work. You’ve become more aware. And yet doubt hasn’t disappeared. In some cases, it’s grown louder.
In this episode of Spirits Beside Us, Chris Lippincott reframes doubt in a way most spiritual conversations never do—not as a failure of faith or intuition, but as a natural signal that awareness is expanding faster than discernment.
The Quiet Assumption That Creates So Much Confusion
One of the most damaging assumptions in spiritual culture is the belief that awareness should eliminate uncertainty.
Many people unconsciously expect that as they grow spiritually:
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Decisions should come faster
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Inner conflict should fade
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Guidance should feel clearer and more obvious
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Doubt should disappear altogether
So when uncertainty persists—or even intensifies—it’s often interpreted as a personal failure. What did I miss? Why am I still unsure?
But this assumption misunderstands how awareness actually works.
Awareness Doesn’t Simplify at First—It Reveals
As awareness deepens, sensitivity deepens alongside it.
You don’t suddenly feel less—you feel more:
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More thoughts
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More emotional nuance
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More subtle internal reactions
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More layers of experience that were always there, but previously filtered out
Instead of immediate calm, you may encounter complexity. Instead of certainty, you experience movement.
This isn’t a regression. It’s a revealing.
Just like learning any complex skill, perception comes before organization. Awareness expands before discernment stabilizes.
Before emotional regulation develops, emotions feel more intense.
Before harmony makes sense, dissonance becomes obvious.
Before clarity forms, confusion becomes visible.
Spiritual awareness follows the same pattern.
Why Doubt Increases as Awareness Deepens
Doubt often arises not because awareness is failing—but because it has outpaced understanding.
You’re seeing more of reality than you’ve learned how to interpret yet.
Without context, this phase feels destabilizing. The mind naturally searches for certainty and, when it can’t find it, turns inward with a familiar question:
What’s wrong with me?
This is where doubt takes root—not as evidence of disconnection, but as a sign that awareness has widened without orientation.
Doubt, in this sense, is transitional.
It’s the space between seeing more and knowing what to do with what you see.
Spiritual Openness Brings Noise Before Clarity
Another overlooked truth: openness doesn’t discriminate.
When you open internally, you don’t just open to guidance—you open to everything:
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Thoughts
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Memories
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Fears
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Desires
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Emotional residue
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Unfinished experiences
What was once muted becomes audible.
This is why spiritual openness often feels crowded instead of peaceful.
Without discernment, everything feels equally important—and when everything feels meaningful, nothing feels clear.
Mental noise has a particular texture:
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Urgent
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Repetitive
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Emotionally charged
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Demanding immediate answers
Because it carries intensity, it often feels significant.
True guidance, on the other hand, is usually quiet. It doesn’t rush. It doesn’t pressure. It settles rather than pushes.
Early in awareness, these experiences blend together. Fear feels like intuition. Emotion feels like direction. Thought feels like truth.
Doubt emerges not because you can’t trust yourself—but because nothing has been sorted yet.
Why Doubt Is Information, Not Failure
Doubt is often treated as something to eliminate or transcend.
But doubt isn’t the opposite of trust.
It isn’t a lack of faith.
And it certainly isn’t spiritual immaturity.
Doubt is information.
It’s the signal that says:
I’m sensing something—but I don’t know how to interpret it yet.
When doubt is misunderstood, people apply pressure:
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Try to believe harder
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Force trust
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Silence questioning
But pressure collapses clarity.
Certainty is a mental demand.
Clarity is an internal state.
Certainty is loud.
Clarity is quiet.
The more certainty is demanded, the more noise is created—and the more doubt persists.
What Doubt Is Actually Asking For
Doubt isn’t asking for stronger belief.
It’s asking for different conditions:
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Calm
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Space
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Reduced urgency
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Grounded attention
Clarity emerges when these conditions are present—not when certainty is forced.
Seen this way, doubt isn’t a verdict. It’s a pointer.
It tells you awareness is present, but discernment hasn’t stabilized yet.
And that isn’t an ending—it’s the beginning of learning how clarity actually forms.
A Different Relationship With Doubt
When doubt is met with curiosity instead of judgment, something shifts.
The pressure drops.
Self-judgment loosens.
Clarity starts to feel possible again—without forcing it.
What if doubt isn’t a sign that you’re lost…
…but a sign that you’re ready to understand guidance at a deeper level?
🎧 Listen to the full episode:
Your Intuition Isn’t Wrong, Your Doubt Is The Sign You’re Awakening
on the Spirits Beside Us podcast.
And if this resonated, Chris recommends listening next to:
Why Your Spirit Guides Can’t Reach You—a natural continuation that explores what happens when you feel guided but don’t know what to do next.
Love & light.
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