Along with familiarizing yourself with the concept of physical and intellectual maturing, you must have come across the term “spiritual maturity” in religious traditions. Today, we’ll discuss what is spiritual maturity, and its signs.
What Spiritual Maturity?
Spiritual maturity is the process of gradually developing healthy and life-giving techniques relevant to society, the environment, and yourself. Many people want to develop a connection with others and themselves in order to experience joy, peacefulness, and connection. However, when we talk about SM, then it doesn’t just happen at a certain moment in time. It’s an intentional practice, and it requires a lot of effort, time, and energy in order to reap its benefits.
Some of the traits of spiritual maturity are as follows;
- When you don’t associate happiness with materialistic things
- Understanding the difference between wants and needs, and letting go of your wants
- Recognizing the fact that you’re at peace with yourself
- Stop comparing yourself with other people; everyone is on a different path in the journey of life
- Stop requiring approval from others
- Don’t need to prove your intellectual worth to the world
- Understand the fact that whatever you do, you do it for your peace
- Don’t expect things in return; offer things for the sake of giving
- Learn to let go of materialistic things
- Understand the fact that everyone is right from their perspective
- Accept people as they are
- Stop trying to change other people, your focus should be on changing yourself
Signs of Spiritual Maturity
Let’s discuss the signs of spiritual maturity, and they’re as follows;
Core Set of Values
Often we don’t pay heed to the fact that our values, assumptions, and beliefs guide our actions in life. A spiritually immature person would keep on living a life without realizing the forces that impact one’s actions. Once a person becomes mature spiritually, then one would consciously develop habits and live a life based on values like dignified living, selfless giving, empathy, compassion, love, etc. The person won’t pay heed to the negative thoughts that would promote negative values. Once you become self-aware, then you would find value in various areas of life.
Not Holding Grudges
Nelson Mandela once said that holding grudges and resentment is like you’re drinking poison and hoping for the death of the other person. A spiritually mature person doesn’t have an interest in taking the life of the other person either literally or metaphorically.
Instead of holding on to grudges and keeping resentment, they forgive those who have hurt them. Forgiveness allows them to move on in life and let themselves free from the shackles of resentment.
Care for Poor
All the spiritual laws and values promote the culture of caring for needy people. As we’re living a busy life, we shut those voices down in the rush of time. However, a spiritually mature person is aware of the needs and worries of the poor and takes action on their behalf. It’s because they acknowledge this fact that they should take care of the weakest members for the development of a healthy society.
Childish Sense of Wonder
The responsibility of adulthood makes us stop being amazed by life. A spiritually mature person experiences the wonder and beauty in everything whatever one does or sees. However, they don’t just familiarize themselves with them; they seek interest in things that others find boring. They perceive and treat every moment in time as a gift, and they just don’t give it away from being ungrateful and negative.
Abundance Mindset
Abundance mindset and afraid of excess may seem two conflicting ideas. When you look at them closely, then you see that they are not. Life is all about seeing and maintaining a healthy balance with the environment. Many spiritual gurus of different eras have advised us about getting overly involved in the materialistic pleasures of life.
They don’t store things and use whatever they need. They have a mindset of abundance and giving things to others truly with their heart, and they have a firm belief that things would always be sufficient for them.
Defer Pressure
We receive various messages in our lives now and then that offer us instant gratification. It would lead you to happiness, and you would forget about the worries of life. Studies have shown that there’s a correlation between delayed gratification and success in various areas of life.
Spiritually mature people are aware of the fact that sometimes in life we get things whatever we want. It’s either because it isn’t good for us in the long run, or the timing isn’t right. However, they’re also aware of the fact that you need to pursue pleasurable things in life, even the small things.
Joyful & Happy
There’s a common misperception in today’s materialistic world, if you’re feeling stressed and busy, then it means that you’re an important person. If you’re living a lazy life and doing pleasurable activities, then it means that you don’t have responsibilities.
Sometimes, we’re fearful to enjoy and celebrate the joyful moments in life; either we feel unworthy or afraid that they would go away. It makes a person vulnerable to disappointment. In fact, the truth is that how a person could be disappointed when one is living in a state of disappointment.
The spiritually mature people know how to fight off from such a state of mind, and be grateful for everything they have in their life. They try to remain in a state of joyfulness, because of practicing gratitude. Most importantly, they may not be happy all the time, but they’re feeling joyful.
Taking Personal Responsibility
Spiritually mature people reflect on their actions in life and they’re regular while performing various practices. It allows them to evaluate their performance based on their values and motivation that makes them take steps. However, when things go wrong in life, then they don’t blame others for it.
Dependable
Spiritually mature people are reliable and dependable; they know the value of their words. They aren’t quick to make the commitment. In fact, they take a moment to think about things whether it’s in alignment with their values and beliefs. Most importantly, they think about whether they have got the time and energy to devote their attention to a new project or not.
Peace at what you can’t Change
They don’t worry about the things that they can’t change in life or about death. They’ve learned the art of letting go of things that they can’t control, and their focus is on making an impact. Finally, they’re aware of the fact that they have to work every day in order to meet their goals and objectives. The beauty of life is in the journey.
Conclusion: What is Spiritual Maturity? Signs
After an in-depth study of what is spiritual maturity; its traits and signs; we’ve realized that achieving the spiritually mature stage requires intentional practice. If you want to achieve that state, then you should follow and practice the abovementioned guidelines.

Ahsan is an accomplished researcher and has a deep insight in worldly life affairs. He goes Live 3 days a week on various social media platforms. Other than research writing, he’s a very interesting person.