Why Patriarchal Spiritual Systems Became Anti-Inward

By Allison Batty-Capps | Blossoming Heart Wellness

For many of us raised within hierarchical or patriarchal spiritual traditions, there can be a subtle fear that going inward is somehow dangerous, selfish, or spiritually wrong. We may have absorbed beliefs that deep self-reflection leads to ego, pride, sin, or spiritual error. And yet, when we examine early spiritual traditions, psychology, trauma research, and neuroscience, we discover a very different story.

This reflection explores how early spirituality was inward and embodied, why institutions shifted away from that approach, and why trauma-informed, embodied spirituality is reemerging today.

Early Spiritual Traditions Were Inward and Embodied

Across cultures and continents, early spiritual traditions centered on direct inner experience. Spiritual knowing was cultivated through:

• contemplation
• meditation
• prayer as direct communion
• dreamwork
• embodied ritual
• intuitive knowing
• relational connection
• community ceremony

Early Christian mysticism, Jewish Kabbalah, Sufi Islam, Taoist and Buddhist traditions, and Indigenous spiritual systems all emphasized direct relationship with the sacred through lived experience rather than external authority.

Early Christian mystics such as Meister Eckhart, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and Hildegard of Bingen taught that divine knowing arises within the personal soul. Scholars like Elaine Pagels, Karen King, and Bart Ehrman document that early Christian communities were diverse, experiential, and mystical before institutional consolidation occurred.

In short, spirituality originally emphasized direct inner knowing, embodiment, and relational connection, not rigid doctrine or hierarchical control.

How Spiritual Authority Shifted Toward Institutional Power

As spiritual movements expanded, they increasingly became entangled with political systems and centralized authority. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in the fourth century, spirituality shifted dramatically.

From a governance perspective, inner spiritual authority posed a challenge. If people trusted their own inner guidance, intuition, and direct experience of the divine, they were far less easily governed. So institutions gradually centralized spiritual authority, restricted interpretation, discouraged mystical experience, and emphasized obedience, hierarchy, and doctrine.

Over time, inward spiritual authority was reframed as dangerous, prideful, heretical, or even demonic — not because it was inherently unsafe, but because it disrupted centralized power structures.

Historian Karen Armstrong documents this transition clearly in A History of God, illustrating how spiritual systems evolved to prioritize institutional stability and political order over personal mystical experience.

The Trauma Factor: Why Inward Work Was Historically Risky

There is an important psychological dimension to this history that often goes unacknowledged.

Early societies had no understanding of trauma, nervous system regulation, emotional processing, or psychological integration. When individuals turned inward, they often encountered intense fear, grief, suppressed emotions, traumatic memory, and bodily activation — without any tools to regulate or contain these experiences.

Without trauma-informed practices, inward exploration could become overwhelming, destabilizing, or frightening. People could experience emotional flooding, dissociation, or states that resembled psychosis.

Modern trauma research, including the work of:

• Dr. Bessel van der Kolk (The Body Keeps the Score)
• Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing)
• Dr. Stephen Porges (Polyvagal Theory)

shows us that the nervous system must feel safe before deep inner awareness becomes stabilizing and integrative.

Historically, instead of developing nervous-system-informed spiritual practices, institutions externalized spirituality — shifting focus away from inner experience and toward doctrine, obedience, and transcendence. This reduced destabilization but came at the cost of emotional suppression, bodily disconnection, and psychological fragmentation.

Why Transcendence Replaced Embodiment

Transcendent spirituality emphasizes:

• rising above emotion
• detaching from the body
• suppressing instinct and desire
• submission to doctrine
• obedience to authority

From both a political and nervous system perspective, this created compliance, emotional suppression, dissociation, and social control — which were framed as spiritual virtue.

Modern trauma psychology now shows that chronic emotional suppression and bodily disconnection contribute to anxiety, depression, dissociation, chronic stress, and physical illness. What once appeared spiritually holy often functioned as trauma adaptation.

This doesn’t mean these traditions lacked wisdom. It simply reflects the historical limitations of trauma understanding and nervous system science.

Why Embodied Spirituality Is Returning Now

We are living in a unique historical moment.

For the first time, we have access to:

• trauma neuroscience
• nervous system regulation tools
• attachment theory
• somatic psychology
• polyvagal-informed healing
• mindfulness-based therapies
• embodied spiritual practices

This allows us to explore consciousness, spirituality, and inner awareness in ways that are safe, regulated, and integrative.

Modern research shows that:

• safety enables integration
• embodiment supports emotional processing
• awareness fosters healing

Spirituality is naturally returning to:

• inward listening
• emotional integration
• nervous system regulation
• compassionate presence
• embodied awareness

This is not rebellion against tradition. It is human evolution.

What Trauma-Informed Inward Spirituality Means

Trauma-informed inward spirituality is not about bypassing reality, escaping humanity, or denying suffering.

It is about:

• building internal safety
• increasing nervous system resilience
• integrating emotion and sensation
• cultivating compassionate awareness
• developing ethical clarity
• engaging in healing practices that reduce harm

Awakening is not about never being activated. It is about having the capacity to meet activation with presence, regulation, and care.

This allows for:

• deeper empathy
• emotional intelligence
• grounded compassion
• relational accountability
• collaborative problem-solving

Spiritual maturity becomes less about transcendence and more about integration.

A Gentle Reframing

If part of you learned that going inward is dangerous, selfish, or spiritually wrong, that fear makes sense within its historical context.

But today, with trauma-informed tools and nervous system awareness, inward exploration becomes stabilizing rather than destabilizing.

This is not a rejection of spiritual tradition. It is a remembering — a return to embodiment, humanity, and wholeness — perhaps what spirituality was always meant to support.

Closing Reflection

May our spirituality not make us distant from ourselves or one another, but more human.

May it not make us certain, but more curious.

And may it not elevate us above others, but soften us toward compassion, humility, and ethical care.

If this reflection resonates, you are welcome to explore more teachings, blogs, courses, and reflections at blossomingheartwellness.com, or through my book:

The Divine Within: Healing Ourselves to Heal the World

Thank you for walking this healing path.
Sending you deep love and appreciation — wherever you are on your journey.

— Allison Batty-Capps

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