Spiritual gluttony (Christianity)

Nearly all beginners on the path of self-consciousness fall at one time or another into one or more of the many dimensions of spiritual gluttony. The journey of the spirit has many delights and pleasures found in doing spirit exercises and the spiritual glutton begins doing them for the pleasure they bring and not for the growth they promote. Rather than seek purity of the soul and devotion to God they desire pleasures of the spirit. This leads them to going to extremes. They may even kill themselves or do deep physical or psychological damage to themselves doing penances or fasting. They avoid advice about these things and may do just the opposite of what they are told. They feel self-inflected, physical punishment is preferable to submitting themselves to advice from experienced guides. Rather than taking the penance of obedience to someone wiser they become proud and spiritual gluttons. Any form of obedience to another is so distasteful that they modify any suggestion made to them. They may reach the point where they lose the desire to do any exercise suggested to them and only do what they want to do. They feel the only way they can serve God is to do as they want, as though pleasing and satisfying themselves was pleasing and satisfying God. Rather than lovingly fearing God they forget their own spiritual immaturity and incompleteness. They attend services and participant in religious exercises far more than they are advised to do. They spend so much energy trying to receive some kind of delight that they believe that if they experience nothing they have received nothing. Even though the greatest benefits from a spiritual life are not tangible. God may hold back tangible blessings when we pray so that we can more closely focus our attention on his will. When this happens these people may stop praying altogether. They read books, and try one kind of meditation now and then another for the sole purpose to experience the delights of the spirit. They oppose denial of the self as a road to spiritual growth.

This is an imperfection of beginners in the Dark Night by St John of the Cross.