Wednesday, July 16, 2025

The Spiritual Meaning of Confusion

Spiritual Meaning of Confusion

By Julie Peters

Posted on July 16, 2025




Confused about a decision? Parts of you may be at odds. Dive into the spiritual meaning of confusion.

We all experience a passing moment of confusion, not quite grasping a concept or idea, from time to time. But confusion can also be a state of mind—an ongoing feeling that the world simply doesn’t make sense. It may arise whenever we think about a particular situation or relationship, and we may get stuck there, not knowing which way to turn. So, we mentally retreat and focus on something else, avoiding the issue altogether.

We all know what it feels like to feel uncertain or upside down. But what is confusion, exactly? And what is the spiritual meaning of being confused?

Cognitive Dissonance

Confusion is, essentially, the cognitive dissonance that arises when two conflicting ideas battle within us. This is different than simply failing to understand something. Confusion typically happens not when we are missing information, but that the information we are getting clashes with a previously held belief, understanding, or experience.

In my counseling practice, we often work somatically to explore what feelings and body sensations come up around a certain issue. This often includes getting to know individual parts of oneself that react to an issue in different ways. For example, part of me wants to quit my job and go back to school, but another part fears losing stability.

The experience of confusion can be quite heady—we tend to feel it around the head and upper body, like a constantly moving cloud spinning in all directions. It prevents us from dropping down into the lower body, which is often where we really feel our feelings.

Confusion, then, functions similarly to anxiety (and they can certainly coexist). Like anxiety, confusion pulls us up into our minds, making us focus on thoughts, ideas, and questions, which in turns spirals fear. We feel uncomfortable when we are confused because there is a core emotion wanting to be felt underneath all that thinking, but our system has already decided it would be unsafe for us to feel that feeling. Confusion prevents us from taking action, keeping us in a state of hesitation to protect us from making a choice where we could get hurt.

Self-Protection

Our systems tend to prioritize safety above everything else. But sometimes our unconscious ideas about what safety means are outdated. For example, as children, we may have thought we would generally be safer by staying quiet. But as adults, we know we need to speak up if we are going to get our needs met. So, we may discover that part of our confusion comes from a place that’s working on old information. Sometimes becoming consciously aware of that can be enough to cut through the confusion.

Not too long ago, I was trying to decide whether to start preparing for something on the horizon for me or wait a little longer. Every time I thought about the decision, I could only feel confusion and couldn’t take a single step forward. When I took a little time with the sensations, thoughts, and feelings around what was going on, I noticed two conflicting parts: One part of me likes to prepare because it helps ease my anxiety. The other part, however, feared that preparing would make this coming event more real, which would spike the anxiety that preparation was trying to soothe. These two parts could not agree on how to keep me safe from pain, so they held me in confusion instead, preventing me from being able to take any action at all.

This realization didn’t quite shift me out of confusion and into action, but it did help me better understand how my system—my ecosystem of selves—was trying to protect me from hurt and pain. I was able to find compassion for my vulnerability and fear and empathize with my conflicting parts. With that empathy came gentleness and patience. It was as if I’d had a foot on the brake and the accelerator at the same time, and I was able to simply ease up on both. I did need a little more time before I could start preparing, and when it was the right time to do so, I was able to start without too much struggle.

A Need for Honesty About Our Feelings

There’s also an incredible power in allowing ourselves to be honest about how we really feel. We might assume that when we admit we feel a certain way—frustrated with a partner, for example, or unsure if we want to finish a degree program—we will have to act on it immediately, even if we’re not ready. But that’s not the case.

When we can honestly acknowledge what we’re feeling, we can discover that we have choices. The part of us that wants to stay in a relationship or job might be competing against the part of us that is struggling, ensuring we get stuck in confusion. But if we can take an honest look at each part at play, we can shift out of confusion and become empowered to make decisions that will bring us clarity and improve our lives for the better.

Julie Peters


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