How do I know if I'm experiencing a spiritual crisis or just going through a rough patch?

A spiritual crisis often feels different from ordinary hardship—there's a質uestioning that goes deeper than circumstance. You might find yourself asking not just "Why is this happening?" but "What is the point of anything?" or "Who am I really?" The ground beneath your certainties has shifted. In my tradition, we call this the dark night. It's not depression, though it can look similar. It's the soul's way of saying the old map no longer works. You've outgrown your previous understanding, and the new one hasn't arrived yet. There's often a strange ache alongside it—a longing you can't name, a sense that something vital is missing even when your life looks fine on the surface. You might feel disconnected from practices that once nourished you, or from people who don't understand why you're asking these questions. The difference? A rough patch responds to time and problem-solving. A spiritual crisis asks something of you—demands you go deeper, get honest, meet yourself without the usual masks. If you're Googling this, you're probably in one. That impulse to understand it, to find words for it—that's the soul speaking. Listen to that.