The Danger of Over-Spiritualizing Life in Kenya

In Kenya today, there is a deep and growing tendency to interpret every experience, setback, or societal issue through a spiritual lens. From personal misfortunes to national problems, we are often quick to declare, “It is spiritual.” But what happens when this worldview becomes the dominant, default lens through which life is understood? When does spirituality stop offering comfort and start becoming a barrier to change, reason, or healing?

What Is Spiritualization?

Spiritualization is the process of interpreting ordinary life events or challenges as being caused or governed by spiritual forces. In Kenya, this could mean attributing financial struggles to curses, job losses to spiritual attacks, or national corruption to demonic strongholds. While faith and spirituality can offer hope, purpose, and community, over-spiritualization denies the need for personal responsibility, rational thinking, or practical action.

Over-spiritualization is not about having faith—it’s about outsourcing everything, including critical decisions, to the unseen. It turns life into something that happens to you, not something you participate in.

Common Everyday Examples in Kenya

• Health Issues: Instead of seeing a doctor when one is unwell, some opt for prayer vigils, spiritual deliverance, or traditional cleansings. A child with epilepsy may be labelled ‘possessed’ rather than being taken for medical evaluation.

• Poverty and Finances: A business failure is sometimes blamed on generational curses or witchcraft, rather than lack of planning, bad location, or economic instability. Some believe their breakthrough will come only through an anointed ‘prophetic seed’ rather than through financial discipline.

• National Issues: Phrases like “Kenya belongs to God” are used to avoid confronting bad governance or failed systems. Corruption, tribalism, and inequality are seen as things that will be ‘healed in prayer’ instead of problems that require collective civic action and accountability.

• Relationships: Delayed marriage is often seen as spiritual warfare. People seek deliverance rather than addressing personal trauma, unrealistic expectations, or social dynamics.

The Root of It All: Why Do We Over-Spiritualize?

1. Cultural Reinforcement: From childhood, many Kenyans are taught that everything has a spiritual cause. Churches, media, and traditional beliefs all reinforce this mindset.

2. Lack of Systems That Work: When public health, justice, or economic systems fail, it becomes easier to believe in invisible forces than broken institutions.

3. Emotional Relief: It feels easier to say “God’s timing” than to sit with the disappointment of failure. Spiritual language can act as emotional anesthesia.

4. Control Through Fear: Many spiritual leaders exploit uncertainty and suffering by promoting fear-based theology. Followers are told that every setback is demonic, requiring a tithe, a session, or a ‘spiritual cover.’

5. Avoidance of Personal Accountability: It is easier to blame the devil than to confront our own procrastination, misjudgments, or toxic habits.

The Real Consequences

• Delayed or Denied Treatment: Ailments worsen, sometimes fatally, when people turn to prayer instead of healthcare.

• Financial Exploitation: People give beyond their means hoping for supernatural returns, only to end up poorer.

• Stalled Progress: Problems that need real-world solutions—education, business strategy, therapy—go unresolved.

• Isolation: People begin to mistrust everyone, seeing enemies and curses where there are none.

What Happens When We Treat Kenya as Heaven's Waiting Room?

There is a subtle but damaging belief that this life is less important than the next. “Heaven is the goal,” we’re told, and anything here is temporary suffering to be endured. As a result:

• We tolerate poor leadership because this is not our ‘final home.’

• We neglect our environment, education, and infrastructure.

• We fail to dream boldly or build sustainably.

A wise teacher once said, “The idea of heaven is the greatest crime committed on humanity. The idea that there is a better place to live than here means you have denied yourself the opportunity to make this a wonderful life.”

This is the place. This is your life. The goal should not be to escape but to build, heal, and thrive.

The Way Forward

• Faith + Action: It’s okay to pray, but also plan. Believe, but also budget. Fast, but also follow through.

• Normalize Asking Questions: Not every delay is spiritual. Sometimes it’s structural, circumstantial, or behavioral.

• Reclaim Responsibility: You are not cursed—you may just need a new strategy, a second opinion, or better rest.

• Demand More of Our Systems: God is not coming to fix NHIF or elections. We are.

• Teach Discernment: From pulpits to homes, we must teach that not all adversity is warfare—and not all solutions are spiritual.

Closing Thoughts

There is nothing wrong with being spiritual. But spirituality should never be a substitute for reason, responsibility, or reality. Kenya needs faith, yes—but it also needs engineers, nurses, planners, and bold citizens. Not every demon needs casting out. Some just need calling out—with truth, care, and action.

We can honor God, ancestors, and self—not through magical thinking, but by doing the work.