Should You Use ChatGPT for Spiritual Guidance?

AI has taken over the world much like the printing press, television and smartphones have in previous generations. Whether you like or dislike these developments, they are happening, so I think it’s very important to have an open dialogue.

ChatGPT specifically has become a way for people to get guidance on pretty much everything – relationship issues, career planning, creative organization, and for some, spiritual guidance.

In this post I want to share my perspective on using ChatGPT this way, based on my work as a tarot/energy reader, and someone who is always interested in new practices to grow awareness.

Before we start I want to make a few disclaimers.

I lean towards prioritizing intuition over any sort of technology including social media. Getting spiritual and personal guidance from external sources is not a ‘bad’ thing – while we want to listen to our inner voice first, getting advice from other sources can be helpful context.

There is only so much you can know or see from your own perspective, the more stubborn you get with your own viewpoint based on your direct experience, the less room you leave for growth.

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool for a lot of different purposes. AI has been used to progress medicine, ecology, efficiency in some areas and safety. So it’s not all ‘bad’ either.

I understand that a lot of people use ChatGPT specifically for personal guidance because there aren’t enough accessible resources. Using ChatGPT as a therapist might sound crazy at first, but if someone is deeply struggling and unable to access care, it’s understandable that they’d go to the closest source.

Human to human interaction and care is always going to be better, and I think most people who use ChatGPT in that way already know that! They just don’t feel they have better options.

ChatGPT cannot judge, it is in some sense ‘neutral’ or at least appears that way. Which makes the barrier to entry low. Just as human interaction can be healing and uplifting, it can be hurtful, harmful and devolving.

With this in mind, I want to provide practical tools to move away from ChatGPT if this resonates with you, and access inner guidance more quickly.

As frustrating as it is to see people rely on ChatGPT in this way….people need resources!

ChatGPT & Spirituality

The first reason I do not recommend using ChatGPT for spiritual guidance is that it isn’t alive.

When we are aligned with spirit, interacting with our intuition – we are working with something that pushes back. Our intuition at its core is not here to please us. Yes, following our intuition can bring us to the best life we’ve ever lived, but that doesn’t mean intuition is always going to feel good.

Intuition is incredibly honest, if we are actually tuning into it. it will tell us what we are hiding from, avoiding, repressing, so that we can arrive at helpful, constructive answers.

This is something ChatGPT has no incentive to do overall. Sure, you can program it in a certain way to get clearer more accurate answers, but the point is to keep you using the platform for as long as possible.

The main goal of ChatGPT isn’t to give you truth (although it may at times) but to keep you as a user/paying customer. Our intuition has no such motivation.

ChatGPT as it stands, looks very closely at customer satisfaction for a reason. Not just to provide a quality service, but to keep you coming back for more.

On an unprogrammed ChatGPT I presented one POV and it provided me with complete agreement. I phrased the POV in a way that I thought would garner at least some pushback.

I then explained the opposing POV to ChatGPT and asked why it did not offer any constructive criticism to my original POV…it continued to agree with me, but not every convincingly.

On the extreme end of this, ChatGPT can allow the ego as it is relating to the concept of spirituality to balloon in size. It you think you’re God, ChatGPT may just confirm that and allow you to run with whatever fantasy you have without skipping a beat.

If you choose to use ChatGPT for these purpose, at the very least, program it to contradict you and point out any logical fallacies.

How to move away from ChatGPT & tune into intuition

We do have what I like to call the original ChatGPT inside of us, our intuition!

We can tune into our intuition and receive answers for anything that we would ask AI. We can talk to our intuition as if a friend offering us advice, or a part of us that already knows.

Daily check-ins with my intuition are a big part of my daily practice.

You can quite literally wake up and ask your intuition anything:

• What do I need to be aware of today?
• What do I need today?
• What do I want to express today?
• What is my energy today?

Make talking to your intuition, soul, the Universe as casual as you like. Our intuition is not some far off cloud of energy that we’re trying to grasp (although it can feel like that sometimes) it is always there waiting for our engagement.

Another way I like to tune into my intuition is by opening a page.

Put a piece of paper or open your journal somewhere you can easily access it – on your coffee table for example.

Then go and do your usual chores, make lunch, listen to some music and chill. When an intuitive messages arises put it onto the paper. Having the physical ritual of opening the page, setting an intention to receive guidance and then letting go is such a powerful combination.

You can do the same with preset journal prompts. Write the prompt at the top of the page, go and do your regular things with the prompt in mind, and then come back to the page when you have an answer.

How to actually trust your intuition

I don’t actually think there is a shortage of intuitive people. People flocking to ChatGPT for advice may make it seem that way, but what we actually have is not a problem with perception but trust.

You can be the most intuitive person in the world, know literally everything there is to know, but if you can’t put those insights into practices they aren’t really helpful.

And so the key is to start getting comfortable with the emotions that arise when you feel confused, lost, frustrated, angry.

When we feel these emotions intensely, perhaps because we are going through a relationship hurdle, instead of sitting with those emotions we go straight to ChatGPT and look for some validation.

Seeking validation, much like getting outside guidance is not ‘bad’, it’s just not always helpful at that time or something we should rely on. Too much external validation seeking and we never quite feel grounded in what we know.

When someone says you are wrong, when you feel you are doing something wrong in your life…sit with that feeling!

It’s ok to be called wrong (whether you are or aren’t) it’s ok to feel wrong on a certain path. The frustration that comes with this, the need to feel right and receive confirmation of that rightness, is what clouds the waters.

Going straight to ChatGPT doesn’t allow you to observe that emotion moving throughout the body. Intuition is movement, it is flow. It doesn’t always feel good but it is signalling something.

Although it can be uncomfortable to bring awareness to the feeling of persecution or frustration on your path, sitting with these emotions allows answers – for some closure – on them to arise.