Is There Such A Thing As A Fake Spiritual Experience?

[Viking]

as spiritual seekers, we inject a lot of theory about enlightenment, non duality etc. so can our subconscious mind create experiences we might interpret of as enlightenment but not actually it?

and how do we distinguish between them?

[How to be wise]

1 hour ago, Ilya said:

as spiritual seekers, we inject a lot of theory about enlightenment, non duality etc. so can our subconscious mind create experiences we might interpret of as enlightenment but not actually it?

and how do we distinguish between them?

Well, there are people who do enlightenment work for 20 years and still don't get enlightened. So there must have been good reasons why they were so lost, and this could be one of them. 

[Prabhaker]

2 hours ago, Ilya said:

how do we distinguish between them?

You take LSD or some other drug, and there are lightning experiences. Consciousness is simply waiting and watching. It simply says, "Look, beautiful things are happening," but they are not happening to consciousness.

The spiritual growth is the growth of this witnessing! The spiritual growth has nothing to do with particular experiences. The spiritual growth is not a search for novel experiences. Spirituality has nothing to do with experiences as such. In fact to say any experience is 'spiritual experience' is utterly wrong, because all experiences are non-spiritual. THE EXPERIENCER IS THE SPIRIT. The witness is the only spiritual phenomenon. When all experiences have disappeared - of hunger, of satiety, of anger, of release, of love, of hate, of kundalini arising in you, chakras opening in you, lotuses opening in you, lights showering in you; celestial music is heard, you feel great space, you feel joy, you feel bliss, but these are all experiences - the real spiritual point is when there is NO experience, and the experiencer is left alone, utterly alone. There is no object to experience, but only this witness is there, silently witnessing nothing. Then you have arrived. 

  Osho ~ The Wisdom of the Sands Volume 1