Episode 86: What’s the point of seeking personal revelation w/o questions & doubts?

Hey friends, welcome back to Beyond the Shadow of Doubt.

Today, I want to explore something that’s foundational to our spiritual growth — personal revelation — or as some might call it, inner wisdom, personal authority, or simply, connection with the Divine.

But before we talk about receiving guidance, we have to talk about something that’s often left out of the conversation — doubt.

Because what’s the point of seeking personal revelation or connection to our inner wisdom if we don’t first acknowledge that we have doubts and ask questions on our faith journey?
Where is the growth if we never wrestle with uncertainty?
How does that fit into ongoing, eternal progression?

To me, you can’t have one without the other.
You can’t have personal revelation, or inner wisdom, or personal authority — without questions and doubts.

Across faith traditions, this idea of revelation — of something being revealed — is described in different ways.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy says the word “revelation” (from the Latin revelatio and Greek apokalypsis) literally means “the removal of a veil so that something can be seen.”

We often think of a veil as a physical thing.
But I love how the Fellowship of Israel Related Ministries expands on this idea. They say that in the New Testament, along with the temple veil, there’s a concept of a spiritual veil of blindness or unbelief — a hindrance to perceiving truth.

So when we seek personal revelation, we are essentially seeking to remove that spiritual veil — the blindness, the unbelief, the hindrance — that keeps us from seeing clearly.

Different traditions describe this process in their own way:

Catholicism makes a distinction between public revelation (the truths already revealed through scripture and tradition) and private revelation — those personal experiences of God’s guidance that individuals may receive.

Richard Rohr, an American Franciscan priest and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation, puts it beautifully. In his reflection Trusting Our Inner Authority, he writes:

“Our personal experience leads to our inner authority. I am increasingly convinced that the word prayer… was meant to be a descriptor and an invitation to inner experience. When spiritual teachers invite us to ‘pray,’ they are in effect saying, ‘Go inside and know for yourself.’”

Rumi, the 13th-century Muslim mystic, said,

“There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.”

In Buddhism, it’s often described as hearing your own inner wisdom.

In the LDS faith, the phrase used is personal revelation.
The Come, Follow Me lesson titled “How Do I Receive Personal Revelation?” says,

“Each of us is entitled to personal revelation to guide our lives. If we seek and ask, God will reveal His will to us through the Holy Ghost.”

Notice those words — seek and ask.
They imply there must first be questions, concerns, doubts.

Another LDS scholar, Chauncey C. Riddle, wrote that:

“The purpose of revelation and the response of faith is to assist the children of men to come to Christ and to learn to love one another with that same pure love with which Christ loves them.”

So revelation is both deeply personal and profoundly communal — meant to help us love more fully.

In Reform Judaism, revelation is described as a continuous process.
The 1937 Columbus Platform says the Torah is a record of past revelation — but not the last word. Revelation didn’t end at Sinai; it is ongoing.

Rabbi Allen Selis writes,

“Sinai is constantly taking place, and it is the role of the individual to listen closely to what God is saying.”

Even in the practice of Yoga, the principle of inner knowing reflects this same truth.
As Tony Cuckoos writes,

“Inner knowing requires stepping out of intellectual knowledge into a willingness to embrace the power of not knowing, and to allow yourself to be known through.”

For me, I consider myself someone who has received personal revelation.
One of the most profound experiences came when I was trying to understand my child’s experience as a transgender individual.

In that space of uncertainty — of fear, of love, of wanting to understand — I experienced the quiet yet unmistakable whispering of the Spirit.
From God.
From the Divine.
From something greater than me.

I felt it.
And I needed it — because it was a new reality I had never been introduced to before.

Learning to be in tune with that Divine connection — to receive intimate, personal communication — takes practice.
It’s not something we perfect overnight. It’s a relationship that grows the more we engage with it.

So, as we wrap up today’s episode, I want to leave you with a few questions:

When have you sought out guidance or personal revelation?
When have you tried to connect with your inner wisdom?

And if you haven’t yet — what area of your life would you like to seek a personal answer for?
Where might you want to reclaim your personal authority?

I’d love to hear from you. Send me an email or message me — I love hearing your reflections and experiences.

Until next time, keep asking questions.
Keep seeking truth.
And remember — it’s all more okay than you think it is.