In the western world Christianity has been in decline, church attendance is lower every year and fewer people openly identify as Christian, those who still do often aren't practicing or are practicing poorly. Many have come to identify with alternatives such as eastern mysticism, yoga, and astrology. Western culture is migrating from Christianity to various alternatives, most of which preach a message of divinity that is fundamentally incompatible with Christianity. While Christianity believes that the divine originates from God, outside of man, most of the popular forms of alternatives entertain the the idea of inward divinity, the divine originating vaguely within the individual experiencing it. This change among many others compliments an unhealthy focus on the self in the modern world. The average person is becoming more individualistic and self-centered, they are more focused on their own desires and goals. Self-centrism is integrated into their spiritual practices, people now prefer easy self-indulgent spirituality rather than challenging self-sacrificial spirituality. Modern people are unwilling to place their ego on the altar, to exercise humility, that is what makes beliefs of inward divinity so appealing to them, they can claim to be spiritual without making any uncomfortable sacrifices.
In the system of inward divinity the truest spiritual experience is said to originate within the self. It can be accessed through internal reflection and introspection, the analysis of and participation in one's internal operations. Divinity is often an entirely subjective experience that is left to unguided interpretation in this system. When divinity is internal then positive and conscious participation in one's own nature becomes the obvious approach to divine experience. Many have come to call this approach self love.
Self love is taught in many self help and spiritual communities. Such communities are frequented by people that are aware of their need for spiritual health and a sense of community, but are not committed to any particular spiritual discipline. It appeals to these people because it is the path of least resistance, the least challenging form of spirituality and lifestyle. It affirms one's own nature, followers are told to love and understand themselves as they are, without criticism or harshness, this is said to be a sufficient form of spiritual practice. The virtue of self love is valued above the more difficult virtue of self-sacrifice. This lack of difficulty appeals to the average person's comfort-oriented and change-resistant mindset. To put it more crudely, it is feminine, it appeals to weakness. As the world becomes more focused on pleasure and comfort demand grows for a form of spirituality that will accomodate that. There is a growing desire to substitute or invert Christianity with something that will not challenge the conditions of modernity. Inward divinity is a comforting and marketable alternative to the challenging and self-sacrificial nature of Christianity's outward divinity. This comfort and marketability fuels a large scale migration from Christianity to alternative practices. Alternative religions such as islam which practice self-sacrifice and outward divinity don't become popular, indicating that the trait motivating most alternative spiritual pursuits is self-centrism. Only spiritualities which are compatible with self-centrism succeed.
Self love and internally directed mindfulness in general will tend to facilitate a self-centered lifestyle that focuses on enhancing one's own subjective experiences. Such a system tends to lack a transcendent imperative, a purpose greater than the self to work towards, it doesn't tend to produce any "fruits" or meaningful output. This doesn't have to be analyzed in abstract philosophical terms, it can also be observed practically in those who dedicate themselves to these practices. For example, note how many spiritual instructors are middle age unmarried women with few or no children. How many "spiritual" young people spend much time partying, travelling, otherwise indulging in short term pleasures, living for themselves in the moment. To these people the self is divine, why not indulge in what it wants? By focusing on themselves and pursuing their "passions" they have neglected the pursuit of any greater purposes such as productive relationships, creating life, or pursuing the will of God. They may have found much enjoyment and positive emotion from their enhanced internal experiences, but by placing focus there they have produced less fruit, their lives are less meaningful. Little of what they have done is appreciated by anyone but themselves. Lack of meaningful output means that these people are cut off from experiencing the profound peace and satisfaction of knowing that they have contributed to something greater than themselves. They lack transcendent fulfillment. When all of one's positive experiences are internal they are less able to be validated by outside forces.
Mindfulness, popular forms of meditation, inward reflection, these practices have undeniable benefits, but their usefulness is limited. They are all methods of analyzing and engaging with what is inside a person's mind and spirit, a category called the internal. In unhealthy practices the ultimate authority for lifestyle decisions and spirituality is said to be within the self, this idea enables the overanalysis of the internal, excessive contemplation on the meaning of vague feelings and experiences. More often than not the meaning this analysis produces is just rationalized self-indulgence. For the modern person the opportunity to analyze the internal is just an opportunity to justify their selfishness. If the ego has the authority to interpret its own processes, it will tend to construct interpretations that favor its own goals and desires. The world around us, the external, is also subject to interpretation by the ego, when the ego is exercised by inward directed spirituality this interpretative process can become biased to an unhealthy extent resulting in an unhealthy relationship with reality. This effect is exaggerated when psychedelic drugs are introduced into the situation. By peeling away the layers of reality and experiencing its mystery in a raw form the psychedelics present information that the mind is not capable of handling. When overwhelmed with mystery the mind often becomes confused, unsure about its purpose or its place within reality. In those with low spiritual commitment and intelligence the common response to this experience is self-centrism. If reality is beyond comprehension it is reasonable to just give up and pursue what is tangibly desirable to the ego as its own subjectivity is the only thing it can be sure about. Without an external source of guidance such as a holy book or a figure of authority to limit the ego a confused selfishness will become the default behavior of most people. That is why the vaguely spiritual young person and the lifestyle instructor stereotypes are always indulging in selfish pleasures and passions while accomplishing nothing lasting or meaningful.
The emphasis on inward reflection within this ideology is one cause behind its lack of fruits, even the most ascetic and disciplined practitioner of inward divinity who avoids selfish degeneracy and commits fully to the spiritual will often fail to produce meaningful output. This is because inward reflection is an endless pursuit of impossible perfection, one can never fully understand and modify themselves into enlightenment. In a similar fashion to Zeno's paradox of motion where Achilles is never able to catch the tortoise despite always getting closer, the practitioner of inward divinity is never able to achieve enlightenment despite constantly getting closer. That is because true divinity originates outside of man in God, it cannot be found within the self. Self-centrism is a tragic misuse of spiritual skills, fruits of the self remain in the self, never appreciated by other humans or by God. Looking for answers within is a process that can never conclude, one must eventually look elsewhere.
Internal divinity is ontologically non-Christian, a hierarchical understanding of man owing himself to God is not exercised. Individual desires and passions take precedent over the will of God. It is an inversion of Christianity. The modern world has replaced ontological Christianity with ontological liberalism, the individual is now seen as the point of origin for morality rather than God. However, because Christianity's substitutes exercise inward divinity they fail as substitutes, there remains a need for the transcendent or "supra-individual" purpose that Christianity offered.
Outward divinity necessitates worship of God as a higher being, as a provider and figure of authority. If divinity is exclusive to God then man as a lesser being must sacrifice his own nature and adapt to the nature of God to experience divinity. Man must modify himself in accordance with the will of that external force. The usefulness of inward reflection is limited to modification of the self in accordance with an external will. Inward divinity enables the opposite, the worship of the self, self guidance that results in degeneracy and overindulgence. Some sects of Christianity have forgotten this, they have entertained some self-indulgent worldviews and neglect to teach the importance of self-sacrifice and humility, some have even openly celebrated "pride" as if it isn't the deadliest sin. Churches are giving in to the influence of the increasingly shallow and self-indulgent population. By following modernity in its spiritual decline many churches have compromised the purity and purpose of their doctrine and should be considered part of the problem, heretical even.
External divinity motivates the study of the divine as its own distinct force, the observation and imitation of its nature, especially when it isn't comfortable to do so. One must analyze the nature of the divine and change themselves to better suit it, sacrificing their own ego in the process. To experience and honor the divine requires self-sacrifice in this system. Self sacrifice is a behavior that does not come naturally to most people. Christianity's highest moral good is self-sacrifice, humans are called to imitate Christ, who's greatest act was His self-sacrifice on the cross. As society detaches itself from its Christian origins it embraces the exact opposite of self-sacrifice and calls it self love. Self love offers limited emotional security from its focus on self esteem and the satisfaction of the ego, but its inward nature prevents it from ever concluding, from ever achieving perfection, there will always be an uncomfortable tension about it for this reason. In contrast, self-sacrifice offers the most profound peace and security there is, the knowledge that God offers perfect guidance and purpose if you only let Him.
The western world relied on external divinity as a source of purpose and motivation for most of its history. By acknowledging God as the highest being the west was able to visualize a collective purpose to glorify their Creator and honor His will. Many of the greatest achievements in history were made through this exact motivation. By pursuing a transcendent divine purpose people in the western world were more enlightened, they led more fruitful lives and were more fulfilled as a result. The modern world is collapsing spiritually as people become more self-indulgent and forget the importance of self-sacrifice. Because it has forgotten where divinity ultimately originates the modern world is unable to make great accomplishments and give its people purpose, meaning, or fulfillment. Modern people fail because they are focused on looking in when they should be looking up.