Spiritual Figure’s Independence
the good of the society or community is becoming neglected more and more. Trull and Carter mentioned three dangers of present time faced by
professionals, that is becoming too dependent on oneself, too much orientation towards success, and too confident of self-worth 2004:33.
Spiritual figures are not free from such temptations. The root of many conflict and difficulty in cooperating among fellow priests lies on
those three things. Being too focused on strength, success, and self- worth, a number of priests view their colleagues not as partners but as
competitors. Some priests also make the amount of fee received from the parish as a sign of their success. Others boast the large amount of
invitation to preach out of their parishes as proof of their gaining popularity. This kind of focus on one’s own success present a bad
influence devastating to the religious community. These spiritual figures consider the religious community as mere consumers or objects of
exploitation. Their commitment to the community’s religious faith is no longer clear, let alone their spirit to sacrifice for the sake of the
community. It is unclear what these religious figures ‘profess’ to as a basis for executing their job.
Trull and Carter 2004:40 view the diminishing sense of calling by Allah as an essential factor in relegating the professionalism level of
priests into mere discourse for self-success. Prospective students of theology are sometimes laughed at when claiming to have enrolled to
school of theology with reason of ‘God’s calling’. Perhaps the people mocking only do so to convince the prospective student not to make that
sort of substantial claim too easily. But this experience of being mocked, to some, becomes a sort of trauma which would make them no longer
convinced of God’s calling. Since the calling is no longer taken into consideration, they must seek other motivation, both for their study or
future job. Ambiguity in spiritual and moral motivation renders spiritual figures
lacking true visions. Hence, they find it difficult to devise service
missions oriented toward the good of the serviced community. The result is clear that these spiritual figures become prone to various types
of personal crises, both spiritual, moral, and cultural. In turn, they will also tend to spread their personal crises to the community they serve.