What is spiritual escapism?

Several days ago, I posted a quote from the American spiritual teacher, Adyashanti. He said:

Many spiritual people are involved in a radical denial of what is happening. They want to transcend it, get rid of it, get out of it, get away from it. There’s nothing wrong with that feeling, but the approach doesn’t work because it’s escapism in spiritual clothing. It’s wearing spiritual clothing and spiritual concepts, but it is really no different than a drunk in the gutter who doesn’t want to feel the pain anymore. When you abide and accept everything completely and fully, you automatically go beyond.

Adyashanti is a well-respected spiritual teacher in the U.S. I am quite sure that he is sincere in his statement. He is not trying to insult any particular religion or spiritual practice. Spiritual escapism is indeed a widespread problem both today and in ancient times. It is also a global phenomenon that spans both East and West. Of course, escapism is a common human behavior that is not unique to the spiritual arena. What is escapism? We are engaging in escapist behavior whenever we are seeking a distraction in order to avoid certain unpleasant or painful realities. Now, what is spiritual escapism? I asked the popular AI chatbox, Chat GPT. It gave me quite a good, even-handed, and detailed answer:

Spiritual escapism is a term used to describe a…