Religious backsliding

Reversion to sin and worldly ways, returning to old habits after a period of reform, or falling from grace after experiencing religious conversion. For those experiencing conversion, the ideal and the past habitual life are brought into definite conflict. There is a sharp cleavage between the higher and the lower selves. An ideal is recognized which is more difficult to attain because of its incongruity with the old life which subsequently tends to reassert its demands.

Of special significance in those religions emphasizing the conversion experience as a turning point in an individual's development.