spiritual awakening and enlightenment in today’s world

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. —Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite. —Bertrand Russell

Don’t look down!

September 29th, 2005 Posted in Spirituality, Teacher / Practice

As my teacher explains it, in spiritual development, you can only see things as they appear at the level you’re at, or at the lower levels you were at. You can’t see higher than you are.

As soon as he told me that, I realized something about one of my most pernicious faults, which is that I have a creeping, recurring, intolerance for the levels I’ve left behind. When I “look down” at that spirituality, I sometimes (though I hate to admit it) “look down” on the people there, especially their leaders who are “there.”

In any sort of climbing endeavor, the best advice is “Don’t look down.” Looking down causes you to lose your balance. You’re suddenly focused not on present Reality, but past experiences through the distorting lenses of memory. Look up. at the highest thing you can see in this bright fog, the next hand- or foothold within your reach.

Don’t look down.

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