Those of us interested in spirituality often wonder, “Who can we trust?” How do we know who knows the truth and who is just spreading lies and superstition? How do we choose amongst schools of thoughts, teachers within those schools, and the lessons of those teachers?
Those on the spiritual path seek to know the nature of reality. It is a sensitive subject. For one, if you put your trust in the wrong knowledge you will only suffer more and never understand true wisdom.
Today, more than ever, there is a potential for a human being to pursue a spiritual path and make great progress. But there are also just as many dead ends and wrong turns. As some say, the information age is also the misinformation age.
A little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing; therefore, no knowledge should be taken for granted. Even knowledge that has succeeded passed our very best intellect and heart must never escape the possibility of being one day proven untrue. The thought “I don’t know,” should find its niche as a powerful mantra of our daily existence. To reserve judgment is the best means of being an objective observer of reality and mind; to make false judgments and cling to these beliefs is only a path towards further ignorance and suffering. We must protect our minds from this as best we can. We will fail many times at first, and only get better with mindful practice.
For those that eventually do find themselves particularly fond of a tradition –whether it be a school of Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Sufism, etc – then you owe it to yourself to find a good teacher or guru to guide your spiritual practice. For others, it is possible to pursue a spiritual path in your own individual light. For both, I recommend you diversify your studies, not just to different religions and spiritual practices but also towards the sciences, Western psychology, and other philosophical traditions. A spiritual path should always remain a love and pursuit for all knowledge, truth, and interpretation. This is the best way to develop understanding from multiple perspectives.
True knowledge is knowledge of God. And a knowing of God cultivates love, happiness and compassion to all living things. This is the most common lesson of all spiritual teachings. It is a lesson that must be learned through practice, not intellect and reason.
What it is most important to recognize is that there is no one school of spiritual practice that is the correct one. They all have their own interpretations of the One Truth. Eventually you will develop your own interpretation of this One Truth, but it will only come from your own experience, not from the words of any other mind. Other minds can only point to the source, but they cannot walk you to it. It is up for you to walk the path and find it, armed with nothing but your own mind and heart.
“Language and words are merely symbols with which to express the truth. But to mistake words for the truth is just as laughable as to mistake the finger for the moon. A finger points at the moon, but the moon is not at the tip of the finger. Words points at the truth, but the truth is not in words. Language and words are merely symbols with which to express the truth. To seek illumination through words is to get lost in the web of words and not see the truth.”
– Zen analogy