When Spiritual Teachings Become The Obstacle

I think in general we can say that people on the spiritual path are generally or to a large degree have given up their desire for material objects.

That we're not so caught up anymore in getting the latest iPhone or the latest watch or the latest car and that's a good thing,

Right?

We've all kind of been there,

We've done that,

We've gotten all these things,

They haven't brought us the peace and happiness we thought they would and we're no longer chasing peace and happiness in the material world.

And yet it can also lull us into this false sense of security where we start to believe that we have extinguished all desires.

So we're no longer looking for desire for that mind movement of the ego,

Believing that we've extinguished it because we're no longer looking for material objects.

When most of the time what's happened is we have simply transferred our desire for material objects to now a desire for chasing peace and happiness on the spiritual path.

And I have seen this,

I did this for years,

I see this again and again with spiritual seekers.

Constantly this constant diet,

This stream of getting the latest spiritual book,

Of getting this latest podcast,

Of doing this course,

Of doing this workshop,

Of this chasing,

Believing that my peace and happiness is in the next class,

Is in the next podcast,

The next book.

And we're really doing the same thing that we were doing for material objects.

We have that sense of something's not right and we're looking outside of us to try and fill that hole inside of us.

So we have this hope and we launch on this book or this again this podcast or this dharma talk or oh this course is coming up,

This workshop's coming up.

And we put all our hopes that oh this is the one,

This is the one that's going to do it for me.

And inevitably we get halfway through the book if we're lucky,

Maybe we get to the end of the podcast and we felt like wow that was really good.

But we don't find the peace and happiness that we were looking for.

And so there's a little bit of disappointment.

And if we're listening to a podcast it might just be well I'm just going to listen to the next one or a dharma talk I'll just listen to the next one.

This constant seeking of knowledge as though the knowledge is what's going to bring me the contentment,

The peace,

The satisfaction.

And in this way we end up creating,

Making crutches from our spiritual path because we're always chasing the peace and happiness.

We feel a little bit of discomfort and immediately we reach for a dharma talk to take away that discomfort.

And I do know of people and I did do this a long time ago,

I could listen to six hours of dharma talks a day and really convince myself wow I'm so spiritual I'm really doing the work.

And it's even worse today where these are on podcasts and just on your phone you can just have this endless cycle of talks.

People are cleaning and listening to dharma talks the whole time they're cleaning or driving somewhere and just one dharma talk after another.

And while the Buddha did say that listening to a dharma talk is very much like doing a meditation,

I don't think he envisioned the degree of dharma talks we would have at our disposal.

I mean of course back then 2,

600 years ago it was kind of rare to come across a dharma talk.

And dharma talks are super helpful.

So I'm not,

I mean I get the the irony here I'm giving a dharma talk.

So they are helpful right we need to have pointers we need to have people showing us the path.

That is a really helpful part of this path of our practice.

But we are getting too dependent on the talks,

The teachings,

The books,

Where we're always believing that our happiness is just in that next thing.

We've just transferred our desire from one thing to another.

And as long as we're believing that our peace is dependent upon something outside of us,

Then we will never know the true peace and contentment that we are seeking.

And we just will say to ourselves when I retire,

Oh my god it's going to be great I'm going to have nothing to do or just I'll get done with this project and this busy day this to-do list and it's going to be so great because then I'm going to be able to relax and I'll have nothing to do.

So we have this idea in our minds that if I have nothing to do on the outside that I'll feel peace on the inside.

On the inside.

We know what happens.

We get there and we sit down and just 30 seconds later the desire starts up again.

I didn't really mean do nothing.

I mean let me go get a cup of tea,

Let me get a book,

I'll get a spiritual book,

I'll listen to a podcast.

And we'll tell ourselves that's doing nothing.

And while it's maybe better than going on Facebook or reading the news or something to that degree,

The results are the same.

Our happiness,

Our peace is dependent upon something outside of us.

And it's that discomfort that we feel that the desiring craving of wanting something in the next moment,

That's where our practice is.

That's what we need to sit with,

To feel that craving of wanting something in the next moment.

If we can't sit and feel it,

And it is uncomfortable,

Right?

But if we can't sit with it,

It will always be pushing us on to the next thing.

We'll just be the carrot just always be out there a little bit in front of us.

We just we kind of get there.

Oh I'm here,

I'm here,

I'm here.

Nope,

Just going to pull it away.

Oh and then we run over there.

Nope,

Just going to keep pulling it away.

And this is what we see when people become perpetual spiritual seekers,

Just always seeking,

Always seeking.

The practice is at any moment,

Any moment,

You are willing to be with your experience,

To feel what your body is feeling,

To hear the sounds around you,

To look around you,

To be present with whatever it is that you are experiencing.

That is how you come to peace.

Not because we have some new book or not because all of a sudden there's nothing to do,

Right?

How limited our peace is if it's only dependent upon when I have nothing to do.

So I've always got to be stressed,

I've always got to be or uncontent,

Discontent until there's nothing to do,

Right?

That's not peace,

Right?

Peace is in any moment.

We are just here with whatever it is that's arising and to really have our attention on desire,

To not fool ourselves into believing,

I don't want the new car anymore,

I don't want the new iPhone anymore.

I'm so holy now,

I'm so spiritual,

Right?

And then we're just accumulating,

Right?

We're just accumulating spiritual stuff.

And so I say this just to make sure that we're aware of this.

This is a huge problem and I see this problem just getting bigger and bigger today where people are using spirituality as a crutch.

They're not able to find the peace within themselves.

Anytime they feel discomfort,

They just reach out for something,

A spiritual teaching to take that discomfort away.

And that's not the lasting peace that we're looking for.

We want peace that is not dependent upon any conditions,

Simply our internal conditions of being okay with what is.

And so yes,

We do still need talks,

We do,

You know,

Books are still helpful,

A certain amount of knowledge and pointers,

Super helpful.

A couple a week,

Seriously,

A couple of Dharma talks a week,

I think is more than enough.

Read a book and then wait a little bit to get the next book.

Let the teachings settle in,

Contemplate the book,

Contemplate some of the book.

In fact,

Even read the book as you read maybe a paragraph or two and then set it down and let the words sink in,

Right?

Allow yourself to be with what it is that you are reading and to really embed that into your nervous system instead of just churning through everything as fast as we can.

And just more emphasis on practice.

I mean,

It's right now it feels like it's like 90-10,

90% people are taking in knowledge and 10% practice and then people go,

Why isn't it working?

I don't understand.

I'm still getting stressed out.

I'm still getting bothered by stuff.

It should be the other way around.

90% or let's say even 80% practice,

20% knowledge,

Pointers.

And I think if it's balanced more like that.

So with our meditation practice,

With our mindfulness practice,

And another practice that I would add on is to once a day,

Spend five minutes,

Maybe 10,

Where you're doing nothing.

You're not meditating.

Your eyes aren't closed.

You're not reading.

You're not listening to anything.

You can be listening to the sounds,

The birds.

If you're near the water,

You can hear the waves,

The trees rustling,

The wind rustling through the trees for just five.

So start with five minutes and maybe build yourself up to 10,

10 minutes a day of actually doing nothing so that you can feel that craving.

I need something.

I don't,

But you got to be able to feel it.

If you don't feel it,

Breathe into it,

Be with it,

Accept it.

It's here.

Don't push it away.

And that is the way you break the chain.

You break this cycle by being with the physical sensations instead of letting them,

Having that just keep triggering you into the same cycle of suffering in the same patterns.

It's how we break these patterns.

So just being very mindful of how much we're using spirituality as a crutch and then not really getting us to the point where we're no longer seeking.

You've got enough knowledge.

It's just practice.

There is a point to where you give it all up,

All the teachings.

You don't need them anymore.

They get you so far and it's helpful.

It's super helpful.

But then there's a point where you have to abandon it all and just see for yourself.

That's practice,

Being more mindful of the desire for spirituality,

Noticing how that's trying to fill a hole inside of us that is not really bringing us the peace that we're looking for.