Enlightenment On Your Own Two Feet

Today’s feature article in Tricycle by John Snelling states a truth that I discovered for myself  just recently:

“At the center of these [issues] lies the popular myth that prefigures enlightenment as an ecstatic experience that at once solves all personal problems and inaugurates an individual millennium of limitless personal “growth.” The rub of course is that the devoutly wished-for consummation never arrives—and this gives the guru his or her own special grip. If the devotees haven’t got it, they’ve failed, haven’t tried hard enough, haven’t been worthy. More effort, more sacrifice is required. The prize is always elusive, always receding. However, if doubts arise in the victims of such manipulations they may well find themselves with deep problems. . . .

There is also the standard myth that guru and cult alone offer the True Way. To leave would therefore be to return to the wilderness—the dreadful aloneness and lostness that the devotee sought to escape from in the first place.

To go might also be to lose all that has been invested in guru and group to date (a devotee might have a certain status, perhaps even a role or office). Leaving could also be perceived as a kind of failure—one isn’t up to the demands of the training.”

—John Snelling, “Beware the Charismatic Guru” (1982)

My experience is that practitioners create the very cults that they become trapped in. They find a religion which allays their fears—”you’re going to be alright”—and tells them repeatedly that “you are special, you are basically good, you are enlightened”. They need to perpetuate the organization which tells them how good and special they are and so they work to maintain and defend that organization. Practitioners themselves become the biggest creators and defenders of cult-like organizations and the gurus that lead them. 

Snelling’s advice is bang on, that we should be practice Buddhism as an authentic path for facing reality, not escaping from it:

“But in the last analysis, Buddhism, like any authentic spiritual way, is about realism and facing things as they are. There is no place here for ostrich strategies, however pious. We dearly need therefore to look squarely at what is happening today, at the dark side as well as the light. For, contrary to what many naively believe, the spiritual world is not simply good. It has its shadow too, and a large one. As C. G. Jung has pointed out, the greater the light, the greater the shadow. Without losing sight of the good, we should not be afraid to investigate that shadow. If we shrink from doing so, however, we will in all likelihood become its victims.”

Ultimately, we are responsible for our own spiritual growth:

“If, on the other hand, we are not intimidated and do bravely face up to the reality of both light and shadow in the spiritual life, then we might possibly succeed in steering our proverbial rafts across the tricky currents and reefs to the farther shore. To do this kind of work (and indeed for the whole of the spiritual life) we need self-reliance—which means a basic faith in the heart, our own heart. Of course there will always be seepage from the ego, but with care and alertness we can learn to anticipate its wiles. We should always be open to guidance too, and ready to accept feedback. But we should never lose sight of the fact that, however difficult the going may be at times, the living of the spiritual life is ultimately our own responsibility. It should never be abdicated to another, however venerable.”

—John Snelling, “Beware the Charismatic Guru” (1982)