About Spiritual Practice

We live in wonderful times. Spiritual disciplines have come out of their Eastern cocoon, and today we can learn basically everything for a relatively cheap price. One just needs to go on social media to find hordes of coaches; spiritual teachers; spiritual healers; or spiritual masters of any sort, that are ready to help them progress on their spiritual path.

Some of those teachers are genuine, others are not. Buddhist teachers spend 14-16 hours a day in meditation, every day for several years, in retreat, before they can start teaching. On the other hand, many teachers I know from environments like Reiki, or other newer disciplines, rarely practice at all. I myself sat in Reiki classes where I was told that no practice is needed, in order to do Reiki. I disagree. I believe practice is fundamental if we want to be able to do anything at all with Reiki.

Moreover, I believe practice is of utmost important in anything we do. From spiritual disciplines to playing an instrument, to any job one can think of. Without practice, our knowledge remains sterile.

In these times, one of the problems several of my students tell me about is how difficult it is to filter out the noise. In other words, how to understand who is a genuine teacher, as they are quite rare.

There are many books out there that explain fairly well all the qualities a genuine teacher should possess. But in our times it is less and less common to be able to sit with a teacher in the same room to assess them, so we often need to rely on different techniques.

One way is to pay attention on how teachers speak or write on their blog, social media, books. Through that, we can try to understand where they are in their evolution.

To give you a little example: last week I read a post from a teacher who was claiming he has deepened his spiritual practice, so that he can be better prepared to be in touch with his intuition when life brings about big changes, good or bad. He says that his spiritual practice helps his nervous system calm down, quiets the mind and helps him connect to the heart. This way he'll be able to attract more, work better, and attract what he wants (yes, he mentioned attracting twice).

On the surface, those words might sound really good, and someone who is looking for a guide on the spiritual path would probably find them quite enticing.

However, one wonders... If we haven't understood that there is no good or bad change, but only change, is our mind basking in emptiness and equanimity, or is it still stuck in duality, labelling and judging? If we are using spiritual practice to have more of the things we want, to work better, are we not treating it a bit like a business tool to get what we want? And so on...

There is much, in that post, that denounces misunderstanding of the basic concepts of true, genuine spiritual practice. And that's ok, there is a place for all of us in this world, that's not a problem.

However, being able to understand that a person hasn't gone as far as they claim is a great way to appreciate that they might not be suitable to be spiritual teachers or, at least, to be our spiritual teachers. They might be great at teaching other things, but they should perhaps avoid calling what they do "spiritual disciplines".

So, in order to distinguish the genuine from the charlatan, it's useful to know a little bit about what "spiritual practice" really means, and why it was born, and this is what I'd like to focus on, for the rest of this post.

First of all, we need to clarify that word: spiritual. As far as I understand it, when we add "spiritual" to "practice", it means that that practice is about the mind. The French got it totally right: in French "mind" is called "esprit" (which comes from the Latin spiritus). So, spiritual has little to nothing to do with crystals, power grids, seeing colours, warm hands, and so on. It also has nothing to do with how cool our Reiki room is, how many Buddha statues, incense burners, Tibetan singing bowls, etc. we have in it.

Spiritual simply means: it is about the mind. One obvious clue comes from the Reiki Gokai, which is clearly all about the mind.

Now, having said that, one could wonder: why do we need to work on the mind? That is a great question, pretend person, thank you for asking.

We need to work on the mind because at this moment our mind is confused. Think about the sea. From the surface we can see the waves. They all appear to have an independent, inherent existence. But if we plunge into the water, we realise that that is just an illusion. It is simply movement, a form, a shape. The much more profound truth of water (as opposed to the superficial - or "from the surface" - view) is that water is all connected. It's one big interconnected living body.

Now, the wisdom of old tells us that a similar thing is also true for ourselves. We normally perceive ourselves as separate from everything else. Here's me, there's my friend, and there are all the others, and we're all separate. However, those who have spent enough time in deep meditation have come to realise that there is a much deeper reality to our existence. When we perceive it, we truly understand that we are all connected. We are all one.

Of course, the average person, especially here in the West, is educated to perceive the separation, the dual aspect of reality, me opposite them. We are not trained to experience the deeper layer, and when we get a glimpse of it, we rarely are capable of seeing it for what it is.

This condition is known as ignorance: the lack of awareness of our original nature.

Because of ignorance, we have the feeling of not being complete, of something missing. This is one of the definitions of the Pali word Dukkha, which is normally translated with "suffering". On the other hand, when the mind is aware of its original nature, the mind sits naturally, peaceful and joyful.

Having the experience of separation leads us to experience suffering. As a consequence, we are all busy swarming around, trying to get some happiness from anywhere we can. More money! More power! More gadgets! More titles! More things! More food! More everything! More more more!

Alas, it doesn't matter how much stuff we get. It will never be enough. It will never quench that particular thirst. It might work for a brief moment, but it will not last. Impermanence is the only constant in this universe. Therefore that void cannot be filled that way. It can only be eliminated by recognising our original nature. It is only when we do that, that we remove the root cause of our suffering.

Until we realise our original nature, we are tempted by this craving, this desire for happiness, which is born out of that feeling of separation. It is commonly known as desire. It's normally followed by the realisation that at some point, we are bound to lose whatever we actually managed to get, whether it is money; power; big house, etc. And because we don't like to lose our money, our power, our cool stuff, we develop attachment to them. We hold on to them as well as we can, for as long as we can.

While we are holding on, our mind starts living in fear. Fear of loss, fear of change, fear of suffering. This fear engenders an attitude of aversion. We hate when life takes something away from us. We get angry. We worry all the time. No-one likes to suffer.

So, in short, the lack of awareness of our original nature causes us to suffer. We try to fill that void with objects, money, power, etc. We get attached to those things and we live in fear, worrying about losing them. When that happens we suffer, we experience loss, hate, anger.

Ignorance, attachment, and aversion are known in Buddhism as the three poisons. They are at the root of basically all the suffering that we experience, that could be avoided. We cannot avoid the four sufferings of birth, ageing, getting sick, and dying, but the rest we can avoid, or at least we could experience at a much lower intensity.

To help people get rid of this confusion and find true, everlasting happiness, spiritual teachers of the past have offered instructions to guide us on a path, which is called spiritual path.

Nowadays, with the exponential proliferation of confused teachers, so many people think that spiritual practice was designed to make their lives better. Or that it would give them peace. Or bliss. Sometimes that might happen, but it's not the point. All those things are just a byproduct of the work that's done. But they are not what spiritual practice is about.

The whole point of spiritual practice is to help us break old habits and patterns, so that we can open our minds and hearts to a new understanding. It is supposed to shake us so hard that, when we finally manage to get back on our feet, there's a chance we have left some confusion on the ground. And then the rollercoaster does another loop, and then again, and again, and again.

This path is also known as the path of renunciation. Often this is source of further confusion, especially for us in the West. We think it means we should give away all of our stuff, and meditate in a cave for 30 years eating only bird droppings. That is also incorrect.

What we need to renunciate is attachment, and fascination. Fascination to what? But of course, to all those shiny things that we want! To all those things that we desire and crave. And attachment to what? Well... to all those shiny things that we managed to get!

This doesn't mean though, that we can't enjoy our life anymore. It's actually the opposite.

The right attitude is to enjoy what we have, and use it in the best way possible to benefit ourselves and others. We do need, though, to keep an eye on our mind and see if we have gotten attached to our possessions. It's like going to a party and enjoying the cake that is there. But if we get there late, and all the cake is gone, we don't make a big deal out of it. It's fine. This attitude contrasts with the much more common one that we have: get the best slice of cake! Get the biggest one! And then some to bring home!

Finally, and this is another very important point, spiritual practice shouldn't be done to pursue anything at all, especially material; nor it should be aimed at making us feel special in any way. Feeling special is just another ego trip. Ego is that part of us with which we are identified. It is unaware of our original nature, and loves to compete against others to prove we are better, slimmer, richer, smarter, faster, funnier, and so on. We should be wise and avoid falling for this trick.

Instead of special, a true spiritual master will teach us how to become ordinary! The spiritual journey should lead to the realisation that we are just a drop in the ocean, or a blade of grass. That we are all the same.

So, when someone promises you "mind blowing" experiences, or the tools to become a wonderful healer, or attract everything you want in your life, and so on, you now know that they might not be genuine spiritual teachers. Again, I'm not saying they are not good teachers, or necessarily malevolent. They might just be as confused as we are.

We can stay away from Reiki books that talk about the author more than they talk about Reiki. I know quite a few books like that. We can also stay away from those teachers who claim they have revolutionised the system of Reiki, introducing mind blowing experiences for their students, but they don't really practice. This is all business, you can happily ignore and look some place else.

A true spiritual teacher will act in accordance to what was explained above. They will laser-point us to the roots of our suffering. That is what they care about.

They will likely be a modest person, simple, happy, positive, generous. There is a certain depth in their eyes. They should care for their students, and be compassionate. They should exhort others to practice with diligence, and lead by example. They will not try to teach you how to become special, but rather, they will offer you the instructions you need to realise that you already are. We all are. We all hold qualities such as love, compassion, kindness, and wisdom in our minds and hearts. There is nothing more to ask for. If that is not special, I don't know what is.

When we realise we are special, as well as everyone else, then we also realise that there is nothing special in being special! Haha! It's actually quite an ordinary thing. So, if we feel the need to be special, to be better than others, that is a sign that we haven't truly started walking a spiritual path. That means the grip of the ego is still quite strong on our mind and hearts, and we should try and find a teacher who can help us.

Good luck in your search. My wish is that you to find a wise, compassionate, genuine teacher, who will be able to walk with you on the most important journey of your life: that which leads to discovering who you truly are.