Discarding the Mask of Spirituality
I've been paying attention to something lately. I have become interested in this phenomenon where spiritual seekers consistently engage in the very behaviors they are claiming to denounce. I have discovered that, as ironic as it is, spirituality is quite often used as yet another mask of the ego. There seems to be a tendency along the spiritual path to feel a sense of spiritual superiority. A point where many, many books have been read, many hours have been spent in meditation or self reflection, many seminars and workshops have been attended and a level of understanding has been reached where one feels they know more than others. Where they feel they are "awake" while others remain "asleep". And in this feeling of being in a higher state of consciousness than others, all of the same old ego baggage shows up--judgment, criticism, feelings of superiority. It seems that the path to enlightenment can serve as yet another form of identification...