Ram Dass, “Promises and Pitfalls of the Spiritual Path,” in Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis, ed. Stanislav Grof and Christina Grof, New York: Tarcher, 1989, p. 184.
One of our expectations was that the spiritual path would get us healthy psychologically. I was trained as a psychologist. I was in analysis for many years. I taught Freudian theory. I was a therapist. I took psychedelic drugs for six years intensively. I have a guru. I have meditated since 1970 regularly. I have taught Yoga and studied Sufism, plus many kinds of Buddhism. In all that time I have not gotten rid of one neurosis--not one. The only thing that has changed is that, whereas previously my neuroses were huge monsters, now they are like these little shmoos. “Oh, sexual perversity, I haven’t seen you in days, come and have some tea.” To me the product of the spiritual path is that I now have another contextual framework that makes me much less identified with my known neurosis, and with my own desires. If I do not get what I want, that is as interesting as when I get it. When you begin to recognize that suffering is grace, you cannot believe it. You think you are cheating.
2 comments:
I am always looking forward to the moment when I achieve enlightenment, but instead the spiritual path seems to lead me deeper and deeper into messedupness. I see myself more and more clearly, and it’s not such a pretty sight. I become intimate with my own failings, and at my best feel humor and tenderness towards what a mess I am. This is not where I thought God would lead me!
To become less identified with what I want or how I misbehave, to become more closely identified with my Divine Creative Partner is progress, not perfection. I have yet to accept suffering as grace, or gracefully, yet accept it I must, for it comes, as surely as joy does on other days. This is not cheating; it is dwelling in acceptance. God/ess, grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference, please. Thank You.
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