Hello from a skeptical cat. 🙂 Skepticism is also the topic of the day and the reason I began writing this series at all.
Day 4: Skepticism
You have to be your own teacher and your own disciple. You have to question everything.
~ J. Krishnamurti
A true seeker has to be skeptical, at least initially. If one swallows teachings indiscriminately, takes claims at face value, or hands over all responsibility to one’s psychotherapist or spiritual teacher, then it becomes impossible to develop the discernment that is necessary to detect the voices of truth or to follow one’s own unique path. Let alone to develop the sense of sovereignty and the critical wisdom that is needed in today’s world, more than ever before.
Healing and awakening require you to directly explore and examine what is happening in your own personal experience. The best teachers will want you to do that. That is because no one else can figure out your path for you and comparing your path to others’ isn’t useful either.
Even if you learn about something from an expert or from a trusted friend, it becomes your responsibility to don the hat of a scientist and test it out. Make hypotheses, triangulate across different sources of information, see what you learn from your direct experience every moment. I think my audience is sufficiently skeptical, so I don’t need to belabor this point. 🙂
Bottom line, skepticism is a very useful trait! If someone is selling you on the sexiness of building spiritual superpowers using their technique or the speed with which you’ll transform, run! Large follower count, absolutist language, or exotic garb are not indicators of credibility. 🙂 Any path that leads to the development rather than the reduction of ego is not your path. I hope this reminds you of how separate the wheat from the chaff.
Eventually it gets easier to interpret what’s being marketed out there–who’s ungrounded or smarmy, for example–and to listen to your own inner guidance (which is the strongest guidance there is).
But the inner skeptic can also block progress.
It can dismiss solutions that don’t yield immediate relief or easily-measurable results because they don’t meet modern expectations for ease and instant gratification (especially in the West). It can simply shut down exploration by saying “I don’t believe that” because it doesn’t fit into the existing scientific paradigm. It wants you to think that all those claims about love and being open-hearted are simplistic fluff that flighty or weak-minded people have fallen victim to. It will take refuge in ever-more complicated reasoning and explanations that prevent you from seeing things as they are, that justify your reluctance to walk towards that which will ultimately strip you naked.
The solution, as always, is to be ruthlessly self-honest and to desire nothing but the truth. And to be curious, open, and patient, to not assume too much, to try even those things that might appear whacko or woo-woo. That is, don’t let your prior conditioning serve as fuel for a fearful inner skeptic.
As one awakens, however, the path shifts from being constantly skeptical to surrendering more and more, because you hit a point where you cannot use the mind to make sense of your experiences (and doing so would only hinder your growth). Then there is no other option but to trust life–a topic for another day.
Btw, folks, I am leaving out personal stories in this article series and trying to get across the main points in as condensed a manner as possible, even if they sound didactic. Would love to hear from you in the comments or over email what is helping you most in these posts and what else you might like to know. Thank you and happy new moon tomorrow!
Much love,
Anubha
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"The solution, as always, is to be ruthlessly self-honest and to desire nothing but the truth. And to be curious, open, and patient, to not assume too much, to try even those things that might appear whacko or woo-woo. That is, don’t let your prior conditioning serve as fuel for a fearful inner skeptic."
Aren't you explaining scientific temper in this beautiful writing of yours? Nicely written...