Issue nº 75

The traps of searching

     Just as people are beginning to pay more attention to things of the spirit, another phenomenon is taking place: intolerance towards the spiritual searching of others. Every day I receive magazines, e-mails, letters and pamphlets, all trying to prove that such and such a path is better than the other and containing a series of rules to reach "enlightenment". Because of the growing volume of this sort of correspondence, I have decided to write a little about what I feel to be a danger in all this searching.

     Myth 1: The mind can cure all. This is not true; and I prefer to illustrate this myth with a story. One day, some years ago, a lady friend of mine - deeply involved in spiritual searching - began to develop a fever and to feel very bad, and all night long tried to imagine her body by using all the techniques she knew to cure herself only through the power of thought. The following day, her worried children asked her to go see a doctor - but she refused, claiming that she was "purifying" her spirit. Only when the situation grew unbearable did she agree to go to a hospital, and there she had to be operated on immediately - for appendicitis. So, be very careful: sometimes it is better to ask God to guide the hands of the doctor than to try to get better all by yourself.

     Myth 2: Red meat chases away the divine light. It is obvious that if you belong to a certain religion, you have to respect the established rules; Jews and Moslems, for example, do not eat pork meat, and this is a case of a practice that is part of faith. But the world is being flooded by a wave of "purification" through food; radical vegetarians look at people who eat meat as if they were responsible for slaughtering animals. Well now, aren't plants living beings too? Nature is a constant cycle of life and death and one day we will be the ones to feed the earth, so if you do not belong to a religion that forbids a certain food, eat whatever your organism asks for. At this point I would like to remind you of the story of the Russian magus Gurdjieff, who, when he was a young man, went to visit a famous master, and in order to impress him, ate only vegetables.
     One night the master wanted to know why he followed such a strict diet, and Gurdjieff commented - "to keep my body clean". The master laughed out loud and immediately advised him to stop that practice, for, if he went on like that, he would end up like a greenhouse plant: very pure, but incapable of enduring the challenges of traveling and life. As Jesus said: "the evil is not what goes into, but rather what comes out of man's mouth."

     Myth 3: God is sacrifice. Many people seek out the path of sacrifice and self-immolation, claiming that we should suffer in this world to ensure happiness in the next. Well, if this world is a blessing from God, why not learn how to get the most out of the happiness that life offers? We are so used to the image of Christ nailed to the cross, but we forget that his Passion lasted only three days, the rest of the time he spent traveling, meeting people, eating and drinking, bearing his message of tolerance - so much so that his first miracle was "politically incorrect", when they ran out of drinks at the wedding feast in Canaan and he turned water into wine. As I see things, he did so to show to all of us that there is no evil in being happy, in enjoying oneself, in joining in the party fun, because God is much more present when we are close to others. Mohammed said that "if we are unhappy, we make our friends unhappy too." Buddha, after a long period of self-deprival and renunciation, was so weak that he nearly drowned; when he was saved by a shepherd, he realized that isolation and sacrifice detach us from the miracle of life.

     Myth 4: There is just one way to God. This is the most dangerous of all myths: this is where the explanations of the Great Mystery begin, and the religious struggles, and judging our neighbor. We can pick a religion (for example, I am Catholic), but we must understand that if our brother chooses a different religion, he will reach the same point of light that we seek through our spiritual practices. Finally, it is worth remembering that there is no possible way we can transfer to priest, rabbi, or imam the responsibility for our decisions. It is we who, through each and every one of our acts, build the path to Heaven.