February 22

Go Ahead

A good spiritual teacher should say, “This is the way I know. It is positively helpful. If you like, you are welcome to follow it.”

Suppose you say, “I don’t want to go that way. I want to go in the opposite direction.”

The teacher will say, “All right. Go ahead. Do it.”

Then you go in the wrong direction, bump against a wall and say, “Ah. I made a mistake. It’s the wrong direction. I’ll go the other way.” That’s what experience means. Nature itself teaches us, allows us to make mistakes.

Didn’t God allow Adam to eat the fruit? Though God said, “Adam, don’t eat the apple,” did God stop Adam when he reached for the apple? God certainly could have stopped him. Instead, God simply allowed Adam to make the mistake so that he would learn the lesson.

There should be freedom in learning. Each one learns in a different way. The duty of a teacher is to see if there are any impediments on the path, and clear them so that you can go on. He or she should help you to experience in your own way. By going here and there, and bumping into obstacles, you will very soon understand the truth: “Wherever I go, ultimately I end up with a problem. Every time I do something with my ego, it gets me into trouble. All these days I have been following my ego. Now I don’t want to follow it anymore. I give up.”