Perfect Aloneness

n the relationship with the spiritual teacher there is always the promise of no limitation. And it is the promise of no limitation that makes that relationship so interesting. But I’ve noticed that very few people take full advantage of the potential inherent in that relationship. Too many seek only to escape from having to be the one who is ultimately responsible for their own life. When an individual seeks only for escape in the relationship with the spiritual teacher, they are hoping to find some kind of security for themselves, and in that security, relief from the very challenging business of human existence. In merely seeking for security in the relationship with a spiritual teacher quite a lot can happen, but that relationship becomes truly powerful only when the individual is able to accept full responsibility for their own evolution. In doing so, one endeavors to meet the teacher in the teacher’s perfect aloneness. That step, so few seem willing and interested in taking. If the promise of no limitation inherent in the relationship with the spiritual teacher is to be fulfilled then the individual has to be ready and willing to meet the teacher absolutely and unconditionally. That means completely and without reservation. In this kind of meeting an un­usual bond occurs. It’s very difficult to describe. I’m making a distinction between a relationship that offers security for the ego and one that offers no security whatsoever for the ego. I’m describing a relationship that offers only perfect aloneness. That means perfect independence and the perfect fulfillment of one’s individuality. What I’m pointing to is a rare and challenging possibility that is not often actualized. In the initial meeting with the spiritual teacher it is not uncommon for one to have a powerful experience. One may have unusual feelings and sensations, and more importantly may experience profound insight that can and often does shake the very foundation of one’s belief ­­­­­­ sys­­­­­­tem.­­­ ­ This may be such an extraordinary event that the - individual might feel choicelessly drawn to enter into an intimate relationship with the one in the presence of whom they realized so much. But what too often seems to happen is that instead of using that initial experience as a catalyst from which to find their own Liberation, unknowingly the individual assumes a safe and secure position in that experience and rests in it. Indeed, it is only the rare individual who genuinely aspires for Liberation and not dependence in the relationship with the spiritual teacher. All seek for affirmation. All want to hear that they are alright, to feel that everything is okay. In the beginning stages of association and relationship with the spiritual teacher, it’s reasonable to seek for a very profound affirmation of oneself, and in that to experience a deep healing on an emotional level. The intense experiences that the individual may have upon meeting the spiritual teacher act as that affirmation, that healing. But most choose to rest there. It’s important that the experience of healing and affirmation that often occurs in the meeting with the spiritual teacher serve not as a resting place but as the foundation for a Liberation that is profound. That means that that meeting should be a simultaneous ending of the past and beginning of an unusual and very different future. That future is the sincere and intense pursuit of dissolution—the dissolution of all false and wrong views about the nature of reality, relative and Absolute—and finally the resurrection of a human personality that is free from the profound limitations that are the inevitable consequence of being lost in delusion and ignorance. A sincere individual should be willing to give everything to be able to manifest and express that freedom as  a living breathing possibility, as themselves. This order of approach to spiritual life is very different than one of merely­ seeking for some kind of security and safety in the presence of a powerful human being. The individual I’m speaking about is finally going to end up only with themselves. Because the one who wants to go all the way strives to meet the spiritual teacher in perfect aloneness, in perfect isolation. That’s something very different than what most seekers are actually looking for.