Re: Mysticism 101

Thanks for the feedback. The hard thing is to flesh out the assumptions and presuppositions that people within a spiritual path causes them to go astray. When you have these types of misconceptions and get into the bad habit of following the mind and not wisdom then you are more likely to get into trouble.

I hope my post can simplify things and brings about some clarity to others that are in a position to help. If they can see the patterns of behavior is not enough. They need to see the root causes and conditions of mental illness for healing to occur. Only then can a long-term benefit occur and not just offer a superficial "band-aide" as a solution to the problem.

The major importance is finding a qualified lama that is highly realized to guide you safely to the other shore. But, most people in the West are hesitant and believe that it is a bad idea to subjugate their will to another being. A truly respected teacher doesn't do that. He honors your free will as a person and can see the myriad faults within our psyche that we cannot see on our own.

When you aren't in a position to find a lama these dharma-texts are the next best thing and are already available to read. They are a major starting point to discover exactly how the subconscious-mind works on one end and developing the wisdom-mind on the positive end.

The psychological field only goes one way (into the subconscious mind) and has yet to bridge a gap for what constitutes a whole person. They need an ideal model that others can know about and then aspire to acquiring the qualities to balance every day life such as wisdom, love, honor, patience, compassion and responsibility to name a few.