Near Enemies of the Truth: Avoid the Pitfalls of the Spiritual Life and Become Radically Free

A statement beginning with the word you (that is, an evaluation of a situation with a second-person subject), whether explicit or disguised, often presumes to characterize, label, or evaluate someone else’s actions or experience or perspective, which is not something we’re in a legitimate position to do (with the possible exception of a skilled men

labeling a person (or even a place) as having “negative energy” is a way of avoiding responsibility for your own inner state. I would argue that shifting this paradigm is crucial for one’s spiritual life.

When we live with the tension of the personal will directed toward an imagined future, we live in a mind-world maze of possibilities instead of the vivid aliveness of intimacy with what is.

Growth is natural for a healthy human being, but it doesn’t redress some fundamental deficiency. There is no such thing as a fundamental deficiency, despite what our prevailing cultural narrative says. Each person perfectly instantiates the version of personhood that they embody.

“Okay,” you might be thinking, “so the project of self-improvement is largely unrelated to the project of spiritual awakening, but it couldn’t possibly undermine the awakening process, could it?” Yes, it could. Let me explain. What exactly is this best version of themselves that people want to be? All too often, it’s a socially conditioned figment

With all my heart, I implore you to realize that judging, diagnosing, labeling, or pathologizing another person is not speaking your truth.

Characterizing another person’s experience, feelings, needs, or values is not speaking your truth.

True meditation is nothing but the cultivation of our capacity to deeply listen in this way.** Through listening—not with the ears but with our whole being—we arrive at a quiet inner knowing of what is right for us, which is not obtainable through any amount of thinking or discussing with others (though those activities can sometimes be valuable as

yes, everything happens for a reason—and that reason is “everything