Add Another’s Light to Your Own

Add Another’s Light to Your Own

The mind has a light of its own, and by it illumines what it recreates. ─ Margaret Fuller

From the time I was a child to adulthood, I faced constant learning opportunities (like everyone else). Some of these I figured out by myself, and some of these I needed the help of others, including teachers, to guide me to the truth. In my mind, there are only two ways to learn. I either independently figure it out myself or I ask someone for help. When I need to ask someone for help, then I should seek assistance from someone who is an expert, a master if possible.

Another example might be useful. In the written arts, it is well known that “outside eyes” are essential to creating a script, screenplay, an essay, poem, or novel. Peer reviewers or editors are necessary for writers to hone the craft of writing.

Regarding my personal experiences that exposed the need for a spiritual teacher, I was deeply moved by the television show Kung Fu in the 1970s. In this fictional show, we see a boy grow into a Buddhist monk in the Shaolin Temple in China in the 19th century. We are dramatically shown the instructional dynamic between teacher and student, as the main character recalls his lessons in the monastery as he confronts harrowing situations in the Old West. In high school, I read Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha, which reinforced my perspective on the role of an esoteric or spiritual teacher. And then in college, I read In Search of the Miraculous by PD Ouspensky and was further impressed by the need for finding a teacher and a school. At the time, I did not know if such a teacher or school existed.

In the Fourth Way, there is a descriptive analogy about an inmate trying to escape from prison. The story goes that the inmate cannot escape from prison unless he has outside help. Outside help means somebody who has already escaped and knows the way.

There is another common expression for illustrating the need for outside help. The expression is that I fall off the log in the same spot, referring to the sport of log rolling (which is a funny comparison because I don't know anybody who does log rolling). Nevertheless, the analogy suggests that I might be doomed to repeat the same mistake forever, unless I find someone to point out where it is that I’m falling off the log. Where do I slip? Please show me.

I recall an Ouspensky or Gurdjieff story about a man going to a basement to stoke the coal-fired furnace, and each time he returns he is surprised to discover that he has a coal smudge on his face, even though he was careful to not touch his face when in the basement. It had to be pointed out by another that just at the moment as he was about to enter the upstairs room, he would have internal vanity ‘I’s about his appearance, and in sleep, adjust his hair or touch his face, producing the mysterious smudge on his cheek or forehead to appear. Many of my habits, like this confused chap, are hard to see unless pointed out by another. And many of these revelations through working with a teacher are much more profound than a mere smudge.

Socrates and the ancient Greek sages before him suggested that the most important task of a man or woman was to “Know thyself.” Socrates also knew that people don't know what they don't know. Such a conundrum suggests that one needs a teacher to reveal the truth. The Dialogues of Plato provide an amazing and detailed accounting of a teacher instructing his students. It is the same psychological journey in the 21st century as that of Socrates teaching Plato.

A teacher is a fundamental link towards true psychological and spiritual development. I hope every reader is fortunate enough, as I am, to find a teacher, someone who has already escaped from the prison of sleep.

If you can add another’s light to your own, do it. ─ Plato

Shaolin Temple, Bell Tower, China (Henan) (rebuilt)