I don’t recommend just anybody take up the path of deep personal, spiritual, and cultural transformation. Many people have died (usually through suicide or drug overdose), become homeless, gone crazy, lost jobs, lost marriages, lost friendships, been exiled from their communities (spiritual and otherwise), and overall suffered immensely by undertaking a life path of conscious growth. (Of course, so have people not on the path, but there are added dangers from being on it.)
My advice to you is not to undertake the spiritual path. It is too difficult, too long, and it is too demanding. What I would suggest, if you haven’t already begun, is to go to the door, ask for your money back, and go home now. This is not a picnic. It is really going to ask everything of you and you should understand that from the beginning. So it is best not to begin. However, if you do begin, it is best to finish.
— Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
My advice to you is to only undertake the spiritual path—the path of transformation, the path of questioning everything and creating a better world—if you absolutely must, if life would be utterly meaningless if you didn’t. If your ignorance is bliss, by all means stay ignorant. What you don’t know may still kill you, and you will still suffer in your ignorance. But unless you absolutely must awaken, then you probably won’t survive the horrors and dangers of the awakened life. Seriously.
Following Your Bliss Can Kill You
Ask anyone who has been following their bliss for years if it’s been smooth sailing the whole time. If they are on the path and they are honest, they will have to admit that a great deal of it has been hell. To the extent that they deeply question the nature of reality and society, there will probably be greater hell and more difficulty with smooth integration of their insights into their daily lives, friendships, community, and career.
All who follow their bliss, who attempt to do something great, fail miserably at times. Many feel like they are going crazy, and some actually do have some “crazy” experiences. Some persist and eventually succeed, and these folks are written about in history books or start major world religions (if they are famous men). Most either fail utterly and die, or succeed and are completely unknown and unappreciated, often even to their families. If you must pursue the path, then this will not matter as much (although it will still hurt like hell), because you could not imagine living any other way. You still might die trying, but keep in mind that this is a real possibility, that many have indeed died trying, that very few have succeeded in transforming themselves or the world in any significant way.
Spirituality Has Nasty Side Effects
How is meditation marketed to potential customers? What are the “benefits” in the sales letters and glossy brochures for books and retreat centers? Usually peace, bliss, a calm mind, and/or ultimate relief from suffering are listed. Never once have I seen a list of common side effects.
As a rule, when marketing something, it’s best to speak of what’s good about the product and gloss over any bad sides as long as you aren’t obligated by law to talk about them (if you are, put them in really small type and obtuse language as to dissuade anyone from actually reading it).
If one were honest, the brochures and books would have to list acute psychosis, debilitating depression, disorienting body sensations, terrifying nightmares and other sleep disturbances, and extreme physical pain as potential, relatively common side-effects of intensive meditative practice. (See this article on Spiritual Emergencies for more on this. All of these categories of spiritual emergency have been experienced by me or someone I know. If you read these categories of psychospiritual crisis and think “Cool!”, then you are probably already on the path.)
Again, if you don’t have to meditate 10-15 hours a day for weeks on end in silence in order to feel like life is worth living, if you don’t have to experience unity with God every day in order to feel normal, it’s probably not worth the risk. If you don’t absolutely have to know the truth of your own existence and of ultimate reality, then don’t go looking for it. You probably won’t like much of what you find along the way. It certainly won’t live up to the “love and light” hype.
If You’re on the Path, Have Faith and Keep Going
On the other hand, if you are already on the path, the wound has already been opened. Once you take the red pill that opens your eyes to the truth, there is no turning back.
Morpheus is more honest than most teachers of psychospiritual development. He says, “Remember—all I’m offering is the truth, nothing more.”
If you’ve taken the red pill (which nobody can do for you), just do your best to stay on your hero’s journey, whatever that may be. Seek out the company of other Peaceful Warriors, alchemists, magicians, and monks, but stay true to your own heart.
If you do choose the path of transformation—or even if you are thrown upon it kicking and screaming—best of luck to you. Keep the faith, and know that in your times of deepest pain and suffering that you are not alone, that others have suffered before you, are suffering now, and will suffer in the future, and that many have survived and gone beyond the suffering. The path is always a noble one.