Wisdom Without Love

Reliance upon the intellect is a pitfall many of us in the spiritual/nondual community are guilty of, including myself! We might notice the unconscious or unhealthy patterns of behavior in another human being, and then take it upon ourselves in all our great wisdom and compassion to “show them the way” out of it. Sound familiar?

The problem is we don’t know exactly what struggles or challenges each human being needs to go through, or what specifically might break their shell, unless we listen to them.

It doesn’t matter how many insights or revelations we’ve had, we won’t come to know what specifically ails a person unless we relinquish our authority, and meet each human being exactly where they are.

The intellect would have us believe that seeing nondual truth is enough to help anyone. But it isn’t. The truth is, simply beaming wisdom and clarity at people doesn’t work.

It comes across condescending, something I’ve quickly learned. And to those I may have offended, I apologize.

Nonetheless, even if you have the BEST intentions, your desire to help will be hindered by your inability to drop any pretense of higher wisdom or awareness and simply meet the so called “other person” as an equal.

Nonduality isn’t a broadband teaching, it’s very sharp and personal. Sure there’s no individual, but awakening from the dream of individuality seems to occur on a human to human basis. People (generally) don’t wake up in droves.

Thus, whereas some people need very little encouragement to see themselves, and simply hearing another person communicate this message clearly is enough, others need to be met exactly where they are.