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

by Christopher D. Wallis

OF ALL THE ASPECTS OF HUMAN LIFE, spirituality holds the greatest potential for fulfillment, and yet it can also be deeply problematic. It offers the possibility of more profound paradigm shifts than any other domain of human life and the possibility of becoming profoundly confused and deluded. If the spiritual life is more than just a hobby for you, then the stakes are high—perhaps even higher than you realize.

It’s simply not the case that everyone’s equally entitled to their opinion. Everyone is entitled to think what they like, but as soon as they express an opinion, they are offering it into the arena of shared discourse, and it becomes part of our communal struggle to find intersubjective truths. Your opinion, once expressed, is not your truth but part of our collective search for intersubjective meaning.*

Ironically, believing that you are not as you should be drains you of the very life-energy that would otherwise allow you to contribute to the world.

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. A tree is a tree at five feet high or at sixty feet high; it doesn’t become worthy of being called a tree only at a specific height. It perfectly expresses its tree-ness at any stage of its growth process. Tat tvam asi, as the ancient Upanishads say—that’s how you are as well. You are perfectly human, right now. Your so-called flaws do not indicate unworthiness or deficiency any more than the dark spots on the moon indicate some kind of lunar unworthiness or deficiency. Everyone has flaws, and your unique set of flaws do not uniquely vitiate your value. Flaws are just part of being human. It’s how we’re supposed to be.