Unsent Letter #19: Qualifications of the Aspirant: Discrimination

November, 2007

Dear Friend

The fact is that you feel that something is missing. That feeling arose in you at some point and now you are more or less actively searching for the solution to that perceived problem. That is how and why you are an aspirant. Now that you are a seeker, how are you going to know which direction to go and how are you going to know what is right for you? That ability in you to distinguish real from false and to tell up from down is called "discrimination."

Lack of discrimination leads many seekers into useless and unquestioning acceptance of a teaching or adoration of the guru as though he or she were infallible. Such seekers will hesitate to interpret the guru's utterances in light of their own experiences or even to change one word of what was said. They prefer the security of being the disciple of a great Master than the uncertainty of trying to find out for themselves what is behind the words. These disciples may be very devoted and may make efforts but they have difficulty in feeling the conviction that yes, this can really work for me. They think that ultimately enlightenment is for somebody else, but not for them. Because they do not feel it is possible, it becomes impossible.

Other seekers tend the opposite way and go from one teacher to another, unable to accept any one of them. Or they hear about some scandal relating to the teacher and feel that he or she cannot have anything to teach them after all. This also shows lack of discrimination. Without a well-developed sense of discrimination, everything appears to be on the same level. It is hard to distinguish between the saint and the charlatan. The main feeling here is doubt and uncertainty. "How can I be sure this is right for me?" It becomes impossible to make a commitment. Without commitment, there is stagnation.

In both cases: the adoring devotee and the guru-shopper, lack of discrimination is the problem. In both cases, the chief symptom is an absence of burning questions; in the first case, because it is enough to recall what the guru has already said, and, in the second, because there is no commitment to any teaching/language in which a question can be formulated.

It is also possible to meet seekers who are not asking any questions because they feel that they already have the answers. These seekers are characterized by a complacency and a lack of urgency. This usually happens because they have fallen into the trap of thinking that knowledge is sufficient. Such "seekers" have not really begun seeking at all. Like people trapped in a pleasant dream, they are not actually looking for anything anymore. Discrimination is necessary to understand that knowledge is not enough.

Discrimination brings with it the feeling that ideas, however profound, are unsatisfying, even, somehow, misleading. Consequently, there is an urge to find out for oneself what is Truth, what is Reality. Association with a teacher, however great he or she may be, is seen to be ultimately useless if it is not transcended by one's own attainment of greatness. All true teachers wish this for their students and disciples--otherwise they would not teach. With discrimination, it becomes possible. Without discrimination, there is no end to spiritual seeking.

A.