Westerners in Spirituality
The other day I head a comment by a friend. Initially I agreed it, since it fits my automatic mental framework. Nevertheless following Krisnamurtis advice I set out to observe and follow that idea.
He won’t trust a westerner working with sacred medicinal plants. Specifically Ayahuasca. 98% of times this comment is probably right. At least when talking about ancient practices, those that were transferred from teacher to student with decades of training in native environments. Trainings that most of the times started at age 7 and lasted until age 30. There is not way to compare this ancient legacy with the hybrid training of the western shamanism.
But please, drama, emotions and controversy is not the goals of this essay. Clarity is, if we are clear in our experience so far then no need to argue or convince anyone it. I and I, am not sure at all of any of this.
The topic I set out to discover is my preconception about western spirituality, and since most of the time we value more “eastern” or “native” spirituality and label it as the original one, what could I be missing out because of it.
This preconception that makes me judge without any other reason that the birthplace of that persons affect how they can influence my life.
Magical moments have defined my entire life. But I have learned that the most impactful of them all, came from people.
I find myself being disrespectful to the source of such magic by pre-selecting who is part of that incredible gift of inspiration, and thinking that the place where those persons were born and worst yet how they look somehow affect the meaningfulness of their impact.
Again as Krisnamurti often says, this is not to be taken cynically or lightly. There is a path that must be walked by anyone that want’s to be an inspiration to others. It’s a difficult path of many decades that becomes part of the presence of that person. It can’t be faked, and it’s easily felt.
What I am trying to say is that I realized that labelling a person as a westerner/easterner, specially someone on the path, does little good to the final goal of finding the persons that will help me walk and find my own path.