Spirit Guides

I've put off writing this post off for a while now. Practices 1-5 I found relatively easy to write. Practice 7 is a wonderland of insight, practices 8-10 are really eye opening, but I am struggling with practice 6. Some practices translate well and some, like practice 6, might require me/us to reach a little more for commonality. With that rather ominous introduction, practice #6.

When relying on the sacred spiritual friend, our faults become exhausted
And our good qualities increase like the waxing moon.
It is the practice of bodhisattvas to value such a sacred spiritual friend
As more precious than their own body.

There is an agrarian analogy used to describe the path to enlightenment. A human birth is like the fertile field, yet it is not nearly enough to yield the fruit of enlightenment. Many other conditions are necessary for the production of fruit, and one of the more critical conditions is the right spiritual friend. A spiritual friend is a mentor and a teacher. Finding the right teacher is a tough process, and a rarity in human form. However, when one has found the right person, perfect trust, faith, obedience and service is given to that spiritual friend. In return the spiritual friend nurtures and instructs the follower. The three poisons are reduced and the three good qualities (study, meditation and reflection) are fostered. These spiritual friends are great masters themselves, so even being in their presence can help us. Because we cannot attain enlightenment without the guidance of a spiritual friend they are even more valuable than our body.

I'm a bit of a loner. I like to figure things out on my own. I don't like being dependent on other people. Recently, I've worked a lot harder at being more integrated and interdependent with the rest of creation, but I still get uncomfortable at the sound of placing perfect trust, faith or obedience in a person. By and large my military experience was positive, but one of the scars I left with was a distinct lack of faith in any human's ability to make good decisions consistently (me included and perhaps especially). Couple my doubt with a tradition whose canon is closed and real suspicion arises. Early Christians had a rather negative response to the practice of spiritual friends because it was associated with Gnostics. Gnosticism claimed Jesus taught certain topics secretly to certain privileged individuals. These secret teachings could only be transferred via spiritual teachers. Furthermore, these secret teachings were tied up in the Gnostic belief of Docetism, or that Christ was not really incarnate. So when Irenaeus of Lyons succeeded in his hereticizing of Gnosticism, the spiritual teacher was removed from the necessary conditions for salvation. I believe I am on solid ground when I say that most of who call ourselves Christian believe that salvation is not dependent on a spiritual guide. However...
Necessity and efficiency are two very different things. While it may be possible to reach salvation free of a spiritual teacher, it is probably easier to "get by with a little help from our friends." Priests, preachers, deacons, lay leaders and Sunday school teachers are the first folks who come to mind. Any individuals who we recognize as farther down the Way of the Cross than us can benefit us. To ignore such a resource would be a waste. We don't even need to put perfect trust or faith in them, but maybe we should put more faith in them than in ourselves. At least when it comes to issues where we know ourselves to be ignorant. Another avenue is illuminated in the words of the Buddhist master Jayula, "Study all the life examples of the sacred ones; they are my inspirations." Spiritual friends don't have to be alive. Anyone who has a "St." before their name could probably help us down the Way. While I still can't go so far as to place perfect faith in a human, I can recognize that I personally need a little help from those more spiritual advanced than myself. So in the spirit of the 6th Practice let me say thanks to Jesus, St Paul, St James, St Christopher, St Josaphat (more on this one later), Maggie, Bob, Howard, Dad, Troy, Noni, Fr. Hesburgh, Thomas Merton, CS Lewis and everyone else who has in some way pointed the right direction down the Way or helped shoulder my spiritual load.