The problem is that ego can convert anything to its own use, even spirituality.
Interpretation
Ego can distort true spirituality, using it for selfish purposes rather than genuine growth.
This quote by Chogyam Trungpa suggests that the ego has the power to manipulate and exploit various aspects of life, including spirituality. True spiritual understanding and growth should come from a place of humility and selflessness, yet the ego often seeks to turn these noble pursuits into means for personal gain or validation, ultimately undermining their true essence.
In practice
During a meditation retreat discussing the true essence of spirituality.
Meditation _x000D_ practice begins by sitting down and assuming your seat cross-legged on _x000D_ the ground. You begin to feel that by simply being on the spot, your _x000D_ life can become workable and even wonderful. You realize that you are _x000D_ capable of sitting like a king or queen on a throne. The regalness of _x000D_ that situation shows you the... dignity that comes from being still and _x000D_ simple.
If you must begin then go all the way, because if you begin and quit, the unfinished business you have left behind begins to haunt you all the time.
The basics teachings of Buddha are about understanding what we are, who we are, why we are. When we begin to realize what we are, who we are, why we are, then we begin to realize what we are not, who we are not, why we are not. We begin to realize that we don't have basic, substantial, solid, fundamental ground that we can exert anymore. We begin to realize that our ideas of security and our concept of freedom have been purely phantom experiences.
Warriorship does not refer to making war on others. Aggression is the source of our problems, not the solution. Warriorship is the tradition of human bravery, or the tradition of fearlessness.
Our life is an endless journey; it is like a broad highway that extends infinitely into the distance. The practice of meditation provides a vehicle to travel on that road. Our journey consists of constant ups and downs.
But again and again, we should reflect back to the darkness of the cocoon. In order to inspire ourselves forward, we must look back to see the contrast with the place we came from. You see, we cannot reject the world of the cocoon - which out which we may create a new cocoon. When we see the suffering that occured in the old cocoon, that inspires us to go forward in our journey of warriorship. It is a journey that is unfolding within us.
The person who finds peace inside and lives it, is the one who teaches what true peace is.
It may be enough to study history in all its nuance and ambiguity for its own sake. But there is no country free of the need to find new ways of reading the past as an inspiring way of thinking about everything else, including the present.
Whenever you're wrong, admit it; Whenever you're right, shut up.
We have to embrace the good over the bad. That has to be one's personal project.
To return to the books of my childhood is to yield to the strain of nostalgia that is curious about the self I once was.
The spiritual path is one of falling on your face, getting up, brushing yourself off, turning and looking sheepishly at God and then taking the next step.
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