Introduction to the Four Steps of Spirituality (1)

The Spiritual Quartet is four books written by American Jed McKenna: "Spiritual Enlightenment is Not What You Think", "Spiritual Collision", "Spiritual Self-War", "Enlightenment" "The truth of life in the eyes of readers".

1.

In the book, Jed regards himself as an enlightened person, and what he talks about spiritual practice and life, which I have been exposed to, is quite reasonable. Chapter 1 In the book "Spiritual Enlightenment Is Not What You Think", he pointed out that the people who are most passionate about spiritual practice are the least likely to be enlightened, because what they want is not to wake up, but to continue sleeping better! Thinking about it, I have read dozens of spiritual books and meditated, but my life has not changed much, although I slept well after meditating, hahaha. During regular meditation, the tolerance for life is improved, and the feeling of happiness and stability is enhanced, but it is just that it is better to muddle along and get by. On the contrary, after resigning, I traveled around and felt that life is really interesting and that this is fun, although now I don’t meditate regularly or practice yoga. In the first part, he said that enlightenment is impossible to explain clearly. We can only truly understand it by seeing and enlightening ourselves. Combining the examples he gave in the following parts is like saying goodbye to someone who has never seen fire. He couldn't fully understand what a lot of fire was like. He wouldn't really understand until he saw the fire and roasted it.

2.

Let’s go directly to the introduction of the second part "Spiritual Collision": the author Jed became enlightened, and his enlightenment was achieved by "understanding the truth" . Therefore, his path to enlightenment is extremely simple: sit down, eliminate distracting thoughts, and ask yourself what is real until you know for sure. He called this method "spiritual self-analysis." In this book, a spirituality magazine reporter who has studied with many gurus uses this method to achieve awakening. He also believed that Moby-Dick was the most useful spiritual book ever written. It is not a whaling or ocean adventure story, but a process of spiritual pursuit. "Moby-Dick" is the author Melville's spiritual self-analysis. So in this book, Jed contrasts the human beings, the ocean, and the white whale in "Moby Dick" with the self, the universe, and delusions respectively, allowing you to see the bloody awakening process of eliminating illusion and self. This is Jade's version of enlightenment: there is no strange power or chaos, no reliance on any external force, but the use of "spiritual self-analysis" to attack the "self" and plunge oneself into extreme despair with no way out and no retreat. You must walk this path of awakening on your own and cannot rely on external forces; fortunately, you do not need to rely on external forces. And when the self undergoes a fierce spiritual collision, it will inevitably be unable to maintain its original appearance, even if it doesn't change.

Maybe at this moment, you saw the truth...