can get knowledge. There is even such opinion that self-realization is not possible without guru. However this statement becomes contradictory if you will study comparative Eastern traditions. For example, the original form of Buddhism (Hinayana, or Theravada) supposes enlightenment by your own efforts only; while Zen tradition (Mahayana) converts this suggestion into extreme judgment: “If you meet the Buddha, kill him!” A similar position in Western self-awareness was developed by the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates. He rejected initiation into the mysteries, but later Pyphia of the main temple declared that namely, he was the wisest among men! Modern people are not able to follow a guru thanks to self-confidence, and this quality really finds the best soil for their growing in the East. Yet we do not ask to reject traditional knowledge, because people have different dispositions or tendencies. We have to learn how to use them without losing our own base in Self. Another example from Theravada Buddhism: enlightenment is your personal achievement; and it developed many practical techniques how to do it!
To be in the state of presence means to understand the cultural variety in a society. Now actually in any country, a person exists in a multicultural space where Christian churches, Hindu temples, Buddhist pagodas, and Muslim mosques are built closely while people study Yoga, Tai-Chi, Reiki etc. and all them are mixed in families and in a society. Each spiritual tradition has its own theoretical system for the interpretation and description of the world and a practical strategy for self-realization or liberation from the world. Each person follows his own system, working out strategies for interaction with other people. All systems are dualistic: “this or that’; while strategy is algorithmic: “if – that’. A system has a fixed structure, while strategy is dynamic, we have to choose from moment to moment. Obviously, now most people are interested in a strategy even without studying or constructing a system. In the cyber era it is common to use algorisms practically. Spirituality has united with practice in the notion of “spiritual practice’ in East separated from practical philosophy of “will and good’ in West. We try to restore balance between understanding and activity, abstracting a common “self-being strategy’ for reflection of multiple structures and orientation in a complex cultural space which you cannot already escape. Borders of cultural traditions become more transparent being penetrated by illumination of all-embracive true Reality.
You know, it is important HOW to do – not WHAT to do; no matter, what cultural traditions appear in the field of our activity or where we are ourselves. It is essential to develop main parameters for personal reflection which are characteristic for all systems. At the same time, we need to develop a strategy that can be used with any traditional techniques in order to work with the necessary aspects in a surrounding world. Anyway, being present, you always understand the current situation in a particular way as a starting point. Usually, at the beginning you may have a particular goal which can be achieved step by step, and you can create some program for your activity (probably, also one for the rest of your life). However, when you become closer to your goal, your understanding becomes clear, and your vision of the goal becomes more direct too. Then we see what is the next step we can make in our new presence. A guru can help you but your self-confidence is more valuable. If you understand something by your own, nobody will take it from you. But if a guru handles everything, you can decide nothing – and you cannot learn how to choose for yourself. I remind the example of Siddhartha in German Hesse’s novel: meeting alive the Buddha, he recognized Him as a realized person. But he continued his own way until he reached self-realization by his own efforts.
We could give many similar examples but the essence is the same: a saint can be recognized by a saint only. Even if you accept somebody as your guru, namely YOU are responsible for your choice – not him. Anyway, this is the act of surrendering which has no guarantee, at least at the conscious level, because your surrendering is based on the intuition that you will be guided. You believe in him due to your own feeling or someone’s recommendation or his position in tradition. At this moment you also deal with the presence and the personal choice of your ultimate goal. You feel that the person is similar to your ideal of self-realization, and if you follow him you will become like him. Sure, it works. You can put responsibility on your guru for the further process of self-realization. But then again – this is YOUR choice. So, you will be responsible if you will reach the goal or not. There are pluses and minuses in any case. If you choose a real master, you will get many practical instructions about WHAT to do in order to see Reality without wasting time in research; maybe you will get initiated to experience HOW to see Reality without your own efforts (shaktipat etc.) jumping into an advanced state. However, even if your guru is “real’ he will decide for you everything and you cannot develop your own buddhi (ability to discriminate between real and unreal) but always use his ready-made knowledge. For instance, in Vajrayana you will rebuild your whole structure and become recognized as a Lama. But nobody can promise that you will become Buddha. This is your own chance.
Nevertheless, we must be aware that looking for Reality without any intermediate is not always respected by people. Most traditions have a line of gurus with “rules of recognizance’ while self-development can be based only on your own “insights of recognizance’… Remember how many saints started in this way only to be respected at the end. Ramakrishna was treated as “mad man’; Ramana Maharshi was beaten with stones and became an object of jokes; Sri Aurobindo was proclaimed by his shot-time guru as “embodiment of evil’; Satya Sai has million devotees while millions laugh at him as a charlatan. I am giving extreme examples but in the case of an “ordinary person’ who decided for himself – to be or not to be a disciple of this or that guru – nobody will care to understand him. Even worldwide religions fight in the same way: Christians often call Buddhism as Satanism etc. So, the choice is a private deal. Finally, it can end without result, and such person would have not attained anymore than his own experience which nevertheless can be a step for further self-development.
I. Timing and Spacing
It is a sort of philosophical banality that all our sensual experience is limited by two formal structures of perception – time and space. From the Eastern point of view we have a lot of time because of the theory of reincarnation: people can wait for many lives to do something good or to improve the present life. From the Western point of view, we always have lack of time for the spiritual experience, because we are so occupied by all forms of business, while our eternal consciousness, (since in the Christian tradition our soul is eternal) does not need to do anything for our self-realization, and keeps us in complete spiritual stagnation. While traveling many years in Asia doing my cultural research the notion of “timing’ was very useful. Timing is a complex notion that includes many perspectives: “a period’ (for a particular activity), “set’ (chosen chain of actions), “synchronism’ (harmonization of our actions with going on events or social programs), “success’ (sudden connection of personally reaching a goal with a common benefit for others), “fate’ (accident, mystical meeting etc.), “end’ (death as the final point of a biological life or of any form of physical process). So, timing is time as such in its flowing, conscious of time current, subjective feeling of changing. To be in proper time in proper place (space) – means to get everything in proper order. This is active intuition of actual chance, or just psychological ability to be “here and now’. Usually, you can find many cultural descriptions and parallels.
Among philosophical systems, “time’ as pure form of sensual experience was exposed very clearly and specific in “Criticism’ by Kant; and “time’ as an active form containing data of perception – in “Phenomenology’ by Husserl. However, spiritual practitioners are less interested in time structure in the world. They are intending to become aware of aggregates as all periods in historical time inclusive in one consciousness. This is the ideal of knowing about all cosmic events and human destinies (like in astrology and the low of karma), not only just the form but also the content of each process. Such goal changes the acceptance of time from the very start of their way in a spiritual practice. That is why the lives of saints are full of mystic happenings during their development even before achievement