Spiritual exoticism

Within certain spiritual circles they seem to think the East offers more spirituality than the West. There is however little truth in this assumption. In any society it's just as easy or difficult to find spirituality.

It's not because one can see statues of Gods on every corner or because cows can walk around freely that the East would have more intense spirituality than the West.

In India there are of course guru's of all sorts, but that doesn't mean that most of them also uphold a true and thorough spirituality. Whether it's a small-time guru who preaches every Sunday to some people from the neighbourhood in a tiny cave of a forgotten pilgrimage spot or whether it's a big guru with a shiny Jesus-look who draws many celebrities to his post-modern ashram by use of a proficient PR department, their enlightenment is not assured at all. On the contrary.

To delve deeper into Eastern spirituality one has to scrape away many layers of obsolete tradition and obvious quackery. On top of it one has to remove the Western commercialisation of spirituality which, by now, has infected the East just as much.

Of course there still are enough ashrams where a true Hindu spirituality is lived, but then again, the spiritual force they carry within themselves, can just as well be found in, let's say, a Trappist monastery in Flanders.

Yet there are but few westerners that take the effort of staying in a Trappist monastery for a while to let themselves be filled by the spirituality that resides in such a dwelling. They rather buy books about one or another esoteric subject that promises a so called secret knowledge. In the same way few Indians (or Western meaning-seekers in India) go to ashrams of true spiritual masters, like for example the ashram of Vinoba, the spiritual successor of Mahatma Gandhi. They rather swallow the glitter and glamour of a quick road to enlightenment, offered to them by the new and trendy export-guru who uses his journalistic connections to show his 'divine' smile as broadly as possible on television.

So what's the use of these considerations? Do I wish to downgrade the concept of Eastern guru's? Most certainly not. My respect for some of them is quite huge. I simply want to draw the reader's attention to a double advice which every spiritual seeker should keep in mind: the one who seeks it to fast, will be cheated, the one who seeks it to far, cheats himself.

Do not let yourself be tricked by some glittering spiritual promises, but also don't think that it can't be found in certain places. The one who seeks will find. In every society, in every religion, in every continent. It can perhaps take some effort to get rid of rusted habits, empty promises and unfair commerce, but deep spirituality can be discovered everywhere.