Measure Your Spiritual Progress
Measure your spiritual practice the way you measure anything else, because if you have been meditating for two years and you are still a jerk, it is not helping and something else is worth trying.
Dandapani argues that reason should not end where spirituality begins. People are perfectly reasonable about diet and the gym, but abandon measurement entirely when it comes to spiritual practice, and that gap is what lets shady teachers and cults operate. He offers a litmus test for any teacher or path: are they being reasonable?
What this talk covers
- The idea of measurement triggers new age spiritual people, who do not want structure, a path, rules or guidelines, while the successful people he has met live by disciplines, practices and frameworks.
- They are committed to not being committed, and devoted to not being committed.
- If you have been meditating for two years and you are still a jerk, it is obviously not helping, so try something else.
- In everyday life people are reasonable, and nobody keeps up a diet that leaves them less healthy after two years, but with spirituality reason goes out the window.
- Ending reason is how leaders gain control over people and how cults form, so one litmus test for a teacher or path is whether he or she is reasonable, and if not, move on.
If you're meditating for two years and you're still a jerk, well, obviously it's not helping. Let's try something else.Dandapani
Questions
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Yes. He asks why spirituality would be exempt from measurement when everything else in life is measured. If two years of meditation has not changed how you behave, it is not working.
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One good litmus test is whether he or she is reasonable. If a teacher is not saying something reasonable, it is best to move on and find somebody else.
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Because when reason ends, a leader has far more control over people. As a monk in the monastery told him, reason should not end where spirituality begins.
Transcript
620 words · 3:30
I think that's one of the most profound things from you too is that idea of measurement. That probably triggers a lot of other spiritual people. Triggers all the spiritual people because the new age spiritual people don't like structure. They don't want a path.
They don't want rules. They don't want guidelines. All the successful people I've met with are so extremely disciplined. Their life is filled with guidelines and practices and rules and frameworks.
spiritual people, none of that. And they are committed to not being committed. And they're extremely devoted. They have so much devotion to not being committed. So when you talk to them about measuring your meditation, your spiritual unfolding, I'm like, what is this? Why should you measure it? What do you think it's business? Like, yeah, if you're meditating for two years
and you're still a jerk, well, obviously it's not helping. Let's try something else. It's a great point. I mean, seriously, right? I mean, why meditate after two years and you're still a jerk?
Right. Yeah. I mean, this idea of like, are you still a jerk? And is your life changing in a way that is positive because of your actions?
I mean, could you imagine doing a diet and working out and you're fatter and more unhealthy and you have more sickness and you go, I'm going to keep doing this? You wouldn't. You wouldn't?
Yes. You know, Cody, it's really interesting. In real life, in the world, since they're not real life, in the world, people are very reasonable. Like you said, if you go to the gym and you're doing all these diets and everything,
and after two years, nothing changes, you probably wouldn't do it. But when it comes to spirituality, all reason goes out the window and people become so extremely unreasonable. And reason shouldn't end where spirituality begins. As one of the monks in the monastery had this quote, Reason shouldn't end where spirituality begins.
But if you end reason, you have more control over people. Because that's when spiritual leaders can be dodgy, can be shady and create cults. Let's all wear Nike shoes, go on a barn
and set ourselves on fire. That sounds like a brilliant idea. No reason. No, yeah, there's nothing quantitative.
No, now you become a cult and you do whatever you want to do. And that's where you have to be so careful in the spiritual path.
And one good litmus test to see if that path or a spiritual teacher is valid and not dodgy is to see if he or she is reasonable or not. If they're not saying something reasonable,
best to move on and find somebody else. It's a great, great point. And I love the interweaving of it into business and everything else in life,
because it all does seem like part of the practice. And I always like that about your teaching too, because I think one of my personal beliefs is that business is one of the great practices because you have to keep getting better. You have a daily, weekly, monthly scoreboard on if you're better or not.
You will always have massive terrible challenges no matter how big you get. In fact, maybe higher levels, higher doubles in some ways. And so it's this game of like, when things are always going wrong, you have to figure out how could you be some sort of eye in the storm.
the things that really used to trigger me a year ago, not so triggering now, 10 years ago, irrelevant. But I'm still triggered all the time, because I have new stimulus, you know? And so I love that idea.