“All methods are traps.” - Ram Dass
The answers to all of my spiritual questions are not in The Work or in Buddhism or Jesus or psychotherapy or in any other method.
They are in me.
The methods are just ways to bring me into contact with my innate human wisdom, the wisdom we all have inside us. Any way that brings me into contact with my innate human wisdom will do the trick—and then will immediately cease to be helpful. Because it is not the method that knows. It’s me.
I notice that I can get into trouble when a method succeeds at revealing my wisdom to me because I can innocently and mistakenly attach to the method instead of the wisdom.
But I see that innate human wisdom (which is always there, just waiting to be uncovered) knows exactly what to do, has no fear, and has no need for post-mortems or planning or strategy.
It simply abides in what is.
A method is like an usher showing me to my seat. If I love my seat, I don’t follow the usher back up the aisle. No, I thank them for their help and let them go. I’m where I’m supposed to be now.
If I get lost again, I can always find another usher. They’re everywhere. And if one usher isn’t getting me to my seat, I can try another.
Because my seat is the thing, not the usher.
And when I find my seat, I’ll see that my seat is unique to me. It’s for me and no one else. So comparison does me no good. There is no better seat for me.
And I’ll also notice I’ve never left my seat, that it’s impossible to ever leave it, except in my mind. I’m always exactly where I’m supposed to be. I’ve just been confused and mentally off somewhere else, missing the gift of my always-perfect placement in the universe.
All a good “usher” (method) is ever doing is revealing to me the eternal perfection of the seat right under my butt.