icky spiritual teachings

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I have to admit that it can leave me as cranky and hissing as a wet cat -- the use by the 'benevolent' (and only occasionally manipulative, right?) expositors of spiritual life of the words "we" and "one."

So cozy, so warming, so humble, so gentle, so compassionate ... and so full of shit!

"We do this..." or "we think that..." and isn't it all a matter that "one" might consider within his or her spiritual efforts?

Of course the use of the word "I" is avoided like the plague ... ego, dontcha know, is the villain in the compassionate and clarifying business of spiritual effort. Woo-hoo! I steer clear of "I." See how nimbly I duck and cover ... see how smoothly I defend myself from the well-laid observation that I am an egotistical nitwit? If I use the word "we" or "one," I can pretend that I am including myself in whatever observation I might be making ... and yet, by making the observation, I am standing apart from what I oozingly claim to be a part of... standing like some pink, plump, Oxbridge-educated, British aristocrat excusing himself from any involvement in the latest calamity. Ah, the absolution of it all!

Ick, ick and more ick!

What the fuck is the matter with the words "I" or "me" or "mine?" Honesty is sometimes considered a spiritual imperative, so why not a little honesty? But of course honesty is expensive and the collection plate might lose its heft without "we" and "us" and "one."

As I see it, we are all friends pursuing a similar direction, sometimes referred to as "spiritual." Ego needs to be investigated on the one hand and, on the other, ego is all that is available to work with. It's not a big deal. I state my opinions and conclusions, you state yours. I take or decline to take a lesson from you. You take or decline to take a lesson from me.

I think we are friends.

I will try not to lie ... even if lying is one of my A+ skill sets.
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