A Lot of Talk About Spirituality - The Little Prince Series

Continuing Insight from The Little PrincePeople love this sort of thing.
Have you found that there aren't too many peopleAs I commented in The Compassionate Eye a few
you can talk meaningfully with about the deep issuesdays ago, it gives them an "aha!" sensation because
of life?the story reflects what they are feeling inside
This was the experience of the little boy, now grownthemselves. They too see themselves as "seekers."
into a man whose career is that of a pilot.But let's not confuse this with becoming present.
Occasionally he would come across a person whoI have listened to all kinds of "spiritual teachers" over
appeared to be fairly "clear-sighted," as he put it. He'sthe years, each of them promising some form of
referring to someone who seems to be somewhatenriched life, whether achieved through meditation or
aware-we might say conscious.through following "laws of attraction."
The pilot would show this seemingly conscious personNone of this has to do with presence-with
his Drawing Number One. Did the person have realconsciousness.
understanding?As the story of The Little Prince shows, most people
If the individual concluded that the drawing was of aare stuck in the constriction of the boa mentality.
hat, then the pilot didn't go any deeper intoAnd I am including the vast majority who are
conversation with this individual but talked aboutinvolved in a religion of some sort, whether Western
surface issues such as bridge, sports, politics, andor Eastern-yes, and just about everyone who is
fashion-the things the average person talks about."seeking."
The grown boy who had at age six drawn a boaAntoine de Saint-Exupery, who wrote The Little
constrictor from the outside and the inside toPrince back in 1944, got it right. What passes for
represent what society was doing to his true self"enlightenment" in most cases isn't enlightenment at
had enough sense to realize that most people areall. What goes under the label of "spirituality" much of
locked in the grip of social constriction and knowthe time has nothing to do with a true understanding
nothing of real consciousness. So he would talk onlyof what it is to be spiritual.
about the kinds of things that interest unconsciousI am just dumbfounded by the number of people I
people.meet who go around and around on the same issues
I come across a great many who appear to beyear after year, still seeking instead of finding-and
"clear-sighted." They talk about being awakewho are actually proud to wear the badge of a
spiritually. They say they are pursuing consciousness"seeker."
and becoming enlightened.I listen to all of the talk about channeling, about
They read books on spirituality, listen to CDs andprosperity teaching and abundance, about laws of
watch DVDs about personal growth, pray orattraction, and I watch how rarely people who
meditate, go to talks by spiritual teachers, and attendpursue these teachings appear to simply be fully
retreats.present, right here, in the now.
Yet I find that the pilot got it right: few who seemAs Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount concerning
to be on a spiritual path really are.the conscious path, "Few there be who find it." The
That's why, I suggest, so many millions havevast majority who seem as though they are "awake"
resonated with the book (and now the movie) Eat,really just talk about it, not live it.
Pray, Love, which has all the trappings of being aConsciousness is about being our natural self,
spiritual journey. But does it really lead us into theunaffected, without pretense, authentic in every
awareness and stillness of consciousness, so that weway-the very thing most spiritual "paths" (read
are present in every aspect of our life?"circular") are designed to help us avoid.