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Recently, while talking philosophy, a friend asked me "What is your Battle?"

Language poses some considerable barriers when describing a subjective experience. I am rarely successful when attempting to describe the particulars of an insight to someone else, and struggle to convey the experience properly. Words are slippery - you can describe all you like, but you cannot communicate direct experience. Metaphor can be utilized to bridge this gap, but it demands careful placement and deep familiarity with the listener to be effective. In short, language itself can pose barriers when it comes to communicating a subjective experience.

Regardless of the difficulty in communicating a helpful answer, the implications of my friend's question are far reaching. The most striking of which was that the attainment of spiritual truth had become a barrier in and of itself. I was holding the attainment of transcendence as an object to be gained instead of an idea to be discarded. In other words, I should have been spending my time pulling down this mental barrier instead of reinforcing it.

By revisiting a particular idea regularly it becomes part of the patterning that composes our thinking. If an idea impacts the core of our thinking such as our values, personal history, and notions of who we are, it remains strongly fortified against change. Often it takes a dramatic encounter or deep insight to shake loose the holds of our conditioned responses. For many people it can take years of meditative practice to begin to let go of ingrained ideas. The most obtuse of these ideas tend to be the ones that we identify with it as a part of 'me'.

With a little mental trepidation, I began reevaluating the viewpoint that so effectively cornered me. With just four words my friend had revealed the ignorance of my thinking. Why had I been struggling so hard in spiritual warfare?  By viewing oneself as a spiritual 'warrior' one can easily draw strength and consistency while facing the rigors of emancipation. Early in meditative practice, this type of viewpoint has definite advantages. However, this is a precarious position to hold as one needs to eventually move past feeding the ego in any form. It became clear that my battle was part of the the same old self-importance that had been skewing my vision for years. The ego had been sly, subtle and effective.

One of the great strengths of transcendental training is the courage to confront and question these habitual thought patterns, and then proceed to discard the baggage. I have found it helpful to think of this process as a "spiritual ladder". Just like an ordinary ladder, one must climb one rung at a time. To move to the next rung on the ladder (or insight on one's spiritual journey), the rung must first be seen clearly, accepted, and desired. At the same time, the previous rung, (or antiquated way of thinking) must be identified as a hindrance, released, and eventually destroyed. In a sense, one must utilize the ideas that are currently available to achieve a broader viewpoint, which in turn  annihilates the former paradigm. Emancipation can be a slippery slope indeed.

So how does one go about weighing the pros and cons of these transcendental speed bumps? When challenging preconceptions it can be helpful to ask a few simple questions to get oriented in the proper direction:

• Why was the idea useful?
• Does the idea impose any burdens?
• Is the idea rewarding to the ego?
• Does the idea foster a broader view and further evolve one's way of thinking?

Transcendence is not about reinforcing the idea of being trapped in a battle, it is about being aware of the present moment. It is about dropping our old baggage and habituated ways of thinking. It is about becoming flexible and free. One must learn to use all opportunities at hand to gain useful insight.

Finding the glimmers of wisdom amongst the day to day routine of life requires vigilance. We must keep our eyes open all the time. Wisdom is available to us everywhere we look, as long as we are open enough to receive it.

Krishna can give us some poignant parting material:

"Better indeed is knowledge than mechanical practice. Better than knowledge is meditation. But better still is surrender of attachment to results, because there follows immediate peace."

- Krishna, Bhagavad Gita