No Use Trying To Be Different

Trungpa Rinpoche

Spirituality does not exist on another level, or on a "higher plane," quite different from ordinary life, as is generally assumed. That is to say, if we are what we are, and this existence is not a real one, and we must become different to see "reality," then there is little or no hope, because spiritual development would not seem to fit with the general pattern of life. It is no use trying to be different—different from your neighbor, different from the general public. So religious or spiritual practice is not of this nature. It is not trying to be something more than you are or something better than you are, for that matter. What is known as relative truth, or the truth which exists right here, now, in our everyday life, that truth has to be accepted as the general ground, and it is also the absolute truth.