The Importance of Spiritual Elders

The most precious value that the world religions have in common is their accumulated experience of the spiritual journey. Centuries of Seekers have discovered and lived its conditions, temptations, trials, development, and final integration. This wealth of personal experience of the transcendent bears witness to the historical grounding of our contemporary search. It is not just a passing fad. At the same time, this vast reservoir of practical wisdom inherited from the past raises an important question for Seekers: Can one transcend the empirical ego and false self without plugging into the spiritual tradition of one of the world’s religions [or other spiritual paths]?

Rory McEntee and Adam Bucko
from The New Monasticism; An Interspiritual Manifesto for Contemplative Living