5 Ways to Be Self-Sufficient and Make Yourself a Spiritual Powerhouse

After 20 years of searching for a teacher I came to these truths

There is one person responsible for your own development.

It is not your teacher.

From the Buddha as recorded in the Attadippaa Sutta:

Monks, be islands unto yourselves, be your own refuge, having no other.

The Buddha empathetically states that a person needs to be self-reliant.

While over history the complete opposite has been purposely imposed on the masses. Organizations, religions, and philosophy alike have encouraged people to gather in numbers. Follow externally imposed rules and regulations.

Free thinking and original thinking have been discouraged.

Why I decided to be self-sufficient

When you are not self-sufficient you are dependent on another. When you are dependent on another person you have no choice over your decision-making process. If you do attempt to make your own decisions you will be plagued by doubt and insecurity.

Being self-sufficient means you have the means and have developed the attitude required to provide for your own needs without outside assistance.

Furthermore, Buddha goes on to say in the Kalama Sutta:

‘Don’t go by reports, legends, traditions, scripture, logical conjecture, inference, analogy, agreement through pondering views, probability, or by the thought ‘this contemplative is our teacher’

How to be self-sufficient

1. Objective — allows you to know be swayed by biases

2. Honesty — be truthful with yourself as to what is going on inside yourself. The Indian word is Satyagraha. This term coined by Gandhi means holding firm to truth.

3. Independence — while considering various points of view but influenced unconsciously by none.

4. Question — don’t accept things based on an authoritative figure’s say so.

5. Acting out — don’t solely follow a direction or thought based on it feeling good. Similarly don’t avoid something because you don’t like it.

To not do these things means you will be living in a world of self-deception.

Food, clothing and shelter — these are basic needs. Beyond that, if you want anything, it is the beginning of self-deception

U. G. Krishnamurti

The reason why people admire others that have had the courage to walk alone is they wish to do it themselves. The reason why you despise original thinkers is that on a subconscious level you have not embraced that aspect of yourself.

You are in a constant state of seeking freedom. As you mistake yourself to be incomplete in some way. The reason you seek to continually seek and fulfill desires is to have a momentary sense of completeness.

Only you can awaken to your true nature. This cannot be done by a teacher or scripture for you. Self-sufficiency promotes ownership and responsibility for your own development and transformation.

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