I appreciate the openness and the message of Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. For me, spiritual materialism means spiritual egoism, that is, doing or expressing spiritual knowledge in order to feed my ego, promote myself, get respect or adulation. I often want to teach or be of help and usually there is some amount of spiritual egoism also present. I overcome the desire to impress in the sense of keeping that desire at least below 50%. What helps me do that and be grounded in authenticity is a sincere caring about people and their growth; learning that the other being impressed really doesn't do much for me while my being impressed by the other is satisfying; knowing that real me is independent of what others think of me and what really matters to me is what I think of myself; learning that for me loving is much more satisfying than being loved; growth in seeing the other as myself; and knowing that what I am attempting to 'teach' the other is what I am needing to develop in myself.
On Jan 11, 2020 David Doane wrote :