They run hither and thither, from teacher or teaching to a different teacher or teaching, from Euramerica to India, to Japan, to Indonesia, looking away from their own being for that which is the essence of that being. They are like the man who looked everywhere for his spectacles. At last he gave up the search--only to find the spectacles resting on his own nose. But his attention had first to be drawn to his nose by someone--or by the book of someone--who could see them there. These seekers are not ordinarily aware of what is continually present within them, the stillness of the centre of their being, and instead of looking there for it, they look elsewhere, or to other men. The real service which is rendered them by these others is to tell them where to look; the rest is for them to do. But the lazy, or those who want something for nothing, expect or want the gurus to do it for them--a false idea. The other great error of these confused minds is to seek from Asia what Asia is now rejecting. The best Asiatics are not rejecting its spirituality but its ignorance, superstition, unbalance, futility, narrowness, and excess of conservatism. The Westerner who adores Asia's past wants to copy it, picturing it as a golden age (which it never was). He tries to restore it for himself and in himself, becoming an ape and a parrot.
-- Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest > Chapter 3 : Independent Path > # 301
