Nevertheless, and paradoxically, this protracted and disappointing experience had been necessary for my spiritual education. I therefore thank Fate for having sent it to me. It strongly revealed the futility of expecting to find truth in an institution and not by one's own solitary striving. It delineated the limitations of discipleship as against the vital need for individual effort, for the disciple is often satisfied that he is progressing when he is merely copying his master by wearing the same clothes, eating the same food, and parrot-like uttering the same phrases. In this tropically enervated country it was a common and dangerous delusion that you had only to find a master and then sit down, basking in the sunshine of his presence, while he wafted you into Nirvana for evermore.
-- Notebooks Category 12: Reflections > Chapter 2 : Philosophy and Contemporary Culture > # 151
