Spiritual pursuits often involve a degree of arrogance, which needs to be overcome. However, if possible, it's best to avoid it altogether. While arrogance in interactions with others can be somewhat avoided, arrogance towards oneself is often difficult to recognize.

Arrogance tends to persist until a certain level of understanding is reached. However, the arrogance of thinking "I should understand" can be a significant pitfall for intelligent people. When someone believes they are spiritually superior or possess spiritual aptitude, they often struggle to accept their current state and, due to this arrogance, they tend to rationalize and self-affirm through convoluted logic. These excuses and self-affirmations are often constructed with such clever logic that they can involve not only oneself but also others in convoluted arguments and the creation of intricate logical worlds.

In reality, this often stems from the fact that the person has not yet reached the next stage of understanding. However, it creates a feeling that one understands the matter logically, which hinders growth.

The fundamental principle of spirituality is to see things as they are, including one's own state, whether it's something one has achieved or not, or a stage one has yet to reach or has already attained.

However, spiritual arrogance prevents one from seeing their own state as it is, and the mind (the thinking mind, or "chitta" in yoga, the tool for thinking and memory) creates an illusion that one understands.

All of this is an illusion that must be overcome. And it is something that one must realize on their own, although sometimes it can be realized through a strong shock.

So, what should be done? Perhaps by adhering to the fundamental principles that everyone knows in spirituality, one can break through these logical constructs and illusions.

The fundamentals are concentration, joy, tranquility, bliss, and ultimately, oneness. When one reaches this state, they no longer need to use their mind to rationalize things, but instead, they begin to understand things from the perspective of oneness. The mind becomes a tool for explaining oneness. Growth is hindered when the mind is used for self-justification, but when oneness takes the lead and uses the mind, the expression becomes completely different. This is not just a matter of logic; it is something that can actually happen.

Specifically, it is necessary to overcome the doctrines and dogmas of religions and sects. The teachings that are taught may contain some truth, but the direct understanding that one can obtain by directly ascending to a higher vibrational level goes beyond such verbal and logical understanding. Ultimately, what should be obtained is direct understanding, but in most cases, there are many people who say that enlightenment is achieved simply by understanding the doctrines accurately. There are frequent cases where people mistakenly believe that they have attained enlightenment simply by understanding the doctrines, and this misunderstanding is often caused by the arrogance within oneself. Sometimes, people pretend to understand things that they do not understand, such as "I should understand," and deceive themselves. And not only do they deceive themselves, but they also involve those around them and begin to behave as if they are saints, and start to incite the masses.

The doctrines expressed in words can increase vocabulary and expressions through learning, and some sects can talk quite convincing arguments. Therefore, each treatise seems to show one aspect of the truth.

However, if one has truly attained oneness, then all people (even if they are not aware of it) have already attained enlightenment, and one realizes that one is not special. In that case, it should not be possible to spread doctrines or incite people. Therefore, if someone says that they have attained enlightenment, they are basically unreliable.

Alternatively, some sects may try to make people believe that "you are not as spiritually advanced as you think, and you are still a beginner." This is also wrong, because, in reality, especially Japanese people are born with a certain level of spiritual awareness, so making them believe that they are beginners is often wrong. In this case, the level of the guru is often not that high, and they may say that because "I don't understand, so my disciples shouldn't understand," which is the guru's own arrogance. And people who have been disciples for a long time may create a hierarchy by saying that "everyone is still a beginner" to justify their own position. This is also a distorted form. By rejecting such values from others and continuing to recognize "what is," one can grow.

Depending on the school of thought, there are various distortions, and while each uses different words, they often contain some truth. However, fundamentally, it's not a very complicated matter. The problem is that if you get stuck somewhere along the way and your growth stops, your mind (the thinking mind) will twist logic, justify itself, and deceive itself, further hindering your growth. The ego, which would be better off gone, still remains and is resisting, justifying itself. Although different schools of thought say different things, this pattern is the same.

And to overcome this, you simply need to actually reach oneness.