ASK ABDI: SEEKING HELP FROM TEACHERS?

QUESTION: I just listened to the podcast episode of your recent meditation talk and was wondering about your comment on not seeking help from teachers. Can you clarify?

ANSWER: My poorly made point in the statement about teachers was not that we abstain from seeking help from them, rather that we can get stuck in the seeking and not in the application of the teaching. Intellectual understanding is not enough; we need to apply the teachings to get the benefit. Most of us collect recipes without cooking or eating, and hence are starving.