That distortion is expressed in the illusion that we are separate from everyone and everything else. Part of moha is the notion that thinking about enlightenment is sufficient for realizing it. Not a few Western practitioners have fallen prey to this error, because they failed to understand the distinction between intellectual comprehension and true understanding. The former remains on the abstract theoretical level, whereas the latter represents the influx of wisdom into the mind, which brings about genuine inner transformation followed by appropriate practical changes in our behavior. This fear can be articulated in the form of fear of another, fear of change, fear of the unknown, fear of death, and so on.
Fear undermines our innate happiness and freedom.
It can also prevent us from taking the leap into spiritual practice. We pile up things around us to conceal our sense of inadequacy and our fear and to bolster up our false sense of being an independent self or ego-personality. Like fear, greed comes in many forms, including what could be called spiritual consumerism the widespread attitude of accumulating teachers and teachings as if they were valuable collectibles. Spiritual consumerism equips us to come into possession of counterfeit spirituality only, which is never conducive to true happiness and freedom. In a spiritual context, anger shows its face in the choleric rejection of actual self-discipline as well as the teachers and teachings standing for such a discipline.