eternal awareness
You cannot proceed down the deeper aspects of the inner path without a teacher. It is impossible.
This is because we have no frame of reference or sense of navigation. It’s like being set adrift in the middle of the ocean with no compass, no knowledge of stars, currents or navigation; it’s being a ship without a rudder. Actually, it is worse than that. It’s all of that, in pitch black darkness, and you are dizzy.
I think many people resent having to have a teacher. I know that I did. Sometimes I still do.
I remember a student who could no longer hold this resentment inside. She was with a group of other students, attending a lecture on the principle of balance. I could identify with her outburst.
“I just don’t understand why I can’t just GET this!!!” she shrilly exclaimed. She was extremely angry with the teacher.
She was demanding the teacher to somehow magically give her the benefits that only come about with hard work and devotion. She was asking to be given “enlightenment” now. What she never realized was that she was being given enlightenment… right now. She failed to see this because the last thing she wanted to do was look at the things that were keeping her stuck in her current position. But I understood what she meant.
So, what does having a teacher mean? What is it like, what should we be looking for?
1. You should find a qualified teacher. To do that, you need to at least have a sense of what qualities define such a teacher.
2. You must learn to devote yourself to following your teacher’s instructions, guidance, corrections and directions. If you have a hard time with this, then you have two choices: Either dig in and learn it, and by learning it start to realize the benefits and wisdom of trusting your teacher; or, be considerate and go away. Don’t waste this teacher’s time.
3. You must learn to trust your teacher’s insight more than your own, because this is the only way you can learn how to find your own, deeper inner connection. For all of your posturing, this is an unavoidable truth. It is part of the process of learning to tune and fine-tune deeper inner discernment. This doesn’t mean that your teacher knows more about certain things than you do; it means that your teacher knows more about the deeper path than you do.
4. Your teacher represents the greatest manifestation of the divine in your life. The teacher is a brighter light, and should be respected as such.
5. The teacher should always be respected. This should be deeply sincere. The depth of your sincerity will limit how deep you will be able to go on the path. There are other limitations, but this is a basic one. If you are not sincere, than you need to work on sincerity.
6. At times, your teacher will make you feel uncomfortable, apprehensive, fearful, doubtful, angry, frustrated, nervous, upset, embarrassed and ashamed. This is because you are too hesitant to deal with the causes of underlying issues without the teacher’s guidance. By working through these issues you will experience genuine progress along the path of harmony and eternal awareness.
7. If you find yourself in a situation with your teacher, where you are thinking that it would be better if you just have a heart attack or stroke and die, because there is nothing you want to avoid in life more than this particular lesson, you should reconsider. Because it is possible that you may find your teacher looking you straight in the eyes when you emerge on the other side of death.
8. You cannot possibly repay your teacher, but you should always strive to value and appreciate your teacher. The word ‘appreciation’ is used in the sense of money in a bank account collecting interest or growing in value: your teacher’s investment should be appreciated.
9. If after being a student for a few months or years or decades, you decide that you no longer need a teacher… you still need a teacher.
10. If you are uncertain what to do, think of your teacher.
12 Responses to “do I really need a teacher?”
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I believe in teachers. I never had a spiritual teacher...but then i'm not sure that is true, if i learn from everything around me. I can learn from plants, animals, children, adults, the energy i feel from different places...if i feel good or bad from a certain place. I think its call Instinct or your gut feeling. is that a teacher? I think it would be awesome to have a spiritual teacher you can trust. "trust". I have trouble with that. I'm happy that you found a great teacher and that you can share with us stuff you learn. I enjoyed that picture in the post under this one...the old man and woman. you look closer and see two young ones!
Keep blogging and thank you!
Very sound advice, Mark. It has become somewhat fashionable among present-day seekers to declare that the Guru is within or that life is the Guru, and so on. What one fails to realize is that these are excuses the mind puts forward to avoid working on some ugly aspects of one's inner Being which will crop up when rapid acceleration of growth occurs in the company of the Master, and the tumors of the ego are exposed by the Master.
The other escape route employed by seekers is to proclaim that a dead Master is one's Guru or teacher - yet another feeble excuse; it allows the mind to romanticize the Master to fit one's fantasy, and avoid the discomfort you have written about that one does encounter when learning from a living Master. Spiritual growth and transformation is often painful, and never easy. A living Master's guidance is very necessary.
I know exactly what you mean. Of course, you need a teachers or teachers in trying to learn anything, be it physical, or spiritual or a book. We all have teachers, and many of them. Many times even beginners and completely ignorant people try to teach. I actually got fed up with this. Everybody tried to teach me what I already know or could do better than my own teacher.
But what if there is really nothing to learn or to achieve? I mean, speaking of enlightenment. This is an idea that is becoming more popular nowadays. What is there to achieve anyway? What you learn from your teacher could be nothing else but techniques, methods and strategies but not the real thing. Learning becomes nothing but the accumulation of all these, without any real substance. The accumulation of knowledge, theoretical and practical, and achievement of rank, which in reality don't mean anything. What's the use of a blackbelt if you can't even protect yourself from your friends. I see this happen again and again. Not to myself but to most people I know.
So what's the point? Unless learning and achieving is nothing more than than showing off and self-aggrandizement. This is where the danger lies.
I agree. The teacher is crucial.
I told a friend that the only thing harder than having a teacher, is not having one.
Kathy - I understand what you are saying about learning from a lot of things. I agree, and learn in particular from life's experiences. Here is where I run into a problem, though: trying to learn deeper things that are past the ability of life's experiences, plants, animals, children and most adult's ability to teach. I hope your special teacher appears when the time is just right.
Antarananda - thank you for your insightful comments. I agree. One of the things that I find so strange are all the people out there who claim to channel a particular being. For example, so many claim to channel the archangel Michael. I don't understand, for one thing, how they know that it is truly the archangel Michael... just because they are 'told' or are intuiting it? How do they know that is not some lesser being masquerading as Michael. And from what I know of this specific being (and of course, I could be wrong), THE archangel Michael doesn't strike me as a being who would say things like, "Oh beloved and innocent little ones. You are so sweet and pure, and your path is leading you ever closer to your beloved aspirations. You inspire countless multitudes, who crowd in [no doubt sitting on grandstands, eating popcorn and drinking beer, with nothing better to do] to be inspired and to learn from your shining and innocent examples."
Jinn - you have many names, n'est pas? I hear you, and my response is: there are teachers who can deliver substance and genunine meaning. They may be rare, depending on what you are looking for, but they exist.
Rob & Jon - thank you.
And Jon, some people take a while to learn that, wouldn't you say?
A teacher can point to truth, but cannot short-circuit the process by which we recognize it as such, for ourselves. Perhaps they'd be better called "pointers"?
Julie - true, so true. Such teachers are typically so unappreciated and undervalued. And sometimes they are down right abused. We just don't get it. Reminds me of a poem I wrote years ago.
Thank you Mark. they say when the student is ready the teacher will appear.