What Is A Spiritual Teacher?

Overall, my personal experiences with a wide range of spiritual teachers have been exceptionally fruitful in helping to heal karma within myself during various stages of my journey, as well as in accessing and integrating higher levels of consciousness into my normal way of functioning . Being.

Some of my teachers have come into my life in more informal roles: as partners, lovers and friends, 12-step sponsors, psychotherapists, and mind/body healers of various modalities. Others with whom I have studied on a more formal basis over many years include those whose paths include: Taoism, Zen, Tantra, Sufism, Naada Yoga and Dzogchen.

My criteria for choosing a teacher to study with – formal or informal – is that they must have something that I want and need and that I lack, in the sense that it has not yet been activated or developed in this life. Some of the things I have learned from teachers are: cosmic humor, going with the flow, how to root and ground myself in the earth and feel fully embodied, and how to consciously use my emotions, thoughts and sensations as part of my spiritual life. path – just to name a few.

Once it is clear to me that a potential spirit guide has what I am looking for, I am willing to go to any lengths, in terms of investment of available time, energy and resources, to access that next ‘missing piece’ to find it. to supplement my development.

The most important lesson that I have diligently kept in mind about all the teachers I have studied with is that they are imperfect human beings. This means that just as we are ALL at our very best when we are doing our “thing,” they are also at their very highest level when they are performing their spiritual function – myself included. That’s why it’s essential that we take what we can use. . . and leave the rest.

The trap that many spiritual seekers fall into is allowing themselves to be blinded by devotion, gratitude, and sometimes feelings of unworthiness. The teacher is then placed on an unrealistically high pedestal – which inevitably means that these projected images of idealized divinity will sooner or later come crashing down – usually on top of the misguided student’s head.

This pattern is so common that there are countless online blogs in which ex-students vent and complain about how disappointed, disillusioned, and devastated they feel with spiritual teachers who abandoned them because, unfortunately, they were only human. The resolution of this scenario tends to be very messy, as much of the anger and rage, at least in the early stages of deprogramming and detachment, is projected onto the fallen idol/teacher in question. Buyer be aware, indeed.

And speaking of another kind of very messy, here’s a quote from the afterword of my memoir, Cosmic Sugar:

“Have you noticed how many eternally horny spiritual teachers are unable to live by the standards they teach because of inner karmic demons they have not yet exorcised? Yet it is possible to accept their imperfect humanity without rejecting their teachings, which come from a higher aspect of their being. When we are free from mental rigidity, the paradoxical nature of personality is full of entertainment value. At this stage in the evolution of consciousness, the majority of people on this planet, including the gurus, are still at the bottom of their karmic rut.”

So if a spiritual teacher tries to sell you a sexual commodity by promising that your karma will be healed faster by having sex with him or her, or that you will get a “hit” of awakening by absorbing their energies or fluids they are packed with ‘high level chi’ or taste like ‘ambrosial nectar’ – Buyer be warned!

Yes, I’ve heard it all, or at least a lot of it, both personally and from helping to deprogram many naive and psychologically immature survivors of this type of manipulation. So, please know this: If you choose to take responsibility and consciously engage in sexual contact with a spiritual teacher, it can help heal some of your “daddy” or “mommy” stuff and even help you getting a good ‘hit’ from some high level psychic energy. but there’s usually a pretty messy emotional price to pay in the aftermath. So again, buyer beware.

And what about the issue of achieving enlightenment (or life in nirvana or being guaranteed a ticket on the Heaven Express) when it comes to spiritual or religious leaders, teachers, counselors, gurus, lamas and Rinpoches, etc.?

In the Buddhist tradition, Nirvana is not an external divine place, but the purified state of consciousness in which we are free from all negative emotions.

Nirvana has four characteristic features:

1. A state in which disturbing emotions disappear from the mind.
2. Absolute peace, a state of total tranquility from disturbing emotions.
3. Exuberant satisfaction, free from all forms of dissatisfaction.
4. Final emergence, when one will no longer revert to an unenlightened state.

By this definition, most of the highest spiritual teachers with whom I have had direct experience have achieved the first three of the above four characteristics. This means that when they teach or give direct transmissions, they ARE at a level of consciousness that radiates a realized state of Being. And when you are in their presence, you can definitely get a “hit” from this energy and it feels GOOD. The problem is that it can feel so blissful that you have to guard against an addictive dependency that comes from the limiting belief that this bliss can only be obtained from this teacher and cannot be achieved on your own.

For the majority of spiritual teachers, when they are not in their highest transmission function, they revert to the unenlightened state. And this is where most students get confused, because they are unwilling to see the whole picture (I call it “holding the split screen”) between the high states they experience when their teacher is in their spiritual role, and the rest of their lives. the time when they are just imperfect human beings playing out their karma just like the rest of us.

Adding to this confusion is that the spiritual marketplace is becoming overloaded with many so-called spiritual teachers who sell their self-proclaimed enlightened state as a product or commodity. This means that prospective students must use their discerning consciousness and devote a lot of time and attention before fully devoting and surrendering to a particular teacher. Buyer beware, rest assured!

This is not to say that there are not at least a few fully enlightened Beings on the planet at any given time. I won’t mention names, but I have had direct experience with such a Being in India. He radiated a consistent presence of Void that was absolutely electrifying, completely heart-opening, and a little terrifying at the same time. Not to mention that the wisdom of his teachings and energy have stayed with me and raised the bar for what I see as possible within a human incarnation.

But these realized Beings are usually relatively anonymous, difficult to reach, and generally do not accept new students. But if you are lucky, you may be able to get a darshan, or audience, to sit and receive a transmission of whatever comes from their presence and words.

So what’s a seeker to do? By accepting the reality of what a spirit guide can and cannot offer, we must take responsibility for seeing them not only at their highest level, but also in their imperfect humanity. As a spiritual pragmatist, I always believe that if I take what I can use and leave the rest (the old baby and the bathwater cliché), I will get the most benefit from any relationship I enter into in this area. as in all others.

Ultimately, we must learn how to approach, activate and embrace our ‘inner guru’ or inner spiritual master and use ALL of life as the reflection of this state of ownership of our innate divinity.

And some final thoughts:

Whether it comes from a Western or Eastern belief system, the idea that there is only one spiritual or religious path, lineage, or teacher who can enlighten you or help you reach heaven or nirvana is a form of fundamentalism, regardless of the guise in which the seller finds himself. So, buyer beware!

If a teacher says you can’t “make it” spiritually without him, his teachings, path or group: be buyer aware!
And if you try to leave a teacher or group and are threatened with dire spiritual, karmic, or other consequences: RUN! Then be grateful that you just escaped from a cult with your life and sanity relatively intact. After this type of trauma, it is a very good idea to get some objective help and support during a necessary period of deprogramming and recovery, especially if you have been deeply involved for a year or more.