Do we need a spiritual teacher?

You have an epiphany. Your wounds are healed. You tell your best friend. Who tells others. Soon there is a little group under your guidance. Word spreads. You rent a large room. But soon it is too small. People hear about you and pay for you to travel. Your talks are printed in books. Word spreads even more. People start to pay money to be with you. Congratuations, you are a spiritual teacher!

Psychologists or Gurus?

It seems to me that with most of those with whom I have spoken, as well as others who have set themselves up to write or teach, that there has been something not quite right.

Teaching is a tricky thing - it can ensnare both teacher and student within invisible walls of reassurance. As I am sure you know, it is possible to convince other people of almost anything. Especially if they are lost and unhappy, and if you are a gifted speaker. Sometimes, a feedback loop can occur: A teacher convinces the student who convinces the teacher who convinces the student and so on. A dynamic occurs where both are convinced of the rightness of what is being said and both reassure one another that they are uncovering and rediscovering truth. A feeling of blissful peace ensues - both are happy and laugh together. This is a well known psychological effect - you have probably seen this in "spiritual" gatherings too. Both teacher and student convinced of the rightness of the endeavour, and reinforcing this conviction over and over.

As if Truth, or awakening needed reinforcing or conviction. Or proselytizing. an image - please see terms of use

Most people like a show, do they not? Whether that show is happening in the stories which teachers tell, the look of "bliss" on the faces of other students, or the feelings of understanding ripening in their own head. Most people also tend to equate psychological relaxation and sudden intense experience with awakening. But these shows and experiences may not have anything at all to do with true, full, awakening.

Would you agree that to be “awake” or “enlightened” has nothing whatsoever to do with what occurs in the mind? That it is beyond the distinctions of subject and object? Or perhaps more simply said - utter lack of ownership? If so, then surely anything else may be pretty, it may be blissful, it may be convincing, but it may also be false.

So what ultimately, is the need for a teacher? IMHO, we seek teachers for comfort only. Oh, we may dress it up. We may suppose that we need help to discover Truth with a capital “T”. And so we continue to do violence to ourselves all the while calling it the "bliss of satsang". Until eventurally, we become so sick of half measures and false leads that we finally have the courage to leave everything behind, and see for ourselves.

Swimming lessons from landlubbers

We would not take swimming lessons from someone who cannot swim. Yet we seem all too willing to sit in church pews, satsangs, zendos, martial arts classes, yoga studios, spiritual bookstores, and the like entrusting our spiritual growth to those who are as lost as we are - but sound better an image - please see terms of use

Anyone can put up a shingle and advertise herself as spiritually mature and able to teach. Yet of the tens of thousands of folks who do this worldwide… how many are really awake? The number is likely picayune.

We abrogate our own responsibility with the excuse that we do not know what to do and need guidance. So we seek a ‘teacher’ instead of what we more probably need - a good therapist. Thinking a spiritual teacher can help is it seems to me, just a delaying tactic. One calculated by ego to avoid Truth and instead learn techniques. And of course to render the wonderful (and false) feeling that we are making ‘progress’. Drowning whilst holding firmly to the belief we can swim… if only we try harder or learn a few more techniques.

The majority of spiritual teachers of this world who purport to know and to be able to guide do so by a combination of their own firm belief that they have attained something, and by their belief that they can guide others. They appeal to ‘lineage’, being verified by their own ‘masters’, and their ‘concern for our welfare’. Yet ego painted gold is still ego

Eventually it comes down to a willingness to leave all of this behind and see for ourselves.

As the mystic Oshiro Kazumiri said: "The reason people do not awaken to Truth, is that they expect someone else to show them the way. This is impossible."

By oneself evil is done
By oneself one suffers.
By oneself evil is undone,
No one can purify another.
-- The Buddha (from the Dhammapada)

Manipulating core beliefs

Despite what hypnotists and other say, it is rather a simple thing to manipulate one"s core beliefs. Please see my articles on core belief engineering, neuroimaging, fear-induction, and the brief sub-section on neuromarketing which give examples and discuss a bit of the scientific foundation for this statement. In general it is a myth that deeply held belief systems cannot be both overridden, and altered.

Before blithely accepting the teachings of some guru or spiritual teacher, it would be well to keep this in mind. The techniques are well known, and widely used, albeit not necessarily with malice or even intent. For example, Ericksonian hypnosis and Bandler"s very successful expansion of Erickson"s research is used by a number of current spiritual teachers, preachers, politicians, and even the leaders of some countries who have been carefully trained in the techniques. Leading and pacing, hypnotic speech patterns, unblinking eye contact, deep pattern embedding, gestures, anchoring, induction via slow speech, rhythm and tonality, cathartic induction, and so on are but a few of the techniques of core belief alteration in use.

Yet even though both the science of belief engineering and belief alteration has been around for almost a century now, relatively few of those involved in spiritual seeking are aware of how easily their own belief systems can be manipulated.

Buddha’s admonition to “find out for yourself” is as ever, the only way. For in finding out for yourself, beliefs, systems, and other similarly deeply held impediments are of no use whatsoever.

What others suggest regarding spiritual teachers

“The true guru knows you need nothing, not even him. – Nisargadatta Maharaj
“There is a false sense of liberation that aspirants reach that very few ever go beyond.” – Ramana Maharshi, when asked about spiritual teachers
“It is common to demand entry into Enlightenment through someone else. This renders it needful to make clear that nobody, not even the best of gurus, can bestow final and lasting realization–a glimpse is the most he can possibly pass on and there are not many with that capacity. Even in such cases, his disciples must work diligently and win it themselves.” –Paul Brunton (quoted from ‘The Guru-Disciple Relationship’)
“What about religions, teachers, gurus?” “If they can help in the quest of the Self. But can they help? Can religion, which teaches you to look outside yourself, which promises a heaven and a reward outside yourself, can this help you? It is only by diving deep into the Spiritual Heart that one can find the Self.” – Ramana Maharshi (quoted from ‘Here lies the heart’ by Mercedes De Acosta)
It seems that the pauperisation of satsang culture began after the death of Poonjaji. Many of his followers started to claim that Poonjaji approved their ‘Awakening.’ It seems that they just took him too literally. It is an Advaita custom to say ‘you are already Awakened.’ This is however more a teaching device than a reflection of reality. And even if some of his disciples had a glimpse of Awakening, Poonjaji knew very well that in most cases neither it was permanent nor the final state. –Aziz Kristof
“Real Enlightenment definitely is not on sale at the corner store, it doesn’t contain preservatives, and isn’t wrapped in plastic. Absolute surrender to God, or the Universe, is the greatest gift, the “pearl of great price,” and it will never be cheap. That is why one should question the ersatz gems that pseudo-spiritualists so readily sell in their fancy packages. If one wants the real thing, one must learn about counterfeits; otherwise, one is showing off a rhinestone to God, convinced it is the Hope Diamond.” –Mariana Caplan
* “The one who explains, lies.
How can you describe
the true form of Something
In whose presence you are blotted out?
And in whose being you still exist?”
– Rabi’a al-’Adawiyya
“Surrendering to a teacher is surrendering your self-reliance. Not one of them has anything to give.” — UG Krishnamurty (paraphrased from memory)
“Our gods are dead. Ancient Klingon warriors slew them a millenia ago. They were...more trouble than they were worth.” - Lt. Commander Worf