It is an open market after all, and what some of us hear as mere words, others hear as wisdom. That's what attracts us to some teachers, is they bring us closer (ideally) to the Infinite. Sounds like you are making a case for Self as teacher. Ultimately, that is where we all end up anyway, right? But I don't know of any of us here who didn't follow a teacher or tradition or two in the past.
However, I have noticed many in the coming generation have no such attachments. They were born in the moment and have remained here. --- In [email protected], turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], Bob Price <bobpriced@> wrote: > > > > Turq, > > > > I love you man but you have to learn to pace yourself. I have > > no doubt you could write crop circles around me but one thing > > I do know, when I see it, is a dynamite value proposition. > > And MZ's has one, in spades. Granted, he did play pool with > > the Cincinnati Kid and get his head handed to him but that > > just adds to his mystique. And yes I would hate to give up > > his base, that's something our former President could teach > > our current Commander and Chief a thing or two about. But I > > think MZ has what it takes to go solo. But to paraphrase you > > "why the hell would we". > > I guess I have a thing about people piggybacking off > the name and fame of others. It rankled when Maharishi > did it with the Beatles and with Merv Griffin, and it > rankles when people do it with him. > > I once wrote a book about a former spiritual teacher. > I did it because I'd said I would, and not having done > it kinda felt like a monkey on my back. So I did it, > trying my best to have fun with the whole project, and > I even found a literary agent who was willing to shop > it around. And then she told me that she managed to > place it with one of her publisher clients, but that > I'd have to do the book tour thang and talk about the > teacher in question, I thanked her for her efforts and > bailed. The whole point of writing it was to get the > monkey OFF of my back, not to go on tour with it. :-) > > To some extent, the *entire spiritual tradition* is > built on piggybacking off of someone else's name and > fame. The word "lineage" springs to mind, as does the > phrase "holy tradition." New teachers appear on the > scene, piggybacking off of the name and fame of their > teachers. Endless spiritual students piggybacking off > of endless spiritual teachers. > > Some would say that this is just the way that things > are done in the spiritual biz, and they're right about > that. But that doesn't make it any less lazy. I just > long for someone who's got enough going for them to > go out into the spiritual marketplace and never fuckin' > mention their spiritual CV, and the people they've > studied with (or claim to have surpassed). > > Wouldn't that be refreshing? Wouldn't it be interesting > to watch someone walk into a room and give a talk > without once having to cite some authority or former > teacher to "back up" or "validate" or "certify" what > they say? > > > I have to apologize for the orphan "litle humour" I left at > > the end of my last post. I didn't mean to. I'm fairly advanced > > in years so I leave little post it notes at the bottom on my > > communications to remind me of subjects I may want to cover. > > What I wanted to say was "One of the ideas I haven't seen > > covered on FFL yet is a "little humour", sorry about that. > > No problemo. Orphans need love, too. Sometimes they > sneak into places where they don't belong, just to > get a little attention. :-) >
