--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > --- In [email protected], "Patrick Gillam" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > This entire thread has pointed up for me the > > damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't nature > > of spiritual teaching. > > Exactly. And the whole problem is that some in this thread > are suggesting that there is a "right" way to be a spiritual > teacher. IMO that's a lot like every other theory that proposes > a "one size fits all" approach...it's unrealiistic and ineffective. > > Teachers are different. They have different approaches, > based on their individual paths, their individual predilections, > and their individual personalities. Students are different. > They, too have individual predilections and personalities. > Some students feel more comfortable with a teacher who > teaches a certain way; others feel more comfortable with a > teacher who teaches a completely opposite way. > > Where is the problem in this?
The problem occurs when the teacher evokes a response from the student that is clearly not what he or she intended and which demonstrates that what the teacher had said was distinctly counterproductive--and the teacher not only doesn't back off and try another approach, but continues to ram the first approach down the student's throat, even blaming the student for having had that negative reaction in the first place. "Skillful means," again. It isn't a matter of using a one-size-fits-all approach, to the contrary. It's a matter of being able to find the approach that will most benefit the student. That's the kind of "empathy" I'm talking about. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
