---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <fleetwood_macncheese@...> wrote :
Pardon my French, but Who The Fuck Wants To Study With A Spiritual Teacher? I cannot think of anything more stifling, rigid, controlling and plain miserable, than studying with a spiritual teacher. Especially one as invasive as the one you have described below. The whole idea of sitting around with some teaching fool and tethering my life to them, nearly makes me ill. Having to see my life, through their lens, and acting accordingly, seems like psychological slavery, to me. Wasn't 18 years of growing up, with mom and dad, enough for us? Faux re-parenting for adults - aka, Barf-ola. This personal guru shit is, in most cases, just that. The brilliance of the TM technique, is, No Teacher Needed - You get your technique, and after that, are free to do whatever it is you want to do. Nobody hanging around, greedy for your time and space. Sure, there are always 'group activities', for those who need them, but strictly speaking, no assistance needed. That is my strong preference, and life is too short to waste. Well, one way to avoid the pitfalls of guru tyranny would be to never have one to begin with. That would solve that little problem. Maybe what bawee is looking for is a good friend... ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <turquoiseb@...> wrote : Work for the week finished, I thought I'd sit in this canalside cafe and rap a bit about some of the attributes I think would be refreshing to find in a spiritual trip. It's NOT that I'm looking for one, you understand. It's just that it struck me as a fun idea to write about some of the things I'd *like* to find, as opposed to what I often *do* find. * It's free. That is, all teaching is either supported by the people doing it, or by donations that are actually donations. No one would ever be pressured to contribute, whether it be for talks, or instruction. People who are trying to lay a spiritual trip on others should pay their audiences for the privilege, not vice-versa. * It's fun. This is one of the most important criteria I would look for in a spiritual trip. If the people participating in it don't look like they're having FUN, what possible interest could it have for me? The very concept of FUN should be respected as what it is -- an indicator that you're doing something right, spiritually. * Teachers as fellow travelers. Your teacher or teacher can be your friend or fellow seeker. There is no sense of distance between teacher and student. You hang out together and talk freely to each other, as equals. No ranks, no hierarchy -- either stated or encouraged wordlessly by the way that students interact with the teacher or teachers. No hierarchy for the students, either -- no "belt rankings" that allow them to think they're on a higher level than others around them. * No sacrosanct dogma. Oh, of course the trip can have theories about How The World Works, and present them. But IMO these theories should be presented *as* theories, not truth, or no-God forbid, Truth. * Everything is fair game for questions. The students have the right to challenge anything the teacher or teachers say. Anything. No saying is "holy" in the sense that it becomes "sacred" and thus exempt from questioning. No claim has the right to be accepted if someone asks for it to be documented. * No cult roles or sex roles. The students should not be encouraged (verbally or nonverbally) to act a certain way or dress a certain way. One of the coolest things ever said about the Rama students came from the staff of the Bodhi Tree Bookstore in L.A. They'd seen *everything*, because the seekers from every tradition ever known all came to buy books at their store. And they'd grown adept at "nailing" which path any customer followed, just by watching them. It became a kind of game for them, and they rarely missed. The only students they couldn't "nail" were the folks who studied with Rama, because they were all different. In a similar vein, there should ideally be no perceived status associated with one's sex -- men and women should be treated pretty much the same. * No restrictions on thinking or action. No "Thou shalt not see other teachers." See who you bloody want. No "Thou shalt not read Off The Program books." There should be no "program" to be off of. People should be encouraged to treat their curiosity about other spiritual teachers or teachings as what it is -- a desire to learn more. * Parties. Really. Too many spiritual trips have gatherings that can only be described as SERIOUS. They're gathering to meditate together, or chant together, or hear a dharma talk together, or have a "celebration" that isn't one. My ideal spiritual trip would be more like the better days of the Rama trip -- we'd go out to movies, to dinner, to places of power, and to discos. We'd actually (Buck, look away) DANCE. And we'd have actual parties, at which the only spiritual objective was to have FUN. It gives more of a community feeling to the community. * Road Trips. Every so often, the entire group would just Get The Fuck Out Of Dodge, and take their act on the road. It could be a day trip to a nearby place of worship or power, or longer trips overnight to cool places. Taking the group consciousness out of its normal (and thus ignored) environment can do wonders for sparking spiritual experience. * No shakti myths. Even if the teacher or teachers have some phwam! and can shift other people's states of attention and get them high, IMO this ability is better presented as a form of recognition rather than a form of transmission. If the teacher is able to say, "Look, I understand that you're getting high from all this, but it's not me doing it. It's the universe. You're just recognizing what is always already present because it may be a little more lively in me," that teacher might not be as likely to fall prey to the pitfalls of ego, and the students might not be as likely to attribute their spiritual progress to outside agencies. * No sex hangups. A student is welcome whether their sexual preference runs to men, women, multiples of both of the former, or toasters. Nobody snoops on anybody else's sexual behavior because 1) that's their business, and 2) theoretically everyone is busy enough with their own sexual behavior that they don't have time to dwell on anyone else's. That said, actual crimes like child molestation and sexual harassment and rape are right out. So too, in almost every case, is teacher-student sex, unless there is a genuine commitment (for more than the night or the month) present. * Writing assignments. This is another trait I very much liked about the Rama trip. He was an English professor, after all, and he knew the value of writing out one's ideas and experiences to gain clarity on them. He suggested that everyone keep a Spiritual Journal, and I think that's a good idea. He also suggested that students try to write down any particularly powerful spiritual experience, and in the day or two after it happened, because if you wait longer the experience will have faded. There is MUCH to be learned from doing this. If you do it well, going back and reading those stories again can zap you right back into the state of attention you wore when you orginally experienced it. * A reverence for art. Not just looking at it or listening to it -- creating it. * Friends. You should be able to count on your fellow students, and your teachers. If you come to them in distress, and wondering how to deal with a minor stumble on the spiritual path, will they help you hide the body? :-) More seriously, will they help you find the help you actually need? * Doubt should be seen as positive, not negative. Faith is for those who are willing to settle for "easy answers." Curiosity is for those who keep looking for other answers, and even other questions. * Willingness to change. I always liked the Dalai Lama's take on Buddhism, which (paraphrased) went something like, "If a fundamental tenet of Buddhism turns out to be wrong, we should abandon it and embrace the truth." Similarly, if the teachers' or the students' original path turns out to be unworkable, they should be free to change it into something that works. These are just a few thoughts that occurred to me today, in the moment, in this cafe. If others have other thoughts on the subject, please feel free to contribute them.
