Gurus. Spiritual teachers. Sheikhs. Leaders. People you want to learn from, people you admire, people you follow. Sometimes - people who you can trust with your life.
Who doesn’t want one? :)
Many will say “I don’t want one! I want to walk my own path and learn everything the hard way!” and it is probably the rightest thing to do...
But in day-to-day life, just like in martial arts, some parts of the learning are just so much better with a truly qualified and knowledgeable Sensei - someone who will get on your nerves, put you through hell, make you hate yourself and life in general, never praise you, never give you any room to breathe, but in the end - make you learn and improve like no other.
In Sufism there is a saying that tells something like this: “The one who has no sheikh to learn from becomes the student of the Devil”.
The question is - how the hell can you figure out if the person you decided to call a Teacher actually deserves this title, your complete trust, and your full dedication? How do you figure out that this person is a true teacher and not some fake, manipulating man (sorry, guys, but usually they are male) greedy for power and control over your life (and sometimes - your finances)?
Well... there are lots of good articles out there written on the nature of Sensei/student relationship and bond - especially in traditional Asian martial arts. It is, indeed, a very special bond, and if the relationship goes on, Sensei and student become like a family... like blood relatives... and sometimes even more than that.
In traditional arts, that bond forms through hard work, blind trust, complete dedication, AND the integrity of the Teacher who is, in fact, just another human. Then the point comes when there is a test... Sensei shows the student his own normal, human weaknesses. Oh, figures out the student... My teacher is NOT God, after all! He can be mistaken or unfair. He can be disgusting. He can be cruel. Immoral. And even Weak! Will the student run away? Will he then throw away years of hard work and trust? Will he curse and blame the teacher for turning out to be a regular man and not God? The veil falls down, and it’s the hardest test of all.
There are many other things, and you can find them on your own if you are interested... or maybe I will write on this a bit later.
For now, I’d like to say some words about spiritual Teachers, and how I, personally, knew that I met the right one.
Since I am quite interested in studying areas of life considered “spiritual” by many and write about it and my practices quite a lot, MANY people have come my way who wanted me to follow them.
Most were men. Most were claiming to be powerful and know everything about the universe. Some claimed to be beings from other realms, Creators, aliens, dragons, and gods. Wow. How many opportunities! )) For all I know, I could be now a faithful student (and probably a girlfriend) of a great dark elf in human form, transform this world for the better, and have astral sex 24 hours a day! But guess what, all these big mouthed motherfuckers, forgive my French, were power-obsessed or just truly imaginative individuals who had NO true abilities or qualities whatsoever.
Because they all could talk smooth and were very intellectual - they could write great fantasy books! - but neither their energy and communication nor their lifestyle reflected what they claimed as truth.
Hey, man! Don’t tell me you are an elf if you look like an average human being (and very unfit by the way), cannot read my mind or do telepathy, and get irritated over every little thing this world does to you. No pointy ears either. Alas. And if you were an elf in your past life, but have no qualities of abilities of an elf in this one - why the hell even bother bragging about something that doesn’t manifest RIGHT HERE!? I could be Merlin in my past life for all I know, but SO WHAT? what does it matter if I cannot do magic in this one.
Proof. It could be actual manifestations of abilities and/or something you feel coming from them energy-wise, BUT here you have to be very careful as well. Because feelings and even body sensations can lie. They can result from hypnotic states of mind or even our own desire to believe that this person is what they are claiming they are (because we all want to live in a freaking fairly tale)
Now I’ll give you an example of a physical, solid proof of someone’s ability to SEE. I’ll describe the situation.
I am talking to a person online. We have been communicating for a while, but never - through visuals (Skype video and such). Also, he doesn’t know where I live in detail. Let’s say he is in France and I am in California... no address, no descriptions of my house, no real passport name or phone number... and even if he had these - at the moment of our conversation I am in a different house where I am not listed as a resident.
The conversation goes on and somehow we start talking about the ability to SEE and the unimportance of physical distances when it comes to seeing the world.
And then this person starts describing to me the place I am at. Do you understand? We are chatting in a messenger, and he is describing to me how my place looks like. From a different country! In details that can only be known to someone who has been here.
Now. Should you automatically trust anyone who can SEE like that or call them Teacher right away? No!!! No, no, no. There might be lots of “seers” out there with intentions that are far from “nice”. But - I just gave you an example of how you can know that the person you are speaking with actually has certain abilities while being humble and without claiming to be elf, god, devil, or anything else of that nature.
Now I should cling to the word “humble”. I firmly believe that a truly qualified and deserving teacher will NEVER come to you begging you or forcing you to become his student. He will not claim to be anything more than a regular human being either. Those who run around bragging about being gods or aliens... I am sorry, but come on, guys... really?
Another good indicator - look at their life and their actions. If a person tells you they are god, but then you see them arguing with an old lady in line to a store register, cringing at the sound of a screaming baby, or suffering from a regular hangover and heartburn... Or leading a promiscuous lifestyle... and another list of a thousand indicators... God? Really?! Don’t think so ))
And the most important thing... even though I said feelings and sensations can lie... at the end, it’s all about Energy and communication on the levels other than words.
I firmly believe that you can FEEL when the right one comes into your life. There will be signs. There will be hints. It is always obvious.