We often in spiritual circles find people who inspire us but then their inevitable faults show up. Lots of great wisdom is disposed of because they aren’t a perfect being and lots of people are alternately so obsessed with a teacher they just follow them without ever learning to discern for themselves.
I thought this article was pretty good.
https://www.ramdass.org/guru-vs-teacher-...tuitition/
Thanks for sharing, Glow!
But isn't it all just the same anyway: the Creator getting to know him/her/itself?
Sure is good point.
I think though even as a species we have a tendency to dismiss the good in others because of the perceived “bad”.
The article’s approach to discerning with teaching I think applies to how we treat and interact with each other as we all teach/learn “Your stuff mixed with my stuff” it isn’t a perfect mirror and no one is really to blame. We do our best accept the good, what doesn’t resonate be compassionate but discerning about
I have never been one to like the guru thing but this actually made me understand how it could be useful. Only your stuff is reflected.
I also think the word guru has massively changed over the past half-century.
It used to describe an extremely intimate one on one relationship between a teacher and his disciples, usually where they lived together or spent many hours of the day together.
Now a guru is just any teacher that someone happens to follow, usually without any real or extended personal contact. The experience of learning and teaching is completely different when you live or spend 8+ hours of the day with the same person. The fact that now people call following someone they read about or watch videos about, even if they attend gatherings, their guru completely loses the original intimacy of the word. Nowadays, guru is more used to refer to any spiritual 'celebrity' or figure that people follow. It doesn't usually imply an intimate personal relationship, which it used to in the past.
To bring this back to the OP, discernment is a lot harder without real extended personal contact, which the word guru used to imply but no longer does.
**I am currently reading Autobiography of a Yogi thanks to Zach. Amazing book, I'd recommend it for anyone, especially those who are interested in building more faith. It's also changed my opinion of the word guru. I previously had a pretty poor impression of the word, but now I see the old meaning of the word guru and how such an intimate teacher-student relationship (where the intimacy allowed vigorous questioning of the teacher by the student) was good for spiritual growth.**