to celebrate, I give you a group of friends and me wearing pointy party hats and blowing those unrolling party noise makers/proboscises while confetti drops down on a bright summer day of cloudless azure sky and bright beech tree leaves, around a glass table on a red brick patio by my grandfathers swimming pool.
I just walked by a magic 8 ball, on my way to the bathroom of the coffee shop I'm currently using the wireless Internet of. I'd never seen it there before. On impulse I picked it up and tried to think of something to ask it. The first thing that came to mind was "what's dan doing now?" curious about my friends adventures in the afterlife.
8-Ball's response: "better not tell you now"
Some people think I'm wickedly funny, but perhaps the credit should go to the universe, for having the good sense of humor, and me just for noticing it.
Strange things:
-how little time I spend outside, despite how much I like being outside.
Something to ponder:
It's interesting to have an insiders perspective on someone like Dan, who some people really looked up to, because of his spiritual clarity and evolution. More precisely, it's interesting to see the whole canonization process happening, among some. I get an extremely rare backstage seat to how people take other people and elevate them to something above human. The more powerful the personality, the more people do this, it seems. But even just a few, it's clear to me the dynamics of hero worship.
It's fundamentally the same dysfunction that ruins the churches morals: the idea that a person can be elevated above doing wrong, or feeling pain.
it's such a tempting trap, to give someone else absolute authority, the inability to be wrong. and look what happens when you do that: the inquisition, the crusades, child molestation, witch burning, and many many more. These individuals are deeply fucked up, though not necessarily that outside the norm: just with more power than they should have.
The same applies to spiritual teachers. Most of them, (perhaps all, but that's not something I can know) have some genuine spiritual evolution, and still have plenty of issues, attachments, egoic shit, etc. And there are always people, sometimes lots of people, who are super willing to make any kind of excuse for them and there behavior.
Guru X gets angry and disciple A. Disciple B says, "oh, that wasn't real anger, he was just teaching you a lesson. Guru X is beyond anger."
NO HE'S FRIKKING NOT.
grow up people. stop giving away your personal power to other human beings. Stop making excuses for them. some people have wisdom and the genuine ability to help others on their journey. You do them a disservice when you trust them implicitly, sacrificing your own reason into blind faith.
Listen to what the wise men say, by all means. It has served me well, to do so. But don't take what they say on faith. Test it out for yourself, find what works for you and what doesn't. Your faith then comes from experience, and is not blind, but in unison with your reason. I wouldn't suggest the Indian idea of giving up yourself to a guru, but if you feel like you have to, at least have a serious waiting period, where you are totally sceptical, and very carefully and critically examining the "guru's" teachings and actions, and see if they are in agreement. And most of all, look at his long-time disciples, and see if what happens to them is what you want to happen to you.
As I said though, i think that's a pretty crappy way of doing things, if you have a choice. Your guru is within you, ultimately, and always. Cultivate your connection with the wisdom of the universe, through your heart, and don't disregard the power of your intellect, to discern right from wrong. You're not going to get enlightened by making your intellect lazy through disuse. Truly evolved people are aflame with mental clarity, whatever there IQ may be.
also, I may have mentioned this before, but it bears repeating:
your greatest protection is your dedication to Truth. People who prefer there beliefs to the truth of the situation, will get caught up in the traps along the path, endlessly chasing their tail and not really progressing, because to progress they must let go of there cherished "spiritual" belief so something bigger and more real can take it's place. and they refuse to accept the possibility that their belief might be wrong.
everybody does this, and the problematic beliefs are the ones that are so core to our paradigm that we don't even realize they are beliefs.
I've met so many people, mainly older, who are in all other respects ideal spiritual aspirants: dedicated, pure, well intentioned, eat their greens and meditate twice a day and do yoga and give to the poor. but because they are unwilling to let go of one or more of there cherished beliefs, they've been spinning their wheels for years, and probably will die in the same place they are now, maybe with a bit less stress. It's pretty sad to see.
which is why I write about it for my 100th anniversary post: this is important. this is something that everyone needs to know. i don't care how you realize it or how you eventually unattach, but it is not an optional step on this journey.
don't take my word for it though. go see for yourself. That's what i did.
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