Pedestalization of Gurus/Teachers Is Bullcrap

[r0ckyreed]

I wanted to point out a trap that I noticed in others and in myself in regards to teachers and gurus.

I have noticed the trap that people tend to pedestalize and give their authority away to spiritual gurus/teachers.

But in reality, this will prevent you from reaching the highest levels of consciousness because you need to learn to listen and trust in your own intuition.

You can never learn to trust your own instincts and think for yourself if you are always asking others questions before you contemplate them for yourself, especially to people such as Leo, Grandmaster Wolf, Jed McKenna, Peter Ralston, Rupert Spira, Noam Chomsky, or whomever. 

What you are forgetting is that everyone is filled with a false teaching. Within EVERY Actualized.org video, there is a false teaching. Within EVERY book you read, there is a false teaching. Within EVERYTHING you heard from Sadhguru, Jesus Christ, or your Buddha, there is a false teaching. 

It doesn't matter how awake you get, you are still human and in this finite form, and as such, are still subject to the attacks of self-bias and self-deception.

Just because you have had a mystical insight into reality does not mean you have gotten rid of all your false teachings.

One of the best practices I think is to burn all teachings, all teachers, and learn to trust in yourself again. You have all the answers within you. You have innate knowledge about the Universe/Consciousness, but you just are not aware of it because you keep chasing the answers outside of yourself through these so-called gurus. They may not be conscious of it, but their teachings can easily become a distraction and deception because the more compelling the teaching, the bigger the problem for you. The reason why I say this is because compelling teacher or teaching has your attention turned away from your innate knowledge of God.

However, on the flip side of things, we could say that everyone and everything in your experience is your teacher and teaching. Beginner's Mind is still an important concept. We have to allow ourselves to not know and learn from other sources as well. The difference here is that there is no pedestalized teacher or teaching. As soon as you give authority and attachment to a teacher/teaching, that is when you have messed up. Everything is your teacher/teaching, but you become a slave to the Matrix when you become attached to anything outside of your direct experience.

I hope you can see the difference in pedestalization/attachment to teachers/teachings vs. becoming your own greatest teacher through trusting in your own Self, your innate knowledge, and direct experience. This does not mean that we shouldn't read books anymore or listen to podcasts. It just means that we still question everything we experience and continue to take responsible for our job to contemplate everything directly for ourselves. This behavior of pedestalization and not taking intellectual responsibility is one of the main reasons for the existence of all the corruption, group-think, cults, and war that we see in the world and in our spiritual communities.

Hope this is helpful. 

[aurum]

@r0ckyreed Yes, this is the meta-lesson of actualized.org.

Getting the right relationship to learning from others is a perpetual challenge. When are you just being a sheep and when are you being arrogant / ignorant and not listening to someone who understands more to you? This is always the question. 

[Jwayne]

This is very basic self-awareness. Rather than trading conclusions and egoically-invested opinions try to keep learning. This means you need a real community (including online) based on the dialectical production of knowledge rather than merely led by the personality of a presumed authority figure. Any real guru, in the original sense of the word, is concerned with your growth at heart rather than your allegiance.

Edited March 30 by Jwayne

[enchanted]

Good point. The best example is how Christians deified their guru to the fullest extent possible. Other religions aren't much better. The only thing that should be "worshipped" is the present moment. 

[Leo Gura]

Yup

[Applegarden8]

No, bhakti yoga is just not for you guys. Otherwise if it works it's great.

[Salvijus]

Don't confuse reverence, gratitude, love, appreciation, thankfulness for those who contribute to your life with something negative. 

If anything, it is the ego that would interpret those things that way. So... Less preaching more self-reflecting I would say. 

Edited March 30 by Salvijus

[Salvijus]

The need to be in control. Probably the best definition of ego. Ties really well with this subject as well. 

[Razard86]

The only false teaching of truth is interpretation.

[Thought Art]

Build a plane your way 😁

[Davino]

Absolutely Agree

 

[Davino]

Have you thought about making the other side of the coin thread?

Risks of demeaning Gurus & Teachers 

I don't know like the considerable risk of performing a surgery without having had any professional trainig by surgeons and just poking your finger in the patients brain and exploring.

The problem I have with this topic is that people just fall into one extreme or the other. Or they just worship the guru's ass or just become ignorantly arrogant.

I have spent almost half of my Awakening pursuit in studying and researching the most Awake individuals, learning from them and really getting to the core of who they are and how they did it. This has saved me YEARS of useless delusion.

The same way as going to med school will give you a great foundation to then go on doing your cutting edge research.

[Harikrishnan]

Lately I see all teaching as maya. If reality is made in such a way that its hard to break free of illusion then everyone else in some way also is trying to stop me from awakening.  

[Thought Art]

40 minutes ago, Harikrishnan said:

Lately I see all teaching as maya. If reality is made in such a way that its hard to break free of illusion then everyone else in some way also is trying to stop me from awakening.  

I find this way of thinking confusing. I know even after having awakenings that Maya is generally what I exist in. So, of course I want to develop knowledge and skills to be happy in my Maya, and not miserable in it.

[Razard86]

1 hour ago, Davino said:

Have you thought about making the other side of the coin thread?

Risks of demeaning Gurus & Teachers 

I don't know like the considerable risk of performing a surgery without having had any professional trainig by surgeons and just poking your finger in the patients brain and exploring.

The problem I have with this topic is that people just fall into one extreme or the other. Or they just worship the guru's ass or just become ignorantly arrogant.

I have spent almost half of my Awakening pursuit in studying and researching the most Awake individuals, learning from them and really getting to the core of who they are and how they did it. This has saved me YEARS of useless delusion.

The same way as going to med school will give you a great foundation to then go on doing your cutting edge research.

You got it. Both extremes are a trap.

[Harikrishnan]

1 hour ago, Thought Art said:

I find this way of thinking confusing. I know even after having awakenings that Maya is generally what I exist in. So, of course I want to develop knowledge and skills to be happy in my Maya, and not miserable in it.

Good luck!

[Basman]

Human nature is to be lead by a charismatic leader, but you are right. It is basic self-awareness to take responsibility for what's true.

 

[r0ckyreed]

2 hours ago, Davino said:

Have you thought about making the other side of the coin thread?

Risks of demeaning Gurus & Teachers 

I don't know like the considerable risk of performing a surgery without having had any professional trainig by surgeons and just poking your finger in the patients brain and exploring.

The problem I have with this topic is that people just fall into one extreme or the other. Or they just worship the guru's ass or just become ignorantly arrogant.

I have spent almost half of my Awakening pursuit in studying and researching the most Awake individuals, learning from them and really getting to the core of who they are and how they did it. This has saved me YEARS of useless delusion.

The same way as going to med school will give you a great foundation to then go on doing your cutting edge research.

It is important to study from others. But awakening is different from your med school analogy because what you are learning is how to help others to live. Whereas, spirituality is how to help yourself to awaken to who you are existentially. In that case, nobody can know that better than you. The path isn’t linear. It is good to study the journeys of others to give you ideas of what is possible. But you have to walk your own path; otherwise, you will waste years of your life.

[Yimpa]

51 minutes ago, Basman said:

Human nature is to be lead by a charismatic leader, but you are right. It is basic self-awareness to take responsibility for what's true.

Even fictional characters like Rocky Balboa and SpongeBob SquarePants should not be put on a pedestal!

[gettoefl]

conversely get on the ground and kiss the feet of the ones who have paved the way

you were sinking without a clue

and they stepped in

and rescued you

don't keep lying that all those deep insights you have are yours

you were nothing and someone took pity