Where are the most enlightened teachers located?

[electroBeam]

Its a well known fact that you're the average of the top 5 people you hang around. If you want to be a good musician, you go to LA. If you want to be the best scientist, you got to the hotbed of science, which is CMU or MIT. One big reason why Bohm was successful was because he was mentored by Einstein. Same goes with Carl Jung and Freud.

This is because the best way to learn and become a master is to surround yourself with the best and then to learn from their actions and feedback. Basically work with them(or this is how mastery works in my experience).

So if you want to do this for understanding reality, where do you go? Amsterdam? New Delhi? Its really easy to find the places for becoming a master at mainstream stuff like the above, but its hard to find the best places for understanding reality. 

 

[Salvijus]

To a guru. I don't see how you're not making such simple connection here

A guru knows everything about the universe. I'm not talking about saints and sages and enlightened beings. I means gurus

 

Edited June 11, 2019 by Salvijus

[Rilles]

3 hours ago, electroBeam said:

If you want to be a good musician, you go to LA

lol

[electroBeam]

@Salvijus where do you find gurus? That's an even harder question. What city has the most high quality gurus?

[Salvijus]

10 minutes ago, electroBeam said:

@Salvijus where do you find gurus? That's an even harder question. What city has the most high quality gurus?

  Lol forget about city of gurus. You'll be lucky if you meet a single guru in your entire lifetime. That's more then enough. 

Edited June 11, 2019 by Salvijus

[mandyjw]

When the student is ready the teacher will appear. Teachers come in all kinds of forms, the forms of unconscious people and deeply enlightened beings, like trees. You'll miss them if you have the idea of a perfect guru in your head. 

[Shin]

Now here

 

Ba dum tsss

[mandyjw]

@Shin Trying so hard to not be profound that you are actually quite profound. 

[electroBeam]

ok then, sounds like people have very lofty/airy fairy ideas about gurus or learning from masters in spirituality. Not sure why that's so.

Instead, does anyone have an experience they can share of how they encountered their guru. Specifically why where they in the environment they were in(context). How did they notice that the guru was calling them or how did you convince your guru you were worthy. What do you think contributed to finding your guru the most?

@mandyjw How did you encounter your sacred tree? Did your sacred tree wink at you as you walked past?

@SalvijusHow did you encounter your guru?

@ShinIn most spiritual traditions, there is a pattern: a group of people practice a technique, they then experience stuff, they then discuss it with each other and see if they are experiencing the same stuff. If they are that means its legit. If they aren't it means they are getting deluded.

"here now" and using that as your guru is the perfect way to get deluded, even though it's very attractive for the spiritual sages on here that like to do everything from their mother's basement.

Edited June 11, 2019 by electroBeam

[mandyjw]

@electroBeam This sounds really silly, but it's through love, you love them and they love you back. That goes for both gurus and trees.  

All trees are one, all trees are sacred. Sometimes you find one that's willing to be a symbol to you, to teach you the nature of the greater world. 

The tree that was the most symbolic to me was a tree that had grown into two and was breaking apart. I heard it splitting apart in the woods and I went to it and it showed me the nature of duality, how we are separate but together at the same time. I have since found by reading Nahm's posts here, that there's an actual word for that, holon. To make that particular tree even more interesting, one side is breaking and appears to be torn apart and the other side appears completely whole and undamaged. 

 

 

 

Edited June 11, 2019 by mandyjw

[Shin]

15 minutes ago, electroBeam said:

@ShinIn most spiritual traditions, there is a pattern: a group of people practice a technique, they then experience stuff, they then discuss it with each other and see if they are experiencing the same stuff. If they are that means its legit. If they aren't it means they are getting deluded.

We don't need that anymore.
You can know everything there is to know on internet and by reading clear spiritual books.

Practising with other people and asking if "x" experience is legit might slow you down quite a lot depending on your path and your personality.
That was mandatory for the vast majority of people before, because there was no clear informations about what all that is, and how to do it, now that's not the case, there is reddit, there is quora, there is youtube, there is amazon, there is forums like this one.

That's a huge trap, thinking you need to be part of a community or having a guru,
That's also a trap to isolate yourself on purpose thinking you can do it all by yourself all the time

There is a balance in between, which means no path are better than another, and also that none are required at the same time.

Edited June 11, 2019 by Shin

[electroBeam]

@mandyjw ok thanks! What happened when you were looking at the branch? Did you have an insight while looking at it? What was the spiritual experience like?

@Shinok but I can't see why it would slow you down. I know spiritual communities can, but that specific procedure does too? How so.

[whoareyou]

@electroBeam Why do you need a guru? LEO has provided you more than enough information, to be able to do this work by yourself. I don't understand the need for a guru or for a community. You have also spent a shit ton of time on this forum, what are you doing man?

[cetus]

@electroBeam I was just reading your thread then went to youtube and this pops up. Is this just coincidence? I think not.

I've only listened to the first 3 mins or so.

 

[ajasatya]

@electroBeam If you find a guru he will tell you to do the dishes, clean your room, mow the lawn etc.

Who are you?

[Nahm]

Meditation, 30 minutes, twice a day. Let conceptualizing with others go, then let conceptualizing go, let something to think about go, let thinking about the self go, let the idea of a past go, let the idea of a future go - let all these thoughts & beliefs go.

[seeking_brilliance]

6 minutes ago, Nahm said:

Meditation, 30 minutes, twice a day. Let conceptualizing with others go, then let conceptualizing go, let something to think about go, let thinking about the self go, let the idea of a past go, let the idea of a future go - let all these thoughts & beliefs go.

they say the best guru is the inner guru  

[Nahm]

@seeking_brilliance The only one. ?

[Barna]

I also had the same question. 

You might get surprised, but I decided that I will move to California. There are a few reasons for it:

• it's easy to live a zero CO2 emission life there. The county is unmatched in the speed that it's moving into using renewable energy sources, like solar. And for a Californian salary one can afford to buy an electric car and put some solar panels on the roof of the house. As we develop and we become more caring, protecting the environment will become more and more important 
• The people there seem to be also conscious about their diet. If you move there then probably most of the people you choose to hang out with will be vegetarians 
• The people are very open minded there. They legalized weed and now they're on the way of legalizing other psychedelics as well. It's a pity that the laws are changing so slowly, but it's good to see that the people there are already open to these substances. The trend of microdosing LSD originates from there
• If you like to have fun with open minded people, Burning Man is nearby every summer 
• My favorite spiritual teachers live nearby (Adyashanti, Matt Kahn, Leo) 

Can you think of a better place to live for spiritual people? 

Edited June 11, 2019 by Barna

[whoareyou]

2 minutes ago, Barna said:

I also had the same question. 

You might get surprised, but I decided that I will move to California. There are a few reasons for it:

• it's easy to live a zero CO2 emission life there. The county is unmatched in the speed that it's moving into using renewable energy sources, like solar. And for a Californian salary one can afford to buy an electric car and put some solar panels on the roof of the house. As we develop and we become more caring, protecting the environment will become more and more important 
• The people there seem to be also conscious about their diet. If you move there then probably most of the people you choose to hang out with will be vegetarians 
• The people are very open minded there. They legalized weed and now they're on the way of legalizing other psychedelics as well. It's a pity that the laws are changing so slowly, but it's good to see that the people there are already open to these substances. The trend of microdosing LSD originates from there
• If you like to have fun with open minded people, Burning Man is nearby every summer 
• My favorite spiritual teachers live nearby (Adyashanti, Matt Kahn, Leo) 

Can you think about a better place to live for spiritual people? 

A country where 5-MEO is legal would be by far better. It is the best place, because 5-MEO is really all you need.