My warning about learning from teachers yet not actualizing yourself

[Flowerfaeiry]

Something that we need to be aware of when following teachers, is not putting in the effort to do our own work. 

 

Forgetting to discover who WE truly are. And instead becoming a mish mash of what these people have discovered about their own reality. 

 

I've been following various teachers on YouTube for years, and I didn't really understand the depth of this problem until recently. I really enjoy this woman on YouTube named Aurianna Joy. She is such a good example of an embodied woman. I just love her. Yet I recently realized, I was taking on aspects of her personality and thinking they were my own. All the while abandoning my precious self! What the heck. 

 

So now I feel like I am starting new. Who is Sarah? What does Sarah like? What does Sarah actually want to do with her life? Without the idea of who she thinks she should be... while being free from the examples of others...

 

Just because we look up to someone and admire their life, doesn't mean we need to take on their qualities. We still have to figure out who WE are, without all the other noise. 

[Preety_India]

Yea don't do that. It's like taking over someone else's skin. 

You be you. Your true inner self needs to shine from within. 

Follow these teachers on YouTube but don't get attached to them. 

Also they all have some flaws that become visible in time. 

We sometimes tend to consume their flaws. 

This post was important. More power to you.. 

[Hello from Russia]

Yeah, I m now growing my hair and quite enjoying it

[Setzer901]

Yeah, what you said is quite big.

We tend to take on the values and moral precepts of the teachers we most admire and listen to. And while there may be nuggets of truth in their worldview, we need to find our own personal truth.

I think an example that would be relevant to most of us would be our taking on Leo's beliefs and worldviews. Leo is way ahead in terms of his growth, and his spiritual experiences on psychedelics cannot be grasped fully by most of us. Taking on his worldview fully without discernment can be detrimental to our own growth.

We need to find our own personal truth, integrate teachings from teachers that can add positive value to our lives, and discard things that don't.

[Flowerfaeiry]

7 hours ago, Setzer901 said:

I think an example that would be relevant to most of us would be our taking on Leo's beliefs and worldviews. Leo is way ahead in terms of his growth, and his spiritual experiences on psychedelics cannot be grasped fully by most of us. Taking on his worldview fully without discernment can be detrimental to our own growth.

Very much so. I've made this mistake plenty.

[Thought Art]

You are the ultimate authority. To me this work is about taking back your power and creating your own unique life. I have fallen into this trap as as well.

We are creators! We serve the creator by being creative and creating ourselves.

Edited February 24, 2021 by Thought Art

[integral]

2:51

Edited February 24, 2021 by integral

[Flowerfaeiry]

2 hours ago, integral said:

2:51

Such a good episode

[Flowerfaeiry]

2 hours ago, Lauritz Bewer said:

@Flowerfaeiry crazy

I would say I'm currently at the exact same stage. I'm figuring out how to find balance between my uni stuff (which is architecture), increasing my requisite variety, doing ACTUAL consciousness work, and finding free Time activities That are not totally unhealthy. I've seen that just adopting ideas from teacher's leads nowhere. 

And another thing, does it happen to you that you watch a video of some teacher and out of like 1 hour of video you remember like 1 single Phrase and you get hung up on it ?. Happens to me.

Kind of. I'll remember a few different things the teacher said and it will stick with me for a long time. And then sometimes I'll even have a hard time not looking at life that way even if I know its time to move forward. My own shortcomings. 

[How to be wise]

22 hours ago, Flowerfaeiry said:

All the while abandoning my precious self!

That ‘precious self’ is exactly what you must get rid of. It’s illusory, false and will die.

[Flowerfaeiry]

47 minutes ago, How to be wise said:

That ‘precious self’ is exactly what you must get rid of. It’s illusory, false and will die.

No. It's actually important to develop a healthy ego. 

[How to be wise]

4 minutes ago, Flowerfaeiry said:

No. It's actually important to develop a healthy ego. 

The ego will die with the body. As you age, it will be more and more painful to live with it. You might as well rid yourself of the ego before that time comes.

[Zigzag Idiot]

@Flowerfaeiry Great idea for a topic. I think it applies to most everyone at some point who are doing the Work. Robert S. DeRopp thought so as well. In his book that’s considered a classic by many, The Master Game, he identifies this trap in what he called the six catches.

I have a photo of his chart of six catches but I’m having trouble uploading it. If I can, I’ll add it later,,,,

 

 

Edited February 25, 2021 by Zigzag Idiot

[Flowerfaeiry]

@Zigzag Idiot I love this!

[Flowerfaeiry]

1 hour ago, How to be wise said:

The ego will die with the body. As you age, it will be more and more painful to live with it. You might as well rid yourself of the ego before that time comes.

Trying to get rid of the ego before developing a healthy one seems like putting the horse before the carriage to me... maybe you can do both at the same time but idk. You want to be able to access "yourself" without being overcome by the dream of it.

[How to be wise]

30 minutes ago, Flowerfaeiry said:

Trying to get rid of the ego before developing a healthy one seems like putting the horse before the carriage to me... maybe you can do both at the same time but idk. You want to be able to access "yourself" without being overcome by the dream of it.

The route doesn’t matter. The final destination does.

The ego shares the same fate as the body. And the body is extremely fragile, as a countless number of things can put an end to it. You will be living in fear of those things on a constant basis, and the fear will increase as you age, because you have become so attached to the self, and you know it’s time is coming to an end.

[mandyjw]

This is a great topic. Source, inspiration, joy, Love, etc, is what we really are. Sometimes we use qualities other people have as a sort of roadmap to get "there" not realizing that there is already here. We are obsessively focusing on objects, so if we see a teacher who has a very peaceful presence for example, we might think that that's what we want. The outward reflection, and our projection of it is from Source but we mistake it for Source and mistake the thought for the feeling that we really seek. Sometimes we get so mixed up we want to think of ourselves and see ourselves as peaceful beings, even if that means beating up on ourselves and creating a war with ourselves when we aren't peaceful. Peaceful is just an example, it could be any other quality we latch onto. 

Years ago I got into a new artform that was just taking off. It was an incredibly exciting time and there was a community built around it. People were discovering new techniques all the time. When you started though, the best you could do was sort of emulate what you had seen before and what had been done before. Once you got some practice and knowledge of the basics, you could innovate, and become one of those who were pioneering new stuff that other people would in turn emulate, and then you had to not get upset about it.  Part of this is just how things go, it's how we learn. Teachings are changing all the time. For example, Rupert Spira is jaw-droppingly clear about the deepest teachings taken from thousand years old traditions with antiquated analogies and religious lingo. People like that make it easier for everyone, but still, we can always objectify the teachings, find qualities there, then we creates rules and guidelines for ourselves that aren't really there. We make the next thing into the newest standard. The beauty is that it's always in flow, and you're part of creating it.

Present Sarah is always present Sarah, she does not need to make standards for herself that she must impose on herself in the future, no matter if they come from the motivation of wanting to be authentically her, or motivations of wanting to be like someone else you're inspired by. You are inspiration itself. 

[Thought Art]

@How to be wise Ego is a term with a lot of baggage and uses and interpretations,

You aren't gonna get rid of the ego completely. Its too important for survival.

You can let the aspects that cause suffering die, and there fore make it more healthy.

There is a difference between an neurotic, selfish, ugly, evil ego

and one that is more loose, fluid, open, healthy, mature, loving etc 

But, no one doesn't have an ego.

Edited February 25, 2021 by Thought Art

[mandyjw]

3 minutes ago, Thought Art said:

But, no one doesn't have an ego.

"To use a finger to illustrate how "a 'finger' is not a finger" is not as good as using something other than a finger to illustrate how "a 'finger' is not a finger". -Chuang Tzu 

[LastThursday]

On 24/02/2021 at 5:32 AM, Flowerfaeiry said:

Forgetting to discover who WE truly are. And instead becoming a mish mash of what these people have discovered about their own reality. 

We're all mish mashes of things we've embodied over time. Who you truly are is the unique mish mash that is @Flowerfaeiry. Once you've taken on someone else's ideas or mannerisms they are yours not theirs, they are expressed through your unique makeup. There's no pure you waiting to get out.