HP is essentially a kind of New Age place online, and therefore it’s understandable that its members tend not to necessarily conform wholeheartedly to specific religions in the average way. In the New Age there’s even a spirit along the lines of ‘Nobody should tell me what to do’ or ‘I am my own teacher’ (which isn’t quite logical IMO). Anyhow, I was just musing on the subject, and would say that there’s a necessary and healthy tension between the two extremes, but neither extreme, AT the extreme, is healthy.
To give up decision-making for oneself totally is clearly not the way of the coming age. On the other hand, to reject working with or under the tutorage of others can often be a big mistake, as you end up stuck whether you realise it or not. (People usually don’t – since time is passing they imagine that they are actually progressing when they are really just going from one psychological place to another similar place over time.)
If I introduce the concept of ‘tension’ here I wouldn’t want it to be misunderstood. ‘Tension’ defined in a certain way is not only a positive but even an essential aspect of life. We wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning if we didn’t tense and then use our muscles. We usually would never learn or become wiser without the ‘tension’ or difference existing between ourselves at a certain point in time and experiences which give us wisdom, or without the ‘tension’ of difference between our own perspective and that of someone more knowledgeable than ourselves in a certain subject and from whom we can learn.
This form of ‘positive tension’ also exists in religion: it’s sometimes useful that there are different religions, for example, as one can give new insights into spirituality that our most favoured faith may lack. There can also be positive tensions within religions when a renewing group or movement arises which can slough off some no-longer-useful old and entrenched ideas or political hierarchies.
With this in mind, I’d say there’s also a needed and healthy tension between the extreme of monolithic religion on the one hand, in which we are all told what to do and we all try to conform, and the more modern idea of ‘we will all do what we want to do’ on the other hand.
Neither is actually healthy or whole at the extreme. ‘Do your own thing’ was the cry of the late 60s, and was a cry of rebellion understandable to a degree, but which also led to great immorality and to an enhanced drug culture. The self-avowed black magician, Aleister Crowley, wrote (or channelled) his prime Law: ‘Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole of the Law’. In other words, being a law unto ourselves is not, at an extreme, holy or spiritual. It’s the basis according to Crowley of Satanism, and psychologically it might be likened to selfishness. Many wouldn’t therefore see this as the basic way things are going to be in any future more-spiritual age.
We are intended to be social creatures, thinking of others as well as ourselves. Ultimately, in thinking enough about others, we find that we have to self-sacrifice for others at times. Spiritual work can also frequently be more effective as a group – which on the very large scale becomes a religion in fact. For group work we do initially use our free will to decide to join together with others, but a part of that joining is that we are also agreeing to go with majority or leadership decisions, since we have already agreed to do so. Such group work is frequently more efficacious than simply to ‘do what I want and be my own path’ as there are powerful positive influences groups can exert upon the world, either practically or esoterically, which the individual simply hasn’t got a hope in hell of achieving.
On the other hand, the reason self-assertion and individuality is to the fore in New Age spirituality right now is because the world religions are indeed too monolithic.
That’s why the tension between the two is healthy: neither ultimate and absolute self-assertion, nor total religious control, are healthy or whole. There’s a point
RE: Do We Need Spiritual Teachers? Or Can We Grow Alone?
Venetian - I think your musings are just fine - thank you for sharing all
Thoughts free flowing - I don't think there's a single person I have met
that I haven't learnt something from - in all of my life, each & every moment of each & every day.
We are all blessed - I think sometimes we all just need to broaden our perspectives, open our eyes a little more, our hearts & conditioned minds too
as many of our lessons are immediately infront of our very noses & we don't even recognise them - as we miss the bigger picture scrutinising the intricate emotional details
as they're disguised as pain, rejection , jealousy, heart ache, greed, love, etc etc especially the struggles, the conflict . . I think we are all merely fragments of a whole consciousness
- we learn from each other
- & even if peeps do take the insular route - surely we all eventually will learn from the selfishness that it
isnt really the route to becoming part of the whole from which ever angle, perspective.
I would say - We all have our own paths
but all contribute to the bigger mass conscious journey.
I would like to feel - eventually all leads to the same destination.
Universal law, polarities, negative & positive - chemistry, magnetism, electricity - we all pull or push
draw or repel therefore we must learn from each other - plus why else would we meet all we do.
Teee heeeeee Only when man dumps the ego does his energy of spirit really become free,
become a map towards the whole of mankinds purpose.
Readily learning ones own life purpose but within, alongside the huge worldy lessons of others..
Ooh sorry not at all explaining what I mean very well ...
Hmmm I think we all need each other - no matter what professional, spiritual label
anyone resides within... names, labels - its really quite illusional,
the importance of the energy exchanges is paramount to growth, its the emotional buttons pressed, the challenges etc
To look beneath & discover perhaps the true meaning of each & every exchange, persons you meet which brings you closer to your own perhaps personal divine logic as opposed to human logic... which may united bring all growth eventually as one energetic cosnciousenss.
OOh think i'll have to sleep on what I'm trying to say - venitian yours flowed so easily .. I'm struggling to make my point... actually - Perhaps i'll leave it there 🙂 as I may have missed your point.
RE: Do We Need Spiritual Teachers? Or Can We Grow Alone?
Just sharing some other perspectives.
‘I am my own teacher’, ‘Be a light unto yourself’, extremes.
Yes I agree there are two distinct extremes and GOD gave us the best advice ever in the allegory of Adam and Eve so do we choose to eat from the Tree of Knowledge or the Tree of Life e.g. life experience. Well as we know we were given the blessing of free will to choose which way to go.
‘but neither extreme, AT the extreme, is healthy’
I agree with Venetian the aim is to achieve a balance and walk the middle path in all things. The Tree of Life offers us great opportunity to learn from each other (and that can include spiritual teachers) through the experience. In my experience the people that eat from the Tree of Life find it very healthy indeed, because within it there are few extremes because the whole objective is balance. Not only do people learn from experience but they also have the opportunity to learn from all sentient beings including a tree or an ant. The imbalance/extreme can also happen if unbeknowingly one become an idolater. If one becomes an idolater of spiritual teachers, angels, spirit guides, guru’s, authors or spiritual and religious texts one is then out of balance with our soul and GOD. This we were also warned about, Jesus also told off the apostles for adulating him.
Many years ago I spent a day with a wonderful elder and I told him that I felt truly blessed to be able to spend the day with him, he replied Kim ‘I am not your teacher but a fellow traveller on the path of life’ I have always remembered those words and that is why I had to be with him that day. It was not knowledge in its literal form that I took away with me, in those few simple words was a whole philosophy for how to view everyone in one’s life.
I once trained in an esoteric therapy and I and others were in awe of the teacher prior to meeting her, she was a pioneer in her field and yet she was the biggest disappointment. The same with some authors one of my heroines took a nose dive off of her pedestal once we actually met in person, she did not live up to her own teachings. This was a big learning curve for me and brought me back to what my father taught me as a small child that ‘everyone is equal, nobody is better then you, not even the Queen or the Prime Minister. At the end of the day all people are people and equal in GOD’s eyes but yet humanity is still to live this equality to its fullest extent multi-dimensionally.
‘end up stuck’
Stuck as an important reason for being it is another message from the cosmos IME. “Pain and suffering is the greatest teacher, when people are stuck; they are hitting their heads on brick walks due to a desire to control the outcome. The universe is saying no way you are in a cul de sac!” So in this place it is time for us to work out why we are stuck and it is usually due to us having not integrated that which we have learnt. And the best way to integrate knowledge is by living it, then it becomes pearls of wisdom.
“We usually would never learn or become wiser without the ‘tension’ or difference existing between ourselves at a certain point in time and experiences which give us wisdom, or without the ‘tension’ of difference between our own perspective and that of someone more knowledgeable than ourselves in a certain subject and from whom we can learn.”
Yes I agree, I think of it as an ‘intervention’, a ‘light’ or ‘signpost’ shared by another traveller on the path. Through our different experiences we all learn different things on the journey and so it is good to share and through sharing we create community and understanding. Socrates and Plato came to the conclusion that the only way that people learn is through dialog and sharing because this allows people to reflect, contemplate and to come to their own conclusions. Plato went further to say that ‘people do much better when they are allowed to do their own thing’. In their own way that pleases them.
‘Do your own thing’ was the cry of the late 60s’
It is these very pe
RE: Do We Need Spiritual Teachers? Or Can We Grow Alone?
PS
Jesus also said that one cannot be led or learn from someone who is not walking their talk otherwise both fall into the pit together.
So discernment is also crucial but yet even that can be its own learning curve and one can gain great benefit from learning how not to do it, so eventhough Jesus taught this I feel when we view 'all is for our highest good' and learn from the experience everything as a benefit ultimately. I guess some choose the easier route and some take the more difficult one.
I have met many on the journey that have learnt the most wonderful things from spiritual teachers for sure they ate from the 'Tree of Knowledge' and rushed ahead of others in some areas, but yet in their rush and thirst for knowledge they did not have the time or inclination to integrate the basics ensuring foundations built on rock. IME foundations built on rock ensure that the growth is steady, in balance and on target with the soul's chosen path.
So once again horses for courses.
RE: Do We Need Spiritual Teachers? Or Can We Grow Alone?
Wow, for once my post is going to be shorter than everyone elses. 😀
We do not need a teacher to show us the way, but to ignore what others may put in front of us on our path, may lead us to trip and fall until we find our own way to dismiss or embrace this.
I am finding my own way. I make my own decisions and my own choices in what I believe. I ask questions. I listen to the replies. I dismiss or accept as I choose and as I understand. Only this way am I truly free.
Love and Reiki Hugs