Click here to go to the next issue
Highlights Home Page | Receive the Nondual Highlights each day
#2097 - Tuesday, March 29, 2005 - Editor: Jerry Katz
The Nondual Highlights is
now also sent to Nonduality Salon http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NondualitySalon and
I Am http://groups.yahoo.com/group/iam
If you would like The Highlights
sent to your list, just let us know: Click 'Reply' on
your email program, compose your message, and 'Send'.
Dustin
http://www.livejournal.com/users/iamom/
acknowledgement; going with the flow
level 1
There's no reason to change the way we are. (It's impossible to
do that, anyway -- at your real essence, there is no
"thing" about "you" which can be changed.) I
suppose one can change the way one thinks, or acts; on this
plane, anyway, such that it is. But we cannot change who we are.
I AM, we are.
Beyond that is nothing. Underneath all that stuff is
nothing. Acknowledging that is FREEDOM!
level 2
When we find ourselves in a situation that appears at some level
to need changing, positive or otherwise (take your pick of
the situations; they make up the totality of the world around
us), we can remind ourselves that whatever is happening, is what
is supposed to be happening. There is no Other than That
which I already AM. What we're looking for has always been found.
level 3
When confronted with a person or situation in our lives which is
creating feelings of anxiety, stress, anger, depression, or
otherwise, we can unsheath ourselves from the pain in the one
instant that it takes us to remember who we really are. I AM,
we remember, and the contents of the pain dissolve in an
outbreath.
level 4
If you find yourself pissed off or upset about something
(anything!), take a deep breath and release your attachment to
your desire for Otherness. That is to say, don't be attached to
your own idea of how the situation should be unfolding: just let
go of your expectations of How Things Should Be and let yourself
fly up high.
level 5
Relax. Take a deep breath. Chill out with me for awhile and
listen to this great music.
music: http://www.drumnbasstv.com/
http://heartofnow.com/files/other.writings.html#friend
From the Age of the Guru to the Age
of the Friend
by Greg Goode
Recently a guru admitted to me, "You
know, when I stopped believing that I was enlightened and others
weren't, all the fun went out of giving satsang!"
The age of the guru is over. This is the age
of the friend. The message of self-knowledge and liberation is
outstripping any guru's ability to contain it. People have been
discovering that the message is independent of the messenger. The
message has become detached from its older, exclusivistic,
privileged stage settings. No longer must it travel down from a
hierarchy. These days it spreads horizontally from person to
person.
Of course there are still gurus. There will
be gurus as long as there are friends. There will always be some
gurus able to serve as wonderful teachers and inspiring examples.
But these days the friend is providing more and more of
the same services. The friend is spreading the message of
self-knowledge, opening hearts with lovingkindness, and inspiring
others with enthusiasm.
Morphing the guru model
The turn from the guru to the friend is not
just a matter of inspiration; it's also a matter of information.
We've got freer access to what was formerly more selective and
closed. The message of self-knowledge has reached interested
parties wherever there's communication. And this communication no
longer needs to flow through the narrow-band guru-frequency, but
has overflowed and become broadband.
This has caused the guru model itself to
morph into something more democratic and decentralized. There are
more teachers with less charisma. In
The connotations of the term
"guru" are changing. Traditionally this Sanskrit word
has been interpreted to mean dispeller (gu) of darkness (ru). It
was understood primarily in personal terms, and the guru was
worshipped as an incarnation of God -- a sacred, exclusive
conduit to self-realization. These days, the metaphor has gone
stale. No longer do people accept the image that they're in
darkness until assisted by a purportedly perfected human being.
In spiritual circles, the "guru" word is more and more
taken to point to the seeker's own innermost self.
Exclusivity not politically correct
No longer can people believe that liberation
speaks only Tibetan, or that the world was created from holy
Sanskrit syllables. People are saying, "If it can't be said
in my language, then it isn't be as universal as it
pretends." Even as recently as thirty years ago, seekers of
self-awareness had to trek to
Barnes & Noble, Borders, Amazon, Yahoo,
Google, mobile phones and BlackBerries. Teachings that used to be
limited to a select few are now being joyously shared between
friends in any language. Even decades ago, you had to go to
ashrams or temples and maybe wait three days before the keepers
would let you enter. Now the same message can be found in coffee
shops, living rooms, cyber chat-rooms and even prisons. A few of
the younger gurus are beginning to adapt their teachings to this
new democratic tone. They've backed off from the stance of
exlusivity and have come closer to celebrating friendship and
enlightened ordinariness. And other gurus are digging in their
heels and sticking to the old story.
Warts and information
Public figures are now commonplace. We know
more about more people. We see their warts and indiscretions.
This is inevitable in today's infoculture where bloggers and
paparazzi themselves can get famous. The older guru model can't
survive this much information. According to the older and exalted
versions of the guru model, the guru is a unique and perhaps
perfected example of humanity. Maybe divinity in temporary human
clothing. Some have even said that the guru is beyond God. But as
information increases, it becomes much harder for this image to
survive. High perfection becomes low comedy with each new
revelation of vegetarian gurus caught eating chiliburgers,
celibate gurus discovered having affairs with their PR chiefs, or
miracle-wielding gurus photographed with trinkets in the folds of
their sleeves.
Information on gurus abounds in ways that
were unthinkable a while ago. There's up-close and personal
information in books such as Feet
of Clay, Mother
of God, or Enlightenment
Blues. There are websites such as Jerry Katz's famous Nonduality.com, which has
helped deconstruct the older guru model by its sheer breadth of
expression, and by listing so many gurus, including literary and
movie characters. Then there's Sarlo's Guru
Ratings pages, which freely give subjective and personal
scores to gurus, along with their anti-sites where possible.
There's Jody Radzik, who for years has been a fly in the
ointment, reminding people that a guru's image of perfection is
created by the student's idealizations. Recently Jody has come up
with guruphilac.org, an
newsy info blog with guru refugee-sites and other poop and scoop
that makes it much harder to idealize the guru.
No power loss
Does the message of liberation get diluted
if it reaches you through night-shift clerk at the local 7-11?
Isn't it better to go directly to the source? More and more
people are saying "No - the source is everywhere."
People are understanding liberation as something that can be
communicated by anyone, with every breath. Red flags go up
whenever someone demands that only certain people can be
message-bearers. The message can come from the convenience
store, and people are now seeing that it's the same message that
comes from the wise old bearded guy on top of the hill. There's a
twinkle in his eye because he knows it too.
Any questions?
For information or an appointment:
Dr. Greg Goode
718-888-1222