A Spiritual Teacher IS.....

It is not the teacher before you that manifests what you perceive as an awakening, but the awakening within you that manifests what you perceive as a teacher. *

For most of my years, I sought my idea of a traditional spiritual teacher to provide me with truth, teach me knowledge. I sought that rarefied being, flawless and wise who could give to me the connection to the Absolute that I imagined I was living uncomfortably without. In the end, much to my dismay, I repeatedly found my appointees inadequate. Over and over I concluded that I had not found the right person, but I have come to realize that it was the “right perception” I was lacking.

Not that my efforts were in vain—I am thankful for them. Obsessively staring into a mirror, trying to focus on the horizon, can induce some pretty profound results. The horizon seen turns out not to be “out there.”

“The fool who persists in his folly will become wise.” William Blake

I found that it was my criterion for a teacher that was flawed, not any of the individuals that I tried to project the title onto. My efforts eventually brought me to the realization that in subtle mysteries like wisdom and spirit—the student/teacher relationship is not linear or well-defined, but more amorphous in nature. One moment I was comfortable in the compliant role I imaged to be a student and then I was scared to death to realize that the roles had reversed…and then back to being ‘student’, and then reversed again.

In truth, we all teacher and student—involved in a multi-faceted process, perfectly balanced as every one of us being teacher to and student of every other, simultaneously. To consider oneself as more one aspect of the process than the other is an illusion, and limits our collective experience.

Many of my best teachers—those who have given me lessons that have remained as significant tenets of my belief system—are people I no longer allow to have an active part in my life. There are two distinct reasons for this:
1. One does not have to be wise to instill wisdom, virtuous to promote virtue.
2. Once you complete the 1st grade, you do not continue to go back to that teacher’s classroom. There is undoubtedly more the teacher could teach you, but it is a matter of diminishing return—the final lesson of the student is to move on. Not to do so is to fail the teaching.

I do not discount those remarkable individuals that have obtained conscious levels of awareness of their connection to the Absolute that I do not consistently maintain at this time. They do indeed exist, I can feel the uniqueness of them whenever I encounter such a person—even those who do not, themselves, know of the power of their connection.

Even with such a person universally acknowledged as a teacher, my perspective is that instruction is offered most often because it is what 'students' expect/demand. It is like getting someone about to panic to focus on your moving finger—a hypnotic induction to calm, allowing the student to return to a natural state of their own knowledge/wisdom.

It is not the mystic’s perspective that changes our reality, but experiencing their reality that changes our perspective.*

The real change comes about within us from spending time in the higher vibrational field of a true teacher…either directly in their presence or indirectly in the rhythm of their teaching (as a mantra may introduce peacefulness in meditation). They have seen the ‘face’ of the Absolute, they remember it, and the memory of that experience radiates from them—within or without word. One way or another, a true teacher holds open a sacred, safe place for the student to explore and lay claim to their own truth. A teacher reawakens one to the resonance of the Absolute so that the student can–on their own–find their way home to the Absolute, to their true Self.

A teacher, or at least a skilled teacher, is someone with perceptive enough to comprehend the information most needed by the student, intelligent enough to purposely construct the means of the instruction, adept enough to elicit the learning without being intrusive on the student’s experience, and wise enough to realize he or she was the led in the process by the spirit of student.*

A teacher should not give so much of self or knowledge, but give to the student themself.*

A true teacher does not impart wisdom or learning, but draws forth the student’s own wisdom. The act of who is drawing forth—and not any defined role—shows us who is teacher and who is student at that moment.*

The order of need is no respecter of hierarchy.One may follow a path without a teacher, but to be a teacher, One needs a student.*
Spiritual teaching is not something that you can choose, but rather something that chooses you.

Copyright 2008 CG Walters

This is my truth. Only you can determine if there is any value in it for you.

C.G. Walters primarily writes fiction that focuses on the multidimensionality of our loves and our lives. His current novel, Sacred Vow is a metaphysical novel about a man who responds to the mysterious call of [his soulmate], opening the way to redefinition of both himself and his understanding of the world around him…Highly recommended. —Midwest Book Review.

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Thanks to Alex Blackwell Personal Development Carnival: Issue 28, Lexi Sundell Carnival of Creative Growth #21 , Peter Personal Stories of Change Blog Carnival: Edition 15 , Anmol Mehta Meditation, Yoga & Spiritual Growth Carnival- Edition #14 , to Mina, Day Shifting and Paradigm: 5th Edition , Twenty Fourth Edition of the Carnival of Improving Life, Paula Kawal at Inner Wisdom Project - August 2008, and Jon Anderson carnival of struggling bumbling newbies - Feb 02, 2008 for featuring this article .