Teaching the Wind

There are a few built in problems with being an honest spiritual guide. Spiritual exploration requires delving into an aspect of existence that doesn't conform to the same conditions as the material side of the equation. And peoples minds are conditioned to process everything in terms of material ways of seeing, understanding and learning. We're talking about a realm that is beyond the reach of the thinking mind. So catering to comfortable reasoning is inherently misleading.

No one can know that their understanding is correct with absolute certainty. Belief is the best that one can hope for, which, in and of itself, is self deception. Since no one can actually know, belief is really just assuming that a theory or someone else's story is true. Belief shuts out other possibilities and ignores “the scientific method”. And, although we don't expect scientific provability in such matters, we still know that following the method is the most accurate approach to learning and refining our notions that we can use. But there will always be mystery. So, essentially, one can't claim to be the ultimate authority, without lying. And people don't have confidence in any “expert” who says, “It seems kind of like this to me, but you'll have to check it out for yourself and see what you think”. We wouldn't trust our investments, education, home and auto repairs or anything else in life that we consider important to someone who told us that it was ultimately our job to figure it out.

But that's the thing about spiritual exploration and discovery, it's a personal thing. All of the great teachers throughout the ages have clearly stated this fact. Unfortunately, their teachings were then claimed by others, who turned them into religions that now profess to freely hand out all the answers – the very answers that we're supposed to discover and interpret for ourselves. Where as, all a spiritual guide should really do is provide seekers with the right questions to ask and give appropriate directions for the next leg on their paths of personal inquiry. But this is kind of like trying to sell a do-it-yourself guide without providing a picture or description of the final product. And who would buy something and go through all the steps to make it, without knowing what they were going to wind up with in the end?

So people basically have two choices in seeking spiritual guidance. Go with the masses to the polished palaces that claim to have all the answers and promise eternal glory; or, go to the lone individual who tells them that he/she can't really say what the seeker's truth is, and that they'll have to suss it out for themselves. Being conditioned to functioning in a material world of stable certainty, it seems pretty obvious where the greater tide will be inclined to flow.

Another major factor in the equation, is that people are very attached to their egos, believe that they are their egos and are happy with whatever allows them to carry on, living in this comfortably familiar fantasy. So, knowing that it holds appeal, the church offers ego polish along with its incense. Which isn't to imply that polishing the ego isn't a good thing; but by definition, spirituality is the pursuit of moving beyond the ego. However, it's much easier and more comfortable to just skirt that little issue, and pretend otherwise. The giant electronic sign in front of the church says, “All egos Welcome”, while the cardboard sign propped up in front of the lone teacher says, “Ego Remover – Free Samples – Inquire Within”. Certainly, most by far, will choose the empty promises over the promise of emptiness.

It's a great scenario for the institutions, and a disheartening one for informed teachers. It's clearly the way it is, and must therefore be embraced as such. But it can make it somewhat challenging to sustain the requisite passion and avoid the temptation to make more marketable claims, just to capture an audience. That's the plight of the sage. Wisdom to share, understanding to impart, called to uplift one and all, yet destined to teach the wind.