Silent Musings

Many people on the spiritual path have struggled with the notion of finding a teacher that can be a proper guide for their awakening. There is often a tendency to think of finding “the perfect teacher”, but in fact, the existence of such beings is a myth. The culture of self-realization often doesn’t do much to dispel this myth, either. In my opinion, it has been the source of serious problems for many spiritual seekers, propagated by the intense desire for (or attachment to) finding the image of perfection in another being. Ultimately, it is no more than a projection of self-loathing, which can cause all sorts of damaging entanglements for both the aspirant and the teacher.

Here is a clip of my own teacher, David Spero, speaking about the relationship between spiritual aspirants and their teachers (gurus). The more I have grown into my own understanding since first meeting David some years ago, the more I have come to appreciate his wisdom, and this video is no exception. There is nothing I could say that would express my views on the subject any more clearly than David does here.

It is a common error in conventional spiritual understanding to think that a realized spiritual master is immune from feeling. The conventional understanding of enlightenment as being beyond attachment seems to breed this kind of misunderstanding. However, in reality, no one is immune from hurt, or even attachment. Even avatars have peculiarities of affection and taste. This is true even if they dissociate from so-called normal society, even if they lead unconventional lives of solitude. If you actually found yourself with one of these unique beings and spent time with him, you might see amazing peculiarities in personality as well as a deep vulnerability based on human feeling. Scholars and thinkers have created a mystique about spirituality and meditation, based on dreaming about the lives of such beings or taking one aspect of their behavior and amplifying it to an extreme, finally framing it as a constant or universal pattern or stereotype. -David Spero