David,
Do I need a guru?
Yes.
Bow down and touch my socks.
When I lived in India,
There was this guru,
Hundreds of people would line up and they would all touch his socks.
They would kneel down,
Kiss his feet.
And he had such a nice pair of wool socks on.
And I was always impressed with those socks.
Where did he get them?
Do you need a guru?
That's a really great question.
When I lived in India and I was younger,
I had one that I used to see a lot.
And it was very helpful.
At that point in my life,
I think I did need one.
I needed that guidance.
But as I grew up,
I also realized I was giving that person my power and looking into them and to them for my answers.
We can look to a priest for answers,
A politician,
A corporate leader,
A mentor,
A guide,
And a guru.
And whatever position they're in,
The dynamic is often the same,
Which is you're more advanced than me.
You know more than me.
You're more enlightened than me.
I'm going to find my answers,
My salvation,
My bliss through you.
You'll see this in religion,
Like a Jesus or a Mohammed or a Buddha.
And you'll see this in business.
You'll see this in universities,
Where the best professors can kind of become the guru.
You see this happen everywhere in life because it's a psychological dynamic.
You know more.
You're better than me.
I'm going to get my answers,
My freedom,
My salvation through you.
There comes a point in your spiritual development.
I think your development as a person where you have to step back from that dynamic and go,
OK,
What is it in me that feels invalidated or like I'm not enough that I think this person is better than me and that they have my answers?
And I know for me,
As I started teaching and becoming a teacher,
I had to look deeply at that and find out where that really came was coming from and start to reconcile it.
And I also realized that I had to deepen into and grow into my own answers and not just take somebody else's because they're so sexy,
So smart,
So good,
So enlightened and use them as my own.
You have any of those like spiritual friends that every time something in life happens,
They just throw a quote at you?
Well,
Alan Watts would say this.
Eckhart Tolle would say that.
The Buddha would say this.
You know,
And that's fine,
But it's not coming from them.
It's not coming from a deep place inside them.
They're not.
It's not their own inherent wisdom from their life experience.
It's they've taken it from the outside and almost used it as a way to avoid learning that lesson themselves.
It's like somebody loses someone or something in life.
And then they're like,
Well,
You know,
Life's all in illusion.
So it doesn't matter.
I've had spiritual friends say that a lot,
But there's a difference between waking up and growing up.
And I heard the philosopher Ken Wilber say this recently.
So now I'm taking his answers,
But it really resonated with me.
There's a difference between spiritual awakening and growing up.
And part of growing up is deepening really into your own answers.
And so maybe you take a look around in your life and go,
Where have I been referencing somebody else,
Giving away my power to them,
You know,
Hoping that some of their enlightenment will rub off on me.
If you're waiting for really good answers from me,
You'll be waiting for a really long time.
Okay.
On that note,
You've got the answers inside you.
Every great teacher in history has said that even the Buddha on his deathbed said the answers are within you.
Right.
Everything you know,
Yes,
You can take one candle and light a thousand other candles from it and then those candles can light more.
And so with our awareness,
We do touch others,
We help them awaken we help shine a light.
If we're some kind of guide mentor healer.
Yes,
That is part of the equation.
If there is part of you that thinks you always need a guru to guide you and to give you your answers,
You might want to sit and look really closely at that.
I used to be a guru chaser.
Now I'm here,
Talking to you in this weird gold jacket that I found in my closet.
If you're watching this,
David,
Where'd you get that jacket.
I really don't know.
I used to run around India chasing every guru I could find anyone who had a beard,
I would kneel in front of them and pray to them and hope they would give me their answers and their enlightenment.
And at a certain point I realized some of that was coming out of pain and out of a lack of confidence in myself.
And I had to start working on that.
And now I'm completely perfect.
So that's why I'm the teacher.
Just kidding.
Never that would never happen.
You don't get to perfection.
I think it's like,
If you look at it,
A flower grow,
It's beautiful it develops,
But is there really like a perfect.
No,
It's just growing it's opening it's blossoming.
Perfect is not even in this realm.
And when people take a guru and say he's perfect or she's perfect look at those perfect wool socks.
Look at those amazing wool socks.
You know,
We add a layer onto it that's not real,
There's no guru that is perfect.
In my opinion,
They still have a human form that has human flaws and human needs and human desires.
And if you try to compare yourself to a statue of the Buddha,
You'll,
You'll fail and you'll feel invalidated.
So find that guru that teacher that wisdom inside yourself really develop into that.
And I think you're going to find a lot of purpose and passion in your life and live a much more grounded,
Happier existence.
Thanks for being here.
I appreciate it.
I hope you like my gold jacket that I keep making fun of.
And I will see you next time.
Hopefully I'll see you in meditation school.
The link should be somewhere below.
Enjoy yourself.
Take care.
