Navigating the Spiritual Path

Have you ever wondered how it is possible for one charismatic individual to develop a following and become a cult leader? Many of us believe that we are immune to falling prey to a cult leader but it would be an exercise in arrogance to believe that we are above being led by a false teacher.

We live in a world that is littered with falsehoods; it is spread via the mass media or just general misinformation and misinterpretations. It can be quiet difficult to decipher between what is truth and what is lie. I recently watched a movie called Kumaré, which is a documentary about a man named Vikram Gandhi who did an experiment to see if he could pose as a guru from India and develop a following. What was astonishing about this experiment was that it literally took no time for this man from New Jersey to develop a devoted following.  As cruel as this may sound, Vikram did teach his “students” some truth despite misleading these unsuspecting truth seekers into doing some weird and absurd things. He taught them what he would want a guru to teach him, which is that the true guru was found within the self.

We humans have a tendency to project out into the world what we wish to see. This can be in many ways our greatest ability when attracting desirable circumstances to ourselves. This is what makes us mini gods and goddesses and enhances our ability to co-create along with the greater creator. Unfortunately, when we misuse our innate creative abilities by giving our power away to another, what we are doing is affirming a negative to the universe, such as “I am powerless” or “I need someone to save me from myself.”  When we put such negative and limiting qualifiers out into the universe, we can then quickly fall into a trap set by false cult leaders or gurus who are not only in it for the money, but for control over your mind and a group of adoring followers who will continually genuflect before them.   False gurus and cult leaders prey on innocent truth seekers to feed off of their spiritual energy and light. 

The role of a false teacher is simple; create a teaching that has a sliver of truth to draw a follower in. Moreover, that truth must be absolute while vague enough to keep followers coming back for more.  Further, these false spiritual leaders have no shame in twisting their own teaching, if they are challenged, just to prove themselves right. This tactic reminds me of Orwellian “doublespeak” and the pigs in Animal Farm changing the commandment: “all animals are equal” to “all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others,” when the farm animals challenged them. But the most important and easiest aspect of being a false teacher is just to simply allow the eager student to project upon the guru what they wish to see, and all the guru has to do is not refute that projection and serve as a reflection of a student’s own innate spiritual light.

Even those who are not on a spiritual path fall for this trap by idolizing celebrities and political leaders by hanging on to their every word, and trying to look and dress like them.  In reality, all this is, is a projection of what they want to see or to become. We have no idea who that person truly is in their day to day life.  In fact, Politicians and celebrities must keep up an image that properly reflects what their fans and followers want to see. Notice that anytime a celebrity or a political leader deviates from that image, there is major back lash from the public that ends up causing them to lose fans and/or popularity.

It is time for all of use to recognize our own holiness, our own inner guru.  One can simplify the search for one’s inner guru by simply associating it with one’s own intuition. Intuition is a gift given to all of us in order to navigate and discern truth from falsehood on this dualistic and treacherous planet called Earth.  The greater guru or our creator has never left us hanging without a compass to help us find our way home, and that compass is our hearts.  Kim Michaels, the resident, spiritual expert on CRN’s Divine Love talk with Dr. Parthenia Grant, explains that if you pay attention to your energy when someone says something to you, note whether your energy feels uplifted or suppressed by that person’s presence or words. This type of discernment can be honed and developed, like any a skill, through the practice of meditation and sooner or later no outer guru can be a substitute for the guru within.

So, by now, you may be thinking, what is a true guru?  Someone whom I would consider my guru, Dr. Parthenia Grant, told me that “a guru is someone who brings you out of darkness into the light. They are light workers from a higher octave who volunteered to come here to raise the vibration of earth out of the 3^rd dimension of fear and into the 5^th dimension of love.” She also said that there “are a few real gurus on earth and that you can recognize them by their light, humility, compassion and integrity.” My experience has been that a real guru or truly enlightened spiritual teacher has the ultimate goal of leading you to your own guru within.  Moreover, such an individual takes joy in encouraging you to seek spiritual independence by becoming your own teacher.

A Buddhists Take on Social Anxiety

Gautama Buddha, one of the world’s many Christed beings, taught that life is suffering.   This begs the question, why? Buddha’s answer was simple:  We suffer because of desire.    Like anything else in the world of Samsara (the sea of desire or suffering), the root of suffering for those with social anxiety is also desire.   

What is it that those suffering from social anxiety desire? A few months ago, I had a random Ahh-Ha moment that made me realize that I desperately desired the approval of others.  In fact, I was one of those people that I actually don’t like, who walks around with her hand out begging others for their approval.  During my constant hunt for approval, I was terrified that I would be denied that approval or rejected for needing it. The funny thing was that even though I had the approval of multiple people in my life, I was even anxious around those that I knew approved of me.  My Ahh-ha reminded me of Jake in Guy Ritchie’s movie Revolver when he came to the realization that we are all “approval junkies.”  Approval was my drug of choice.  

Like any junkie, I was afraid of not getting my next fix. And it didn’t matter from whom.  I was even looking for approval from people that I did not even like or who were not even important in my life. The Catch 22 was that once I got the approval of people who mattered, I immediately became afraid of making some epic mistake that would cause me to lose the approval I had already gained.  I played an unconscious game of needing and seeking  the approval of every single person I met, man, woman and child.

It took a lot of education, therapy and introspection to own the fact that my dignity was being sacrificed at the feet of my ego each time I inwardly begged:  “Please like me.  Please think I’m special.  Please love me, love me, love me.”

Osho, in his book Love, Freedom, and Aloneness, says, “ It is self-hatred that is creating anxiety.”  He was asked how do we know if someone loves us or is  just playing games.  He answered that it is impossible to tell if someone’s love is real; the only love we can be certain of is our own.  Osho made me realize that love involves being courageous enough to risk losing another’s love or incurring their disapproval.

I also learned that those individuals who love themselves are completely self-sufficient and do not need to beg for anyone’s love.  In fact, quiet desperation, for an emotionally and spiritually self-sufficient person does not exist.  Moreover, a self-sufficient person does not worry about the “reality” of another’s love because he or she don’t need it to feel worthy;  this type of person already recognizes his or her own worth.

 Instead of holding out a begging bowl, constantly asking for love, a self-sufficient  person is always giving what he/she needs because it is in giving that one receives.  More importantly, such individuals give love and approval with no strings attached and without expecting love or approval in return.  They are their own self recharging battery with an infinite supply of unconditional love for themselves and those around them.