Myopically Misled by Appearances

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Thanks to Barbara Baty.
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A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly without an appointment in to the Harvard University President's outer office.

The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn't even deserve to be in Cambridge.

"We'd like to see the president," the man said softly.
"He'll be busy all day," the secretary snapped.
"We'll wait," the lady replied.

For hours the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn't, and the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president, even though it was a chore she always regretted.

"Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they'll leave," she said to him!

He sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn't have the time to spend with them, and he detested gingham dresses and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office.

The president, stern faced and with dignity, strutted to ward the couple.
The lady told him, "We had a son who attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. My husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus."

The president wasn't touched. He was shocked. "Madam," he said, gruffly, "we can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery."

"Oh, no," the lady began quickly. "We don't want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard."

The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, then exclaimed, "A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical buildings here at Harvard."

For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. Maybe he could get rid of them now. The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all it costs to start a university? Why don't we just start our own?"

Her husband nodded. The president's face wilted in confusion and bewilderment. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford got up and walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the university that bears their name, Stanford University, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.

You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who they think can do nothing for them.

--A TRUE STORY By Malcolm Forbes

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People will forget what you said,
People will forget what you did.
But people will never forget how you made them feel!
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Spiritual Teachers

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It is true that some have not yet reached a level of mind (consciousness) in which their fully independent functioning is reliable. That is why there are spiritual teachers-- a calling which I have also received.

But it is absolutely crucial for a real spiritual teacher to love her students. A genuine spiritual teacher should never force her students, although she might strongly encourage them to boost their spirituality in showing them a more honorable Way of living. Still, any teaching that she gives to them should be given freely, as she has herself received it freely from the cosmic Mind. It is never appropriate for a spiritual teacher to "sell" or "vend" spirituality as if it were beans, and she a seller at a market. This degrades spirituality, making of it an "economic" commodity.

A genuine spiritual teacher will also never take advantage of students, supporting a negative selfesteem. Instead, she will always emphasize that each student is likely already doing her best, although there might be room for improvement. She will be free with her praise and positive reinforcement, encouraging and uplifting students.

She will never imply that those who do not understand, or "conform to the church," are damned forever. For Love never damns anyone, ever; if a person is condemned, it is by her own conscience. Love simply waits for her to outgrow deeply flawed and very negative selfesteem.

So, while people might, and often do, need some guidance, the spiritual teacher will always present it in Love, as a teaching or subteaching of Love. Love challenges us to change,and this is a good thing; so, the spiritual teacher must often challenge her students to improve their lives. But she never does so in a domineering, intrusive, invasive, or unloving manner. She presents the facts, often powerfully; but she then waits for the student's own conscience to change that student. As a teacher, she can accelerate, but never initiate, the spiritual growth of another adult.

Where she sees errors, especially those that might affect a group of other students, she will, and must, speak up. But she will always do so with Love and compassion, and she will always emphasize only the teachings and actions of Love-- kindness, goodness, service, friendship, other-centeredness, compassion, ahimsa (harmlessness or non-injury) and related qualities.

The spiritual teacher never "pushes the bird from the nest" prematurely, but always recognizes the God-given right for any individual, any adult, to make her own spiritual decisions. She holds the freedom of independent thinking as sacred, and would never do anything, even in giving needed guidance, to violate this basic freedom.

She would heartily recommend against the embrace of any kind of fundamentalist religion, never standing by in complacency and dismissing the religion as her student's "karma." For we are here, we are created, to aid and assist each other. And for a spiritual teacher voluntarily or silently to watch her student enter a fundamentalist mindset without objection would be like allowing a five-year-old to play with sharp razors in the name of "her freedom," or, worse, in the name of "karma."

No loving adult, in her right mind, would permit this; for she would be prohibited by Love acting through her heart.

The enlightened know that to love each other, and ourselves, is the very reason that we exist. She can never turn away from Love, even in the face of great karma. She does not believe in apathy; so, she is determined to reduce human and other suffering whenever and wherever she finds it. In a sad world such as ours, her work is cut out for her!

It is true that one must experience an "ego" before one can transcend it.
This has been pointed out several billion times in the history of
spirituality-- often, by people who are looking to justify or rationalize egobased behavior. The very job or calling of the spiritual teacher is to point people away from the illusionself or ego. So, while she is always acutely aware that egotranscendence does not occur in minutes, but usually requires years if not decades, the teacher is not here, does not exist, to make the ego comfortable. She does not present it as "the enemy," but as a teacher, here to guide us away from itself.

Re "accountability and responsibility," no, these are not evolved. They are intrinsic to every mind; even those which are very undeveloped do bear responsibility for any action in which they voluntarily participate.
Anything done deliberately, by any mind, generates this responsibility.
Even the most regressive and backwards minds do create karma, due to the fact that they are responsible for any behavior followed with intention.
This karma, and its egotranscendence is often discovered by the creation of egopain.

It is a spiritual error to expand the fine principles of Taoism into the complex and confusing "ultrataoism," which is a distortion that says that we have no control over anything, ever, at any time. If this were so, what would be the purpose of spiritual education? There would be none, and so, Jesus, the Buddha, and other great teachers would have totally wasted their time-- and everyone else's. While we do want to give up control, or the attempt to control, every situation, and allow the cosmic Mind to work through and within us, especially in life's most important matters, the universe is a "dance." It is like a chessgame, in which the cosmic Mind makes Its move, and then, we must make a move also, in response. God (Love) has arranged for this massive and complex "game" in order for us to grow and learn. Growing and learning could have no real meaning in a cosmos in which we did not make decisions or exercise a limited amount of selfcontrol.

We are not responsible for the actions or thoughts of other adults. We are not fully responsible for every activity within even our own bodies.
For, in a fair universe, We are responsible for only that which we can control. This means that we are responsible for our responses. (Easy:
"response" and "responsibility" both come from the same root.)

So, in final analysis, we are responsible for only our responses. If we can teach ourselves, or be taught, to respond in only Love to every contingency, then we have come to our "graduation" from the "school"" of earthly life.

It is true that, as you say, people who are stuck in cults or fundy religion are there due to their karma; I used to be one of them! But the true teacher never regards such benighted souls with apathy or complacence. Love moves her to reach out to them, to teach them.
Without Love, pure Taoism would create only "bumps on a log," waiting for things to occur, never initiating anything ever! This is an extreme, and the Way always moves us away from extremes, which can become virulently anti-spiritual (antiagapic, violating the principle of Love).

So, while cultivating trust in the interior cosmic Mind to care for all life, and for the totality of enlightenment towards all creatures, the enlightened does not see God (Love) as active outside of her, but inside her. Love lives and moves through her, and within her.

This is no attempt futilely to "add to God." You simply cannot "add" to the Infinite. Instead, the spiritual outreach of a teacher is like preparing a garden filled with beautiful flowers. Without care, the garden turns to weeds, and the flower-petals drop off. All you have is a patch of muck and mud. Caring for a student is like cooperating with Mind, with nature, not trying to "add to" It. A student can grow, like a flower, without nurturing; but a flower which receives care has many more petals, is more fragrant, and more beautiful.
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Friendship

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There is no better use of time on this planet than to offer assistance to a friend.:)

Caring for Your "Donkey"

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When your physical body ("donkey") becomes sick, it is sending you a message. It is saying, "I need more rest," or, "I need more relaxation," or, "I need attention," or, "I need better nutrition," or, "I am over-stressed," or, "I need de-toxifying," or a similar message.

The most compassionate response is to "shut down" any unnecessary activities, and give your body extra rest. This is common sense, but is anything but common. Some take biological signals (sickness) as "challenges." They feel "weak" if they give in, and yield to the donkey's demand for rest. They actually see the "battle with illness" as some sort of macho contest. They really, but secretly, feel very weak inside, and so, they try to prove how "tough" they are. So, when ill, they go about their regular business: They go to work, visit others, and otherwise continue their normal lives.

This further stresses the body, over-whelming it. It also spreads any virus- or bacteria-caused disorder, spraying or infecting friends, family, and strangers with micro-critters that also make them sick.

This is the most unloving (antiagapic) response imaginable. This is not "endurance" or "toughness," but simple carelessness and ignorance. It is foolishness, stupidity, and cruelty.

When the donkey becomes ill, you need to stop, for a while, all unnecessary social activities. You need to get extra rest, and extra sleep. Take the phone off the hook for a few hours, and ignore mail and email for a day. You can use supplemental vitamins and minerals to strengthen your "donkey." You might want to try echinacea and golden seal, as well as extra vitamin c. You need to eat regularly, moderately, and healthily. Do all your friends a favor, and stay away from them-- at least, until you are asymptomatic (without symptoms of illness).

Distract yourself from thinking about illness, with entertainment and good reading. Or take the time to do some positive spiritual reading. Use the healing-power of hot water and sunlight. Use chromovisualization to surround your donkey with blue energy for rest, red-orange for activation and energization. Most importantly, cancel appointments and get extra rest and sleep. Do not push yourself.
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