You are your own best teacher. My advice is to question all things. Seek for answers, and when you find what seems to be an answer, question that, too.
Louis L'Amour
I read through it once and now I am going to go more thoroughly into Gary Zukav's book, The Seat of the Soul. Before I do that I find myself asking questions about Zukav, as the teacher and needing to know more about the motivation and process that led him to teach what he is teaching.
Why I Question the Teacher
Whenever I read or hear something that resonates within me, something I want to believe as true for whatever reason, I like to examine and understand where the so called "truth" came from. Who and how did they, the teacher, learn what they learnt? What makes them an authority on the subject? Credentials and years of related study or professional experience are out trumped by Life experience. I, for example , would see much more expertise in a Buddhist Monk who gave up all his credentials to discover the end of suffering than I would someone who had a PhD in psychological research.
Though I do separate message from messenger in the best way I can, I still like to understand how the messenger received the message they are teaching, to understand what they base their convictions on. I want to understand what their motivation was for sharing it and if during the sharing or after they shared it, did they reap enough egoic reward to pull them off the path they are encouraging others to travel. I want to see that, if they are teaching the benefits of an ego-less journey, they are living without the guidance of their ego. ...that they are practicing what they teach, living what they share as truth. Now , I often feel my bubble burst when I see ego dominated motivation in the teacher I was hoping was egoless...I tend to step away from their version of that teaching when I do.
How Did the Messenger Get the Message
I know it is the message, not the messenger, that resonates within me...and even if it comes from some unlikely source, if it resonates enough, it will stick. I connect more to message than messenger. I am not a guru follower and will never be...but at the same time, I need to know how the message came to be. Who or what taught them? Where did their message originate? I like teaching that is backed up by credible resources. .When they cannot adequately explain how they came up with the information they have, I feel myself pulling away. I want them to tell me where they got this information they are sharing, even if the means of receiving information seems so woo-woo and far out for the reasonable mind to accept...mine is open enough to accept the "possibility" of almost anything. For example, A Course in Miracles was supposedly downloaded into the mind of the author, a Jewish psychology professor at Columbia University. Seems absurd...but heck...I tell myself if Milton believed that Paradise Lost came from a similar type of Divine download and he created something of significance...why could this not be the same thing? The message relayed in ACIM is very significant, almost poetic and worth reading. Besides the author motivation did not seem to be dominated by ego: one seldom hears of her and it did not seem she reaped any egoic rewards for writing this very complicated and detailed text. In fact, it seemed she wanted little to do with it as if she just felt compelled anyway to follow her compulsion to write and share the information that came to her. I still don't know the "truth" of this explanation. I don't know if there was some personal or egoic reward involved. I don't but the message is still worth hearing.
Want My Teachers to be as close to Egoless as possible
When I see dishonesty, a lack of concern for the people they are reaching, a self gratifying motivation or a lack of sincerity...on the part of the so called teacher, I tend to lose interest in what they are teaching. If I see them wearing Rolex's and driving Hummers when they are teaching about the need to reduce our clinging and grasping for material world things, to preserve the planet and to feed the hungry, I find it a bit hypocritical and pull away. To me true teaching does not serve ego in anyway. It involves an absence of ego.
(Not that these individuals should not reap some type of material reward, give up everything, for the work they do. I am okay if they become wealthy with that but it cannot be the motivating factor if I am to be won over!)
So I am Checking Out the Teacher
So I do check out the teachers when I read a message I truly want to fall into. So I am checking out Gary Zukav. I know he was on Opera 30? times and I like Oprah and her approach to understanding more. I don't know much about him. I could not tell you if his ego was involved in the writing of this book or if he was coming from a higher place. I couldn't tell you if he actually believed all that he shared and if so why. I couldn't tell you if he got pulled off the path by egoic reward, or if he was ever truly on it. I questioned from the beginning of the book, though, where his authority and expertise came from. He doesn't say. He speaks with conviction, as if for the universe and for the soul but he doesn't reveal how he got that conviction. He uses a lot of teachings found in wisdom traditions like Buddhism, the Tao Te Ching, yoga and even Christianity etc but there is no references...none...no crediting any resources. So it leaves me hanging a bit. The teaching itself is powerful. It hits home so that makes me lean toward it being sincere.
For that reason, I am going to go through the book again and read it carefully, questioning it like I do everything. I will also do the study guide and then I will sit back and "feel" it to see what happens. I may regurgitate some of that onto this page. Bear with me.
All is well.
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