Beloved Francis,
A short while ago I asked the following question:
When one is established in the impersonal Awareness, having gone beyond the distinction of teacher and student, but at the same time acknowledging the importance of it on the relative plane, what makes such a one qualified/ready to guide others on the Direct Path, as there isn’t really a formal transmission involved, as far as I understand it?
Without a shadow of a doubt (as you like to say :-)) this Consciousness is recognized as Truth and Beauty itself, ‘my’ true nature.
This realization spontaneously stabilizes itself more and more in daily life.
However, when the duality of teacher/student and seeking/realizing (or unfolding) gradually falls away with it, maybe I first have to ask if there exist the possibility of ignorance or delusion in this process?
Then, there is the further curiosity about when, according to your experience, someone can genuinely and without self-delusion guide others on the Direct Path?
You already mentioned speaking from own experience, and to be totally honest and earnest. I think there is a lot to share on this topic, but maybe you can point out some other important aspects? As it is sometimes confusing what teachers say and do concerning this, and it therefore is certainly not without reason why Dennis Waite wrote the book ‘Enlightenment, Path through the Jungle’.
I understand you have a lot of questions coming to you and may have limited time and availability, but as I find your clear understanding and explanations highly valuable, it would be most supporting to stay in touch by email or skype to be able to ask you a question.
With patience and gratitude I am looking very much forward if you can clarify some of which I wrote, in order to shed all ignorance away!
Most affectionately,
Jerome
Dear Jeroen,
Don’t think you are the only one asking this question. Many ask the same question, and many more don’t, because they want to start teaching to satisfy their ego, and they are afraid that my answer would demonstrate their unpreparedness. So they start teaching and join the increasing crowd of half-baked teachers teaching half baked truths.
You can guide others no farther than to where you are. If you are not established in peace and happiness, guiding others will be a distraction preventing further progress, unless you do so under the umbrella and the guidance of a karana guru. I did this for fifteen years in France and in California, conducting meditation sessions, answering questions, but my friends were always send to my teacher to become his disciples. That’s how I learned how to teach.
Many sages are not teachers, and an even more teachers are not sages. What do you want to be? a teacher or a sage?
How would you prefer to be: happy, fulfilled, without teaching, or unhappy and teaching? Think about this: because a sage has mastered the fulfillment of his desires, there is no need for him to teach to make a living. Therefore teaching is not a profession in the usual sense, although it may appear to be the case.
Don’t count on teaching to make you happy. Get happy first, no matter whether you teach or not. Then teach, if you want to, out of this happiness.
You could ask: how do I know that I am unshakably established in peace and happiness?. Well, in case the meaning of these words is not clear enough to you, here are a few hints:
You should at least have mastered the following issues:
relationships with friends, supervisors, employees, clients, parents, children and spouses should be harmonious.
there should be financial abundance due to the discovery of the universal law of infinite supply. Any professional activity should be performed not out of the necessity to make money, but out of the joy it brings about.
more generally speaking, all desires should spontaneously materialize due to the absence of attachment.
fear of death should be absent.
In addition to these absolute prerequisites, teaching requires the following;
A vocation: the love, the enthusiasm, the passion for teaching (also an absolute prerequisite)
Highly developed communication skills, both at the intellectual and at the feeling levels. (Intellectual skills are required only for the path of knowledge).
Pedagogical skills acquired (among other things) through many years of steady attendance of the teaching sessions of a karana guru.
Skills 2 and 3 are not absolutely mandatory, since they can be developed “on the job”. The efficiency of the teaching will improve as these skills improve.
And, yes, last but not least, since you can only teach what you are, you can only teach from your own experience, not from hearsay, not from memory, and, of course, always with absolute honesty
Love,
Francis
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