Sunday, September 25, 2011

Pass Me Another Guru

We smirked a bit. It seems there's a local spiritual get-together on the cards fairly soon, where we will be graced with the presence of a couple of gurus - a him and a her - who will be expounding their weighty spiritual truths for our edification and delight.

I'm not a fan of putting labels in things, but possibly the best way I can explain it is "new-age- ish". Now I have nothing against folk who have adopted some new age beliefs - and it's long past time that we stop strutting around and pontificating on as if we have all the answers and nobody else does. So, cut them some slack.

No - the issue is not about the belief. It's about the payment.  And that's why I referred to the new-age thing. The note that went round indicates that even if you're a local and you will be staying in your own accommodation, you are requested to make a sizeable donation (the minimum value acceptable is specified).

Now, New-Agers have borrowed a considerable amount of what they believe, from the Native American Indian tribes and, not surprisingly, these people get rather irritated when people jump on the bandwagon and start to charge for the truth they impart for free. This is truth and insight these remarkable people have had for centuries. Their philosophy is that it is an eternal truth and it is nobody's to own. It comes free and it must be given free - and when people start to charge for it, you need to examine their motives.

OK - so why do people charge for delivering all this wonderful truth? Well, to cover their costs in travel and accommodation expenses and to provide them with a living because they are doing this as a profession.

AAAHH! There's the point! Who asked them to do this as a profession?   The Native American tribespeople  didn't go about proselytizing to anyone who would hear it (and forcing it down the throats of others who didn't). Leave that to the Europeans - French, English, Spanish, Portuguese etc. What they had to say was so very VERY important that everyone had to hear it - on pain of death, most of the time. And today we have a culture that when we think we have found some truth, we make a doctrine out of it, and we package it and we take it on the road with us, and the sheer brilliance of our oratory convinces others to part with their cash - because I've got to live, don't I?  Actually, no you don't - not like this.

Why don't you stay at home and get your insights of truth, and occasionally when you're not working to sustain yourself, you can give these away freely, as you have obtained truth freely from others? And in any case, who said your grain of truth would benefit me? Who said my grain of truth will assist you? It might - and in case it does, I'm going to give it away freely - but there is no cornering the market on truth - there's plenty of it to go around. All we need is to be perceptive to it, and to open our minds and our hearts and shut up talking for a moment and listen. But I'm not going to pay you for yours.

I expect the sheeple will all be there to celebrate and get their emotional thrills down the spine while jolling it up with the gurus. And a few days after it's over, they will be back to normal and the euphoria will have settled, and the money will have been spent. And depending on how they feel (there are those feelings again), they may view it as money well spent (or not).

When we get an urge to research something, we go for it.  We explore and dig and ask dumb questions. And you'll be surprised what truth you get back. The internet is an information superhighway, full of wonderful gems. All free. But keep your minds open and stay awake for the obvious freeloaders looking to make a quick buck by charging you for a download. Eternal truths and insights are always free. They're a common currency. They're part of who we are, and I'm never going to pay anyone again for supposedly giving me something I can't do without.

Emotion and feelings are transitory. Maybe it's a good thing the sheeple come down off their euphoric highs, so that there's an opportunity for the next travelling medicine show.

Pass me another Guru - I put the last one out an hour ago. Baa-a--aa.
 

1 comment:

  1. Well I don't know about passing you another one. I think I nuked them all.

    One guy wrote a book with a process that enabled you to facilitate your own way through it. He said he did not want to have to make a career out of leading people through something they are more than able to do themselves.
    He scorned the guru question -
    It is funny how the clearest people - All say the same thing if someone tries to convince you that they can make you better in any way - run a mile.
    We are perfect as we are.

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