Mary's Problem

[spiritual_emergency]

To pick up on an earlier thread initiated by nathan...

nathan: But there are spiritual medications. Guidence being the most pronounced.

The blind are teaching the blind, but a Guru isnt so blind. A Guru cant really teach the blind colors, but he can teach them how different colors interact (sorta like you were saying between the blind and the blind)... But that would have to be considered by the guru, who creates a system, and it would still be a lot better than nothing. Maybe it is an impossible task.

On one of my blogs I have the following quote:

Without an escort you are bewildered (even)

on a road you have traveled many times (before).

Do not, then, travel alone on a Way

that you have not seen at all, do not

turn your head away from the Guide."

~ Rumi (13th century Sufi poet and mystic)

Further back in this conversation, in the post about St. John of the Cross, is a link to The Inner Beloved. It suggests that this Inner Beloved is the guru you want to have with you. Barring an internal guru, you might seek an external one but the best one, in my opinion at least, is the inner one. That's what Gallagher was in my own experience. He was my inner partner, my animus, my mentor, my companion through that process.

Since that time however, I've continued to learn, from my readings and my conversations with other people who have had similar experiences. To a certain extent, I've become open to the idea of learning from just about everyone. That doesn't mean everyone has something to offer to me or that if they do, I'll learn it from them right in that moment. I think it does offer some expanded ideas on what a guru is or can be, taking it from the idea of one person to, instead, an expression of truth that might come from anyone. Truth is the guru, but many people can speak that truth.

See also: The Guru's Trap (This article could also be called, The Psychiatrist's Trap because a similar dynamic can often unfold in doctor-patient relationships.)

[nathan]

It is the inner guru that gets your through it in the end. It is afterall, an internal development, the development of yourself or your conciousness.

But like you say, you can learn a lot from others. I had no one for most of the time I was going through it. It wasn't really until I came out of it myself that I finally met someone who knew what I was talking about it.

He listened to me, but more importantly, he 'went there' with me. He participated with me as I went through it all. It was just one conversation around a camp fire, but that's something I will never forget. Thats what the outer guru does.