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who are your spiritual teacher(s)

daysonatrain

daysonatrain

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Feb 6, 2009
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the title says it, who are your spiritual teacher(s), ifyou have one, and why? IMO all truly enlightened people speak of the same thing they just use different words to attempt to describe the indescribable. each teacher also speaks better to certain types of personalities.

mine have changed over the years, and as my 'beliefs' changed. however, recently i have beenreally into adyashanti. hes very down to earth and describes the enlightened state in a western context.

http://www.adyashanti.org/index.php?file=teachings

would love to learn about some others.
 
I've heard him speak. He seems very practical and humble and intelligent...

This might sound arrogant (but so be it) and I know its been said before, but for me at this point the best spiritual teacher for me is me. And by me I mean the totality of reality presented to me (as me) ego included (sometimes ;) ).

Anyway, I'm sure I'll find a new teacher soon. I always feel in a constant simultaneous flux as teacher/student.
 
Alan Watts. He just put things so damn succinctly and poignantly. If you want some deep realizations with no mumbo jumbo, he's your man.
 
terence mckenna, alan watts, lady salvia, any woman that shows a sexual interest in me, myself.
 
"any woman that shows a sexual interest in me"
^ha, very nice.

i figured people would use 'the universe' (or something similar) as an answer. and i dont disagree, but there are certain people that seem to 'be there' that i find inspiring and helpful in my spiritual quest which 'just being in nature' or something cant articulate. blah, hard to explain this cause i dont disagree with you guys at all (or using psychedelics as teachers). i also know that a teacher is only part of the solution and can never bring you all the way, but simply point the way the best they can.

i used to be really into mckenna, but kinda lost interest and moved more into buddhist literature. i tried reading "the book" by alan watts a while ago, but couldnt get into it. probably just wasnt the right time. any suggested reading material from watts, or anyone else?
 
Alan Watts has a good lecture on meditation called "Still the Mind". I completely second MDAO's no mumbo jumbo. He describes meditation as getting in an uncomfortable pose (so you won't fall asleep) and waiting for and listening to what you're thinking/feeling/experiencing (more or less) - I think that's great :)

Also, unsolicited, but I strongly recommend reading Nausea by Sartre.
 
Watts is sort of a hard character to wrap your head around.

While I love his spoken word stuff and his little video clips, I find most of his writing (outside of his autobiography), to be painfully dry.

Also, he seems to be very egotistical- a seeming paradox for somebody involved with various forms of Buddhism. In his autobiography he talks all about his love for sex, material objects, etc... and his dislike of organized religion.
 
"He describes meditation as getting in an uncomfortable pose (so you won't fall asleep) and waiting for and listening to what you're thinking/feeling/experiencing (more or less)"
^sounds just like vipassana meditation. ill have to get to the library and see if i can find Nauea. thanks.

i remember one thing watts said, "the game god plays is to hide itself from itself just so it can go and find it again" i know those arnt the right words but i loved the jist of that quote. the material objects thing is kinda disheartening though, but in a sense i agree with a dislike of organized religion, even ones as beautiful as buddhism.

swillow, dmt has always been and probably always will be my primary plant teacher (though i like ayahuasca, smoking doesnt really have any spiritual value for me)
 
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as funny as it sounds my best spiritual teachers are the people I interact with throughout a day who really try my patience. It's those who really test my spirituality that can teach me indirectly about where I'm at with my spirituality and what I need to take a better look at.
 
Okay, well if you want me to be specific, my mother. And the Rainbow Family of Living Light. And one very special friend of mine.
 
I'm inclined to say everyone/thing, but here is a short list of figures that somehow taught me spiritual lessons:

- Every one of my friends
- My parents
- A couple of my cousins
- The "Angels" (straight men who have changed my life)
- Three Professors I had in University
- St. Rabi'a of Basra
- St. Hallaj
- Attar
- Ikhwan us-saffa
- A number of other Sufi Masters
- 'Umar Khayyam
- Whoever wrote the Upanishads
- The Buddha
- Amoun
- Durga
- Persephone
- King Jamshyd
- St. George
- Shiva
- Norea
- Whoever wrote the Nag Hammadi texts.
- Whoever wrote the Kybalion
- Aliester Crowley
- The Olympic Spirits of the Arbatel
- The Birds
- The Trees
- Ketamine

Alright, I could go on and on, so I'll just leave it here at that :).
 
^Hey Jammy, can you clue me into some stuff to read on Sufism? I is intrigued.

A person I have learned a lot from is John Lennon. Not that I ever lived at the same time as him, but something about him resonates within me....

Oh, and black metal and psytrance have taught me a lot. I guess a teacher doesn't have to be a person, right?
 
the natural world ~

specifically seeds ~ and trees ~ and birds ~ and bees ~ and ... well... yes.... life
 
swilow said:
^Hey Jammy, can you clue me into some stuff to read on Sufism? I is intrigued.
Click to expand...
The problem with Sufi thought is that most texts are so saturated with Islamic terms that a background in Islam (be it growing up as was my case, or formal study) is highly recommended.

This quality has made sufi thought inaccessible to the west for the most part. Rumi's success was, sadly, more of a marketting thing than through it's own merit. That said, the Masnavi or Rumi is not a bad place to start.

I will try to find you a good place to start, as I am actually in the process of reviewing my texts as we speak, having not touched them for a year due to being abroad.
 
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