Five spiritual teachers walk into a bar.
How do you know that’s true? ~ Byron Katie
Choose your truth. ~ Abe
Life means suffering. ~ Four Noble Truths
Swami Vivekananda: All truth is eternal.
When the remedy you have offered only increases the disease, then leave him who will not be cured, and tell your story to someone who seeks the truth. ~ Rumi
What I’ve found helpful when looking at spiritual, or any mystical or healing teachings in general, and how they fit together are three things:
1. Consider the context of the teacher.
Great teachers often bring in balance to the environment they live in today. That’s how Montessori and Waldorf – two schools systems with very different approaches came about – one brought balance to the energy and needs of a more matriarchal society and the other to a more patriarchal society. When you look at the teachings of the teacher in a larger context, you can see the balance they were bringing to the picture.
2. Consider that we are evolving.
When we hold the view that we are evolving as an overall experience, we can see how what we now consider mistakes or mistaken ideas were and part of the experience that led us to the next insight and integration. The individual and industrial and innovative energy of the U.S. had to be developed and included in the worldview and that’s what emerged in the last 200 years. And now it’s time to integrate and move onto the next level of interconnectedness and insight.
3. My next level of development is both universal and unique to me.
Where there might be societal themes, I also have a unique history and context. I can have respect for all modalities while honoring my path. And there will be others sharing similar themes and teachings.
(Thanks to Sunday Cote for her contributions to these ideas and teaching me about spiral dynamics, the history of LOA and Ernest Holmes, and the three faces of God.)
