Udja
Very positive reflections
ABOUT YOUR STATEMENT:
“prevents the aspirant from making mistakes resulting from trial and error and thus many lifetimes of suffering”
FEEDBACK:
Indeed the good association KHNUMT NEFER does mitigate for the negative effects that might have been suffered but only to the extent that the aspirant is capable of fully understanding the teaching and then following instructions dictated by the teaching.
ABOUT THE STATEMENT:
“To ensure that they will benefit from such association, the aspirant needs to put aside their egos and maintain the highest degree of regard and respect for their preceptors.”
FEEDBACK
Definitely there is a need to put down ego and have high regard and respect for the teacher but there is one more thing also (among others) that is very important in this particular contexct. That is highest degree of regard and respect for oneself. If the aspirant holds resentments, self-deprecation, regrets, incapacity to forgive oneself for negative things of the past, accepting abuse from others, etc.; these are signs of immaturity, ignorance and degraded character that has lower capacity to progress on the mystic spiritual path. Therefore, those issues must be worked through with the teaching and perhaps also with outside psychological counseling assistance as well as attending classes with the spiritual teacher. One works to remove subtle spiritual issues while the other works on practical psychological obstacles.
ABOUT YOUR STATEMENT:
“When I reflect on this lesson, those things that are unique to a teacher of spirituality vs. any other teacher. For me the distinction has to do with the fact that a teacher of spirituality imparts knowledge as does any other teacher. The difference is that they do so not only by what they say but simply by who they are in terms of embodying those virtues and principles that are being taught.“
FEEDBACK
Another consideration is that the viable teacher must not only embody the teaching but know the subject matter of the teaching and then be able to teach it. Not all who know a subject are able to impart or share it with others. This is therefore another important skill since going to someone who knows something but has poor teaching skills will not be as effective and thus an aspirant often finds they can learn up to a limited point with some people who may have knowledge in a particular area and then go to another person for something else but in terms of the teaching the sage should have an overall grasp of that even if they may be not knowledgeable of other areas or disciplines or careers, etc. In other words, you would not go to a plumber for the spiritual teaching and conversely you would not go to the teacher for plumbing advice but just as you would expect a competent plumber to know all about plumbing so too you should expect the authentic and capable spiritual teacher to know all about the spiritual teaching needed for attaining enlightenment including all stages (myth, ritual, mysticism) and not just know one or two out of three.
HTP
