Earmarks of True Teachers

The naïve spiritual initiate is easily swayed by trappings and reputations of spiritual figures and the charisma of those who have many followers. Without the spiritual awareness of advanced states of consciousness, the spiritual seeker has no means of guidance, and popularity clouds judgment. … Earmarks of true teachers are humility, simplicity, lovingness, compassion, and peacefulness. There is no financial charge for conveying truth, as there is no interest in money, personal power, or gain.

Life as Teacher

Great leaps in level of consciousness are always preceded by surrender of the illusion that ‘I know’Frequently, the only way one can reach this willingness to change is when one ‘hits bottom’, that is, by running out a course of action to its end in the defeat of a futile belief system. Light cannot enter a closed box; the upside of catastrophe can be an opening to a higher level of awareness. If life is viewed as a teacher, it then becomes just that. Unless the painful lessons of life with which we deal are transformed through humility into gateways of growth and development, they are wasted.

From Power vs. Force, p. 266

Acceptance/Humor

 To transcend the world requires compassion and acceptance.  They are the result of inner humility by which the world is surrendered to God with increased peace of mind.  One of the most valuable spiritual tools about which, historically, little has been said is the great value of humor.  Comedy arises as a result of the comparison that is made between perception and essence, and the resolution is a consequence of the acceptance of the ambiguity.

Humor is quite different from ridicule or malice as it is compassionate in that it accepts human limitations and foibles as being intrinsic.  It therefore assists ‘wearing the world like a light garment’ and illustrates that in being like the reed that bends in the wind, one survives instead of being broken down by rigidity.

The relief of laughter via a joke expresses the pleasure at dissolution of conflict, and the capacity to laugh at oneself is essential to positive self-esteem.  To respond to everything as though it were highly important is a result of the vanity of the narcissistic core of the ego ( e.g. being ‘sensitive’ or offended’). Humor recontextualizes experiences and events and thus facilitates enjoyment without moralistic judgmentalism.  Humor evolves as philosophical acceptance and has a healing effect.  It thereby decreases suffering, conflict, and negative emotions.

From Reality, Spirituality, and Modern Man, ch. 16, pg. 312-313

Be Thankful

.. the spiritual seeker wants love and joy but that intention triggers the surfacing of all that obstructs it and prevents its appearance. Those who dedicate themselves to love and peace automatically pull up from the unconscious all that is cruel, unloving, and hateful to be healed. … These were, after all, what had obstructed the love and joy, so one can be thankful that these deterrents have been brought up to be resolved by the spiritual tools available.
From I : Reality and Subjectivity p. 71

The Direct Route to the Self.

Direct one’s focus inward to the absolute subjectivity of all experiencing.
 
… Ask, ‘How am I aware or even know that I exist?’ … It is consciousness itself. Identify with that consciousness instead of ‘what’ it is conscious about. That is the direct route to the Self.
 
… The subjectivity of consciousness is the Illumination of the Self as the universal ‘I’ of Reality. …That ‘I’ is the Essence of All That Is and includes the totality of the Presence as the ever present Source of Existence, beyond all time or place. It has no beginning and no end.