Walking out of the Darkness….

Who or what is the Guru? The Guru is the Teacher, the Grace and Guide that God provides for each of us to go Home. The Guru is not the person that It inhabits, but the purer the person the more there is the Guru and less the person. Then all the actions of the person will express the Guru, for the Guru will inform and become the person and all his vehicles.

How is the Guru a Teacher, a Guide? The Guru’s job is to bring us into the light. The Guru also guides us out of the darkness. Any teacher who simply points at the light is not providing the guidance we need. A true Guru knows the darkness and goes into it for the sake of the disciple. The Guru then guides the student out into the light. If we say we want this, the Guru is there with the disciple; the Guru and the disciple are in harmony. Some, though, only profess the desire for the removal of darkness. They do not want to face the truth of the darkness, of the ignorance. They want to believe they are in the light already and the Guru is there to support and maintain them.

We have to accept that in order to BE in the light we have to be willing to see the darkness and walk out of it. The belief is that we all want the light, and we do—until we realize what we have to give up in order to get it. The Guru will just keep shining the light, showing us the way out of the darkness. We get angry, resistant and fight. We are afraid to leave. This is like a person who is blind from living in the dark, trapped in a building without light. The person who comes to save him must see and know the ins and outs of the building. They must be comfortable yet not attached to the darkness. And because they know the darkness so well they are not afraid of it. They can then go into the darkness and guide the person out. If the person resists, the Guru will coax. But if the person is recalcitrant, then the guide will leave him there trapped. The guide is not attached.

The Guru does not do it all for us so that we just sit back drinking smoothies. We have to surrender to the Guru in order for the Guru to be able to guide us out of the darkness. That surrender is right effort. We have to be where we can hear the Guru. Right effort is remaining in the Heart no matter what, and facing and listening to what is there. What is the responsibility of the disciple or at the very least the student? Just hang out? No, our job is to surrender, listen and obey what the Guru tells us. We need to do what the Guru tells us. If we do not, then we need not to be surprised when we face the wrath of the Guru or, worse, the Guru lets us be in the darkness. It is always our choice.

How many movies have we watched where someone thought they knew better than the guide? How many times did it go well for them? Our choice.

Here is a Foursquare on the Guru:

This is how people see the Guru depending on where they are. The Guru never changes; we do.

Here is a Foursquare on the disciple:

We can choose to use the best guide to take us out of the darkness, or we can choose to remain in the Hell we work so hard to call something else. We look to experts for so much in our mundane life, yet we refuse the aid of the one that can walk us out of our darkness. We first have to accept we are in fact in darkness and can’t get out alone; then we must search for the best Guide to show us the way into the light.