By Rod S

Throughout history human beings have sought council and guidance from their friends, colleagues and leaders. This has always been a natural and normal thing to do. In the spiritual quest also, seekers and finders have sought the guidance of Teachers and Gurus to help illuminate the often difficult and thorny path of self realization and transformation. However, we live in strange times when it seems you can have a “guru” for practically anything from tennis, swimming and health, to cooking, woodwork and sewing, yet when it comes to the spiritual path, the word “guru” has become for many a 4 letter word! In a nutshell the postmodern ego hates being told what to do! This ‘mean green meme’ ego thrives on ‘independence’ and doing what it wants, whenever it wants. Continue reading…

By Debbie Wilson

Meeting  Andrew Cohen

Sitting cross legged, cramped in a living room of a home somewhere in Amsterdam in 1986, I was among the many people who had traveled to Holland to see this new spiritual teacher called Andrew Cohen. I had seen him teach in the UK and had been far more affected by his authenticity and the power of the reality of what he was teaching than I wanted to be. I was of the school “be a light unto oneself”. I was deeply skeptical that a young American from NYC could be enlightened, much less a genuine Guru. I went to Holland to find out what on earth I was going to do with what was stirring inside of me. Continue reading…

By Pete Bampton

“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.” George Bernard Shaw

“The real function of a Guru is to insult you” Chogyam Trungpa

An American Guru: The Real Deal

Meeting one’s Guru or Master is a Mystery. It is a date with destiny. Those who are lucky enough to stumble upon this seismic encounter may never be the same again. In that meeting one experiences, suddenly or gradually, an ecstatic release into the limitless singularity and depth of one’s True Self. The time-bound stream of the separate self sense is mysteriously overwhelmed by a vast rushing river of intoxicating freedom and fullness welling forth from the fount of Creation Itself as Oneself. But that spontaneous breakthrough into a vast new universe of being and knowing is usually only the beginning. If the impact of this spiritual baptism is profound, one may find oneself overwhelmed by a transcendent Roar surging up from the unfathomable depths of that Revelation that demands one thing and one thing only: Surrender. Continue reading…