The Little Purple Notebook On How To Escape From This Universe
Copyleft � 1998 by Maximilian J. Sandor, Ph.D.
Subscription Information: Maria Loren
[email protected]
Website:
http://transmillennium.net/pnohteftu/
The Karma of A Teacher
There are two kinds of 'teaching':
One consists of having students be able to enumerate so-called 'facts';
this category is sometimes useful for certain pseudo-sciences that do not
necessitate 'understanding' of dynamic structures, such as Geography,
History, etc.
A second kind of 'teaching' aims to communicate 'understanding'. In a
strict sense 'understanding' cannot be taught. It must be discovered and
experienced by the individual student by him- or herself.
For this reason Gotamo Siddharto described his way of 'teaching' as leading
the minds of his listeners into a direction where it can be expected that
they _look_ at what he was pointing at.
However, there is an old saying in the Wild West, 'one can lead a horse to
the water but one can't make it drink'. Even the best guide cannot do more
than point the way and it is ultimately up to the listener to gain more
understanding.
It is close to impossible to 'judge' the individual understanding of a
person. Because of the countless factors involved, it is possible that a
ten-year old can have a better intuitive understanding of basic processes
in life than an 70-year old professor with a cabinet full of awards,
titles, and recognitions.
In this notebook the best effort has been made to point into the direction
of awakening from the dream of life and the underlying assumption is that
the readers will follow at least in part the pointers provided here and
then benefit from their own cognition processes that may have been
stimulated or propelled by these notes.
The proper way for a teacher to show a direction is to go into this
direction him- or herself.
Talking about the various ways that other teachers are taking is usually
not helpful; it distracts the listener from the particular way the teacher
is going.
Since there is always more than one way to reach a destination it does not
make sense to critize another 'teacher' or 'guide' just because they are
taking a different route.
And even if others seem 'objectively wrong', it still is not always
advisable to speak the truth when the damage may be greater than the
benefits.
Therefore, whenever it is possible, the author of this notebook uses the
tools of parables and metaphors to communicate patterns of illogical
behavior.
Very often, humor is used instead of direct statements. This approach has
the advantage that it makes it easier for the reader to break out of an
illogical pattern by taking out some of the reader's seriousness and
inflated importances instead
of 'blaming' him or her or disclosing his/her foolishness in the public
arena of a book.
There are several exceptions because of the severity or magnitude of damage
of some theories. Many of these have been falsely attributed to Gotamo
Siddharto and it sometimes appeared necessary to assert a different
perspective than is commonly 'known' or echoed as 'authorative word' of the
Buddha. The actual sources of these 'words of the Buddha' often go back to
texts that have been written many centuries
after his departure by people who had limited access to the early reports
within the so-called Pali Canon.
Some of these theories and practices described are not only NOT leading to
awakening for the people following them, they are also preventing many of
those who would be ready to awake from the dream of life and may just need
a bit of encouragement and acknowledgement of their own abilities to get
started.
This means the damage is twofold:
- the people who want to stay in this world become easily
misled (for example, they may be postulating 'all life
is suffering' and will then experience _exactly_ that);
- the people who want to transcend this world are
turned off from the teachings of Gotamo, for example
by the observation of practices like bowing in front of
statues as well as hearing proclamations of the
extremely incorrect generality of 'all life
is suffering'.
Which brings us to the topic of this chapter: the karma of a teacher.
If someone, for example, embraces the extreme viewpoint of 'all life is
suffering', suffering will follow him 'like a cart behind the ox'. This is
his problem and he will have to carry the consequences by himself.
If someone now indoctrinates _others_ that 'all life is suffering' and he
actually finds believers that follow him in this extreme way of approaching
life, he now becomes responsible not only for the misery in his own life
but also, at least partially, responsible for the misery of those that he
taught.
If he is a 'good' teacher, there will be some students who will in turn be
teachers of his 'truth' in the future.
His 'karma', and in this case we see one of the worst possible karma
scenarios, will deterioate with the amount of damage he is causing by
prompting people to ruin their
lives.
This means, ironically, that the 'better' he is as a teacher, the worse his
individual 'karma' will get.
Now, a teacher on the subject of 'waking up' should really be already on
the 'safe side of the shore'. Even though 'good karma' is not a major
concern for such a person anymore, it certainly helps to make things a lot
easier..
Let's turn to the bright side of life...
Here are the Good News:
While a 'good' teacher can shorten the way considerably, everyone can (and
to a certain degree should) be their own teacher.
Every person in the Universe which can and is willing to experience the
full range of perceptions in the physical, mental, and spiritual realms can
awake from
the dream of life: all you need is a body, a mind, and a bit of courage to
start examining your own personality and the world around you.
There are no limitations in regards to gender, age, education, health,
nationality, or language.
The message is 'come and see for yourself'!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyleft � 1998 by Maximilian J. Sandor, Ph.D.
