Teachers

It’s said that the teacher will emerge when the student is ready. For me, the teachers changed over time, no doubt in concert with the state of my receptivity. The teacher who resonates with you today may change a month or year or lifetime from now. The mystics tell us the ultimate teacher is inside us. But until it is freed, we depend on others. This is a partial list – I’ll add more as time permits.

Joel Goldsmith

After much searching, I ultimately alit on Goldsmith as my teacher. Again, what resonates for one may not for another, and that isn’t important anyway. Born into a Jewish home and later transitioning to Christian Science before abandoning it as well, Goldsmith was a successful business man who felt increasingly compelled to seek an inner Truth. His efforts ultimately led to the creation of ‘The Infinite Way,’ which he took pains to point out was neither a belief system nor a religion. Rather, he saw it as a path toward a gradual awakening of consciousness.

Robert Adams

Although I no longer remember how or when it happened, at some point in my journey I was introduced to the talks of Robert Adams. Much like his ultimate teacher, Ramana Maharshi (see below), Adams experienced a profound spiritual awakening in his teens (during a mathematics exam, no less). And as was the case with others, he spent the next many years attempting to understand what had happened to ‘him’ (literally). Adams gave talks to those who were drawn to him (a hallmark of true teachers is the absence of any outreach or marketing – aspirants simply materialized). Although he never wrote any books, students compiled a list of some of his talks and published them under the title, The Silence of the Heart.

Ramana Maharshi

Considered by many the greatest sage since Christ Jesus, Ramana Maharshi experienced a profound awakening as a teenager and spent the remainder of his life in routine states of deep silence or samadhi. Visitors flocked to him from all corners of the globe at a time when global travel – and particularly travel across India – was arduous at best. Those who did make the trek, including many well-known skeptics, were deeply affected by Ramana. Over the years many returned as often as possible and some never left. Ramana promoted advaita vedanta (aka non-duality) and self-inquiry as the direct path to one’s true self.

Wei Wu Wei

Wei Wu Wei was an Irishman by the name of Terence James Stannus Gray, who spent the early part of the 20th century studying at Oxford, later steeped in the theater and as an author on Egyptology (family wealth enabled him to pursue various interests). During travels across India, he ended spending time with Ramana Maharshi, which fed into his growing interest in eastern modes of mysticism including advaita and Zen. It was not until his early 60s that the first of the titles under the pen name, Wei Wu Wei, were published. (Wei Wu Wei translates to ‘effortless action.’)