Do we Need a Guru or Teacher to Grow Spritually...?

I think this week's Hive account@ecotrain question of the week is something everyone interested in Spirituality should consider, sadly it's probably the kind of people that NEED to consider it who are the LEAST likely to do so!

Spiritual teachers are everywhere....

Something I've learned in life is that you can find Spiritual teachers in the most unlikely of places, and often these people aren't presenting themselves as teachers at all.

Some people just have this egoless, unassuming, compassionate vibe about them, they have a kind of way of going about their lives which is quiet, and involves just 'getting on with it' - helping others, living ethically, doing no harm, sticking to all of those tenets of The Buddha's Noble Eight Fold Path, just living a spiritual life - and TBH I think having these kind of people in our lives, associating ourselves with them is one of the best things we can do for our spiritual well-being.

I remember one woman in particular, she was a cleaner for a living, she cleaned because she liked the fact that it 'lifted the spirit of the environment' - she was so balanced and kind and honestly one of the most spiritual people I've ever met, but she didn't even really know it herself.

Ironically I met here while living in a Buddhist centre, where there lived some monks who I would say had less to teach me than her.

The problem with Gurus and Spiritual 'Progress'

I have a real problem with the Guru mentality - I just don't trust any guru of any kind, especially if they are self-styled.....

It's just all too easy to be happy if you have a bunch of followers who feed and clothe and listen to you, and all too risky to fall into an ego-trap..... and I think this is what we have with a lot of modern day Gurus - just egos.

What I tend to look for in a spiritual teacher is someone who just leads an ordinary life and has no followers..... I don't think there's room or any need for spiritual specialists in a hierarchical sense - I can't help but just see them as free loaders.

But in fairness, there are those who have been thrust into such positions who do seem to be reasonable human beings too - the Dalai Llama strikes me as one of those, as do various other 'senior' monks I've met, although the later have chosen their paths.

So in short, do we need teachers, yes of course, do we need Gurus? No, not the later, and they themselves should realise this too!