One of the greatest gifts which can be bestowed upon a person is to be asked to be another's Spiritual Teacher/Mentor.
One of the most difficult things I have ever had to do is accept the request to be a Spiritual Teacher, sometimes also called a Mentor, Guide or other such words which describe this particular work I endeavor to do.
The difficulty is not in the being a teacher rather with the connections to the student(s) since these connections must by their very nature be both Spiritual as well as emotional due to the nature of the work being done by the student. There is a very fine line of demarcation which delineates the helper from the hinderer. How is this possible you might ask, well let me see if I can express what occurs and how the line can be breached.
As a teacher in general, on the physical plane, there is a set of guidelines which specify the extent to which each of the participants in the teaching/learning experience must adhere. On the Spiritual level of the teacher/student interaction there are no such set of guidelines, only what the teacher especially knows (or rather becomes aware of during the course of interaction with the student). Since this line of demarcation is greatly obscured by the veil which exists between the physical and spiritual planes, that “line” is at times greatly blurred. It is therefore the job of the teacher to “know” precisely where that line is and where the student, as well as they them self, is at all times in relation to that “line”.
In order to keep the line of demarcation always in front of the teacher as well as the student, the teacher must never take his/her eyes off that point while at the same time knowing that the “line” is constantly moving in relations to the learning which the student is doing and the speed at which the student is progressing. Add to this that while on a journey of Spiritual growth, the student is generally in a very delicate and possibly precarious position with regard to their own emotionality. Spiritual growth is not, and I repeat NOT an intellectual process nor should it be undertaken the way learning say math is undertaken. The process of opening to one’s Spiritual self is a very emotionally taxing process which must be guided with care and reverence for the individual, knowing full well that the student is a Spiritual being having a human experience. However, for the student just embarking on this type of a journey, he or she might at the beginning of the journey still be of the belief that they them self are a human being having a Spiritual experience.
One other difficulty with the entire process I’m attempting to describe is that the teacher also must, by virtue of the fact that he/she is also a Spiritual being having a human experience, therefore realize that emotionality is a huge part of the teaching experience as is the learning experience for the student.
Let’s go one step further and say that the teacher remembers, Spiritually, that there was a previously existing relationship which, if not completely at least partially initiated the trauma which has left the student Spiritually hampered for all of their lifewalks from that time until this. Here the situation is exacerbated because the teacher becomes entangled in the emotionality of the student’s journey along with the student, even if the teacher does his/her best to remain detached emotionally from the prior events as well as the current Spiritual growth of the student.
This potentially leaves both parties to the Spiritual journey in a very vicarious position since it is the teacher’s responsibility to be an impartial guide for the student while knowing about his/her participation in the initiating event. When the student begins to remember, there is the great possibility for the student to lash out at the teacher as though the situation is currently occurring, which in a truly Spiritual sense it is. The difficulty here lies in the manner in which the teacher needs to interact with the student, which would be from a purely detached position. Not always possible for there is the actuality that the precipitation event was/is based in the originating relationship between both teacher and student in their former rolls.
How must one proceed, you might be wondering. That is where the difficulty arises. Should the teacher divulge all that is known about the initiating situation? Should the teacher expound upon how the events of the initiating situation came about? Should the teacher just keep his/her tongue and wait to see what the student comes to on their own? And, what happens if the student does come to some amount of understanding concerning the initiating situation, then what is the teacher’s responsibility? I’ll endeavor to expound upon this collection of queries in a bit.
As I ponder all these questions, I am left assessing my own behavior with regard to a number of students over the past years. For each of these students the situation (current interaction and awareness on the part of the student) determines how the teacher is to proceed. Now that leaves much to the subjective discernment of the teacher with regard to the appropriate amount of information to be passes to the student.
If the teacher is able to stand objectively and in full detachment form the initiating event then there is no real difficulty to be encountered with regards to how much and what type of information to pass to the student. However, living a human experience there is rarely an occasion when any individual, regardless of their level of “enlightenment” or “Spiritual advancement” or “awakening”, where it is possible to be completely objective and detached from another being living a human experience; especially in light of the knowledge of prior relationships.
So the way to proceed is most assuredly with the guidance of Spirit. Now you might say, “But hasn’t all the interaction between the teacher and student been with the guidance of Spirit?”, and the answer to that is, “HOPEFULLY SO”.
From my own experience it is the student actually who determines the total extent of how quickly to proceed, how much information is to be disseminated and when, even how “pushy” the teacher is to be in driving or dragging the student to their ultimate goal. Caution with one’s words and actions are demanded here and the need to be in constant interaction with Spirit is mandatory.
As to the questions previously asked, there are no set rules which can be stated with absolute certainty. It would generally be that, as the student evolves, steps into their own full Spirituality the extent of information which can be absorbed or taken in greatly expands as is also true for the extent to which the teacher can impart both necessary as well as extraneous information which will ultimately be brought together by the student into one coherent and cohesive whole for their personal growth.
With this said, it must still be understood that pushing too hard, or divulging too much at the wrong time (that being before the student can intake the information without shutting down) can be very injurious to the student’s journey as well as their physical and emotional well being.
There is a caution in all this for both the student as well as the teacher, that being, “Be careful what you ask for, for Spirit will provide you with exactly a few degrees more than requested, just so you can test your own mettle”.
For those who think it would be wonderful and enjoyable to be a Spiritual teacher rather than only a student, I’m here to tell you that it is one of the greatest and most enjoyable pleasures anyone can have while in a physical lifewalk. The gifts derived from being the teacher are far greater than for being the student. Only as the teacher is it possible to watch, both on the physical as well as the Spiritual plane, the student awaken to their true authentic self. Additionally, only as a teacher is it possible to have a student surpass your awareness and become your teacher and be grateful for the experience,.
Truly I am blessed in that I have been a teacher both in the physical world as well as for the purposes of guiding students on their journey into Spiritually evolving and awakening.
Thank you to all my former and current students for the gifts you have provided me as well as the lessons you have all taught me.
