What’s the Difference Between a Teacher and a Guru?

Q: What’s the difference between a Teacher and a Guru?

A: The Guru is not an educator—a Guru transforms people if they’re willing. A Guru is a catalyst. A teacher is an information bringer. I’m not sharing information, although information may be involved. My job is to be a catalyst for you to the degree that you want to use me. That can include teaching, but the purpose isn’t to teach—the purpose is to bring you to something more Real, which is always a transformational process. So a lot of value in teaching, but the true Guru is not trying to function as a teacher even though they may be teaching something. The teaching is just to get you in the room—the teachings are a loss leader.

Questions:

How Can I Stop Being So Judgmental?

Q: I’m looking for a practice to stop judging so much. I actually know what it feels like. But I haven’t felt it in a while. It feels good! A: Good!—we’re glad you’re here. If we could stop judging and did nothing else, if that was the practice, just all judgment...

Are There Soul Mates?

Q: Do you think there is such a thing as soul mates? If so how do you know if you have found yours? How do you know if someone is right for you in the long run? A: So, listen to this answer to the soul mate question—not the way it will sound. Listen with a different...

What Does the Word “Spiritual” Mean to You?

Q: Everybody says “spiritual” a lot everywhere, all over the world now. And my question just, to you is: How do you define spirit? A: “Spirit” is a code word. It’s a code word we use for what we mean by “the Divine, the Unknown, the Mystery” — our portion of it, the...

I Realize I Use Spirituality to Escape My Worldly Responsibilities

Q: For me it’s a tendency to indulge in escapism, to not deal with my basic human responsibilities—relationships, jobs, money—and excuse it by saying, “Well, none of that’s real.” That’s number one of the ways that I con myself. I come up against an uncomfortable...

What Goes With Us When We Die?

Q: What goes with us when we die? A: What goes with you is in two forms, the first form is that which is the essential—and it sounds redundant but it isn't: the living life in you. And the second thing that goes with you are the tendencies that you actually live. So...

I Had a Wonderful Experience of Liking Everything…

Q: I had a lovely thing happen yesterday, I was going along and I felt a general kind of liking for everything, and, it was very, very mild. And everything was just fine, just okay, but not a big deal. All the people who happened to be around, I liked seeing them in...

How Do I Practice Patience?

Q: My question is: How do you master patience when you have a lot of passion? I’m an actor. I have done a lot of work back in New York. I moved here and got a manager, and she’s been helping me find an agency. Sometimes I get frustrated because of my passion. I feel I...

How Does One Maintain Equanimity When There Is Physical Pain?

Q: I’m interested in your thoughts about how one maintains equanimity and one’s realizations and one’s stability, to whatever degree one has in Truth, when the physical body is a factor—when the body is ill or over-agitated and metabolically, energetically, out of...

I’m Scared to Be Loving in an Unloving World…

Q: I think it is really scary to live in a world where you feel very open and loving—and you feel that space come up often and you act on it, or you be it, and then that which you see around you does not always reflect it. And it seems too normal …and I have a sense...

What Is Service?

Q: I don’t understand what real service is. What is service? A: The first thing to understand is: you’re already serving. Whoever you are, however you live, whatever your life is, you’re already in service to something. There’s no way around that. A human life is a...