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The Message Matters More Than the Messenger · Spiritual Sense: Practical wisdom to quiet an overthinking mind and recharge your soul

• 0:00
  Have you ever dismissed a powerful truth because of the person who said it or clung to a teacher's every word because you're attached to them, giving away your power?
• 0:19
  This is something that is so common and we need to look at it. So in this short session, we're going to dive into this.
• 0:31
  The message is separate from the messenger, even if we want to connect them, right? So truth, whatever is true, truth exists separate from anyone, right? Truth just exists. Truth isn't invented, it just is there. Just people say it in different ways. And some people say false things and some people say true things.
• 0:54
  What often happens in spiritual teachings is we get very attached to a particular person, a particular teacher, and we only listen to them, right? Oh, no, no, no. Whatever this person said, I'm going to listen to them. But these other people, I don't like them, I don't resonate with them. So I'm just going to ignore everything they say.
• 1:12
  Now, there's some benefit in doing this because we want to listen to the right people and we don't want to listen to the wrong people. However, oftentimes our personal preferences actually get in the way of us hearing important messages that we need to learn, and that can cause us to be very slow on our spiritual path. I'll give an example of this, right?
• 1:41
  There was someone I know who was taken to their.
• 1:46
  To a therapist basically because of a problem with her parents, with her mother.
• 1:54
  And the therapist basically said the reason she's having a hard time is because of you, right? Because a lot of the time children, little kids, are reacting to their parents, right? And that was his opinion.
• 2:10
  And so guess what happened?
• 2:13
  They never went back to that therapist because she wanted to find a different issue that didn't involve her changing, right?
• 2:24
  Whereas oftentimes we cling to teachers who just pamper the ego. I know many, many people, oh, I resonate with this person, with this person, but their life is a total wreck, right? They have all these gurus and all these people, but they're not actually making any progress. And they, oh, I got this addiction, this problem, this problem.
• 2:41
  So we can get very attached to people who are pampering us, and we can avoid people who are just telling it like it is and we don't want to hear it.
• 2:57
  And then there are other people who may be, like, not an embodiment of anything they're talking about, but they do actually know a bunch of very useful things that would still be helpful. The ideal situation is that you find a teacher who you resonate with, who tells you the truth and helps you make progress. That's the ideal situation.
• 3:16
  But it's quite possible you'll find out that this teacher you have actually makes mistakes and does stupid stuff and has various problems.
• 3:24
  And if you look at any teacher, you're going to probably find something you don't like about them if you see them long enough. I remember someone saying that Wayne Dyer was her guru, right? And one day she saw him doing some live thing, and he was picking his feet, like he just grabbed his foot, you know, there's, you know, dry skin on the bottom of the feet. And he just must have just done it unconsciously, right? And it just ruined it for her completely, right? Because people are people. Like if all the great avatars like Jesus and Buddha and Muhammad and, you know, all these various people who existed in history and have massive followings, they're the big three.
• 4:05
  If they were under paparazzi monitoring, right? And they had social media accounts and people were doing videos of them all day long, and everything was public, right? Like it is now. I'm sure there's a lot of people who wouldn't like certain things about what they said or they did. They might get triggered.
• 4:29
  So the reason I bring this up is because if we want to get the most benefit for ourselves, we have to be open to receive the truth, which can come in many forms. I mean, you can actually learn from lots and lots of different places if you're open to it.
• 4:48
  What we have to ask ourselves is, is this the truth and is it going to help me in my life?
• 4:55
  Because there's a lot of falsehood around, so we have to discern the difference.
• 4:59
  And even if someone triggers us or even if somebody says something or does something that we may not like, we can't just completely discount everything.
• 5:11
  This is coming because I was listening to something this morning that was basically saying that when the teacher of a particular meditation place leaves and goes away for a few months, and a lot of the time no one goes to the classes because they don't want to listen to anyone else except that teacher.
• 5:29
  But they're learning the same lessons, like they're reading lessons that have been written down.
• 5:35
  And so they're like, well, I'm not going now because that person's left. Yeah, but the message is being read to you. It's the same message, so why are you not showing up?
• 5:49
  And what that does is that basically puts us in a subservient position towards certain people that I can only receive from this one person.
• 5:58
  And if anyone Else says it, I'm not listening.
• 6:02
  Do you see the difference? We want to have as many opportunities for personal growth as we can possibly get because we all have a long way to go.
• 6:11
  And so oftentimes I found that there are many people who I personally don't particularly resonate with. I don't dislike them, but I wouldn't say like, oh, these are my favorite people in the world. But what they are saying is profound. There are actually some teachers that I've learned from, spiritual teachers who I didn't particularly like at all. But I still remember certain things they said because they were so powerful.
• 6:36
  So the modern world is like a consumer culture of, you know, it's like a buffet. Like, oh, I'll just take a little bit of this and I'll take a little bit of this. But I don't like that. So I'm going to ignore that and I'm going to take a few of these little things here. But we end up with this plate of stuff that we really like that might actually make us sick.
• 6:57
  Do you know what I mean? So we often need, like, other things that we're not getting on our plate and in our mind and in our heart, and we're avoiding it because we're picky and choosy and wanting to stay in our comfort zone.
• 7:12
  So I'm just sharing this because if you are not opening yourself to powerful things, then that is a problem for you. Now, I will qualify this, that if the person sharing something or the method behind it doesn't work, if the method doesn't work, then you shouldn't listen to it.
• 7:36
  So let's say there's a powerful spiritual method, and it definitely works. And it's worked for loads of people. And the person who's telling you about that method hasn't fully embodied it yet because they're still in process. And as long as the method works, then it's worth listening to them because they're sharing something.
• 7:56
  If the method doesn't work, then you should run the other way.
• 8:00
  So the key thing is, it's not the person. It's not whether or not they've become the highest version of themselves. Today. The question is, does it work overall? And if it does, then even if the person's flawed or even if they have challenges, what they're saying could change your life.
• 8:19
  Hopefully this helps. Lots of love. Have a beautiful day.