Self-Realization and Other Awakenings

focused on what they did not get from Robert or the
Sangha. Few went within themselves and asked what
it was about Robert that pushed them to expect or
demand this or that from the guru. They did not ask,
“What is it IN ME that needs to be stripped from ME, so
I can feel open and loving towards my guru?”
This is the sort of personal self-inquiry that every
student needs to address at moments of a separation
crisis. “What is it in me that makes me feel Robert or
Ed are failures as teachers? Why is it I do not trust the
spiritual unfolding process? What are/were my
expectations and are they realistic, or are they
childhood remnants that interfere with all my relations
now?”
In many cases these are purely psychological
questions pertaining to a perceived failure in a
student’s relationship with the teacher, but they need
to be resolved so that they can become empty enough
to get emotionally close enough to the teacher to
experience repeated glimpses of the infinite: of
complete emptiness, of the divine being.
This is how the bond with the guru is cultivated
and nourished. This is the hard work. It is easy to
love the guru while we have an idealized image of him
or her. But when we get close to the guru, his clay
feet are seen, and our many idealized projections of