Self-Realization and Other Awakenings

most felt the Void and beyond, which can become
very, very dry.
I truly believe that one is OFTEN best served by
having a guru of the opposite sex, for it can use human
love as a transformative energy, a sort of conscious or
unconscious Tantra.
I do not want to digress too much in this area, it is
only an example of what I saw over 40 years of being
around countless gurus: human love in all its forms is
an essential part of the best sorts of transformation. It
always will destroy the arrogance of knowledge that
Advaita and Tibetan Buddhism can bring, as well as the
Zen arrogance of knowing nothing. Love, human love
as between lovers, or the guru/chela, is humbling and
transformative.
Therefore, I think there is a more powerful way of
teaching than teaching Advaita or Zen or other forms
of Buddhism, and that is direct transmission, outside
of the teachings, through respect and love, mostly in
silence, while being in the presence of the teacher—
someone who has realized the Self.
I admit I totally pooh-poohed such a way of
teaching in the past, because it lacked knowingness,
understanding, and a method. The only method was to
be in the presence of the guru, and lacking that, of a
highly evolved lover.