The Problem with Having a Spiritual Teacher (It Might Not be What You Think!)

By Lynn Newman

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

Twenty years ago I set myself on a spiritual path. I needed guidance. I wanted someone to help me to heal. After all, I didn’t know how to do it for myself.

Powerful teachers and healers appeared in my life because I was ready to finally stop the patterns I repeated that held me prisoner. Those teachers who showed up were magic. They manifested to meet me exactly where I was. They offered me wisdom. They challenged me. They blew my mind figuratively and spiritually.

I decided I also wanted some education. I was a good therapist, but I felt something was missing. So, I got two Masters Degrees; one in spiritual psychology and one in counseling psychology and became a therapist.

After ten years of devoting myself to teachings, school, workshops and journeys, I felt an urge to find my own spiritual or healing experiences not dependent on someone else. There was something empowering about this. I went (among other things) to sit on a mountain. I meditated with the intention to create my own spiritual experience.

And I found it — without another’s energy influencing me. I reached (and continue to reach) those transcendent places through my concentration and widening of my own heart.

Today, I write articles and offer support to new clients and yet, sometimes question what the hell I’m doing. Certainly, I think it’s silly that I offer advice to people when my own life is far from perfect. Yes, I’ve collected wisdom over the years but don’t always apply it. Or I know what to do or say and don’t do or say it. Or I think, after some experience, that I know everything.

I’ve had teachers who gave me gems of wisdom that were priceless. Gems I carried around in my pocket from that moment on. I developed friendships with some of those teachers. And later, was surprised when I discovered their humanness. Oddly, it felt like some form of betrayal. Somehow, not knowing about their life, their mistakes, their failed relationships made me feel safer. I believed I could trust them more if they were pristine and spotless.

And the same went for me when the bubble popped and a new student, client, friend or romantic interest discovered my own imperfections…

That said, I would say the greatest thing I’ve learned from all my teachers is this: Take the teaching. Don’t take the teacher. Because we teach what we most need to learn.

The risk in holding someone on a pedestal is that they can topple and fall. We’re all teachers. We’re all experts in something. We all know something, at least, really well. We may have learned it (or partially learned it) from someone else and can give credit where credit is due. We’re grateful. Without them, we wouldn’t have learned what we did and we wouldn’t pass down to others what we learned from them.

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• Self-Helpless: How To Stop Fixing Yourself

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