Recently I was asked to speak on a panel with what was billed as the most popular spiritual leader on the horizon and his also-rans (me and the lesser lights in the eyes of those who keep track of such nonsense). To tell the truth I was forewarned that this uber-leader and mega-book seller was first and foremost a drunk and a womanizer but I decided to let him lead the parade and I would be happy to follow in his wake. It didn’t take long for him to live up to his reputation. He smelled like a drunk and acted like someone who has severe addiction and compulsion problems-he was so over the rainbow arrogant and full of himself that I am surprised he hadn’t gone into treatment.
A lot of people will tell you that they are “oh so spiritual” and have read every self-help book on the book shelves and gone to all of Caroline Maas’ workshops, read and heard everything that Wayne Dyer has to say and has worshipped at the throne of Deepak Chopra for years-and yet so many of them cannot seem to look inward at all the junk, the anger, the resentments and the half-measures that keep them stuck in anything but the spiritual life.
When I first had a meeting with my guru, Swami Swahananda at the Vedanta Center in Hollywood, California he told me that those who purport to be so good and spiritual are not. “What one is,” he said, “speaks louder than their words.” Swami went on to tell me that the journey to the center of the soul, or the Atman, or Brahmin in Vedanta parlance, is personal, quiet, meditative and does not speak in a loud voice to others about how holy he is. “When people want to know what you know and how you know it, they will ask you. You do not have to announce it before being sought out,” he also advised.
At my age it is apparent that self-awareness journeys take a long time and we encounter a lot of anything but holiness within ourselves. There is left-over stuff from childhood forward that we have been using booze and drugs, even prescriptions, and food and sex and too much golf and other forms of recreation to cover it up. For me, overspending took a big toll before I heard the still small voice of intuition whisper, “Enough”.
If you think that you have joined the pantheon of the high, holy ones you might want to take a look in your closet and see what work still needs to be done. It is amazing what we find when we look with an open mind.
Albert Clayton Gaulden is the founding director of the Sedona Intensive and author of You’re Not Who You Think You Are: A Breakthrough Guide to Discovering the Authentic You. For more information about Albert and Sedona Intensive visit http://www.sedonaintensive.com/.
Purchase You’re Not Who You Think You Are at http://www.yourenotwhoyouthinkyouare.com/
