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#488 Be Your Own Guru

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

~ T. S. Eliot

Have you read Herman Hesse’s “Siddhartha”?

If you have, right on and read on. If you haven’t, you may want to stop reading cuz I’m gonna blow the plot for you. (Although it’ll still be worth reading. :)

So, as you recall, Hesse tells the story of the young Siddhartha Guatama—following him from his temple as a young noble into the world on his spiritual quest for enlightenment.

He had a friend. They started their quest together—experiencing the extremes of fasting and the ascetic life. His friend met an enlightened holy man and went to sit at his feet to soak up all his wisdom for the next few decades.

Siddhartha wasn’t feeling that. So, he did what all good spiritual aspirants do and engaged himself fully in the world—from one extreme to another until…

He found the middle path and his own enlightenment. At which point the friends re-unite—this time with Siddhartha the revered enlightened one while his friend, who never experienced the extremes of life and could not understand the divine middle, still sat in numb ignorance to true enlightenment.

I love that story.

Maybe b/c it justifies my own intense choices.

Maybe b/c it’s so true.

Want to find the enlightened middle path?

Be willing to go past the edge.

...

And, in any case: BE YOUR OWN GURU!!