Who Are Your Heroes?
March 17th, 2008 by Rose Rosetree
A long-ago post about empathic merges and aura readings caught up to me today with a wonderful heartfelt comment by Katie:
Thank you Rose - I learned a lot from your description of the areas of strength of Ms. Choquette and its a great help in weighing my experience at her conference in L.A. yesterday. (Note: This is the thread you will find here.)
Liking her books very much, I found it disagreable to not like some of what was being done that seemed attacking of the audience - from my perspective anyway - she would point out someone who looked uncomfortable and say they were ego-driven “5 sensories” and had to get up on the stage and sing or tell the audience personal things about themselves.
So that when exercises of us all getting up and wiggling our hips to loosen up, which I think were very good and I was familiar with the grounding exercise they were a part of, happened there was that tendency of people to overdo it just to make sure they weren’t accused of being the bad guys.
The dynamics of the conference had the unfortunate effect of reminding me of some churches when I was young that would do altar calls and demand a now-or-never devotion with dire consequences for resisting - if you didn’t swallow her conference hook line and sinker RIGHT THEN it was evidence of your pernicious choice to remain an ego-driven “5 sensory” person.
This was most unexpected as it differed greatly from the gentleness and sense of humor I’d felt in the books. I found it very painful.
I have read about thought forms that need our devotion to grow and live - a bit like ego structures as Ekart Tolle describes in his latest book. When I read Tolle’s book I found it freeing and helpful in releasing false ego structures - Tolle never left me feeling I was pernicious for having them in the first place. I felt lighter and in a state of grace - able to be present in my life even under a lot of stress -from just a few moments with his book. In contrast, yesterday’s conference left me exhausted and almost despairing for not wanting what was offered and what that meant about me.
MY RESPONSE to these comments about Sonia Choquette:
KATIE, thank you for that sharing. You might be interested in my two-part blogging, started today, about Caroline Myss. She, also, has gone through a superstar kind of career, and it is an ordeal for many of the most famous people in all walks of life.
For someone who is, by disposition and also by profession, a sensitive — well, it clearly can be a huge challenge.
My heroes in the mind-body-spirit community are Donna Eden and Marianne Williamson, among the superstars. I’m very impressed with Dr. Christianne Northrup, as well, but don’t know her work as well as that of the other two.
I also love my mentors, not yet that famous yet (obviously, in my opinion, and for me), the very best teachers America has to offer: Bill Bauman and Tantra Maat. I am thrilled with the career of my friend Chrissie Blaze, who is moving more into the mainstream with every passing year, and carries full integrity intact.
All these heroes of mine (and forgive me, others, for not naming you here, because I’m sure I could think of more New Age heroes, if pressed to do the once-and-for-all kind of list), among their other stellar qualities, they have managed to keep their purity 100%.
It isn’t just the temptations of money and fame that celebrities must deal with. It’s the crackpots, the people who suck energy, those who see one person’s success as reason to try to tear that person down. And in this line of work, more of them may appear than in professions like politics.
Hold Sonia high for how she has helped you. That’s my advice. Take all that you can and let the rest go and go on to find others who will be great teachers for you, for as long as they can help.
You’ve already shown, by your comment, that you know that other people only serve to teach you for as long as you have something to learn from them. No obligation to anyone, ever, you know?
MY QUESTION TO YOU
Here I’ve shared about my heroes in the field of spiritual healing… and why. A month ago, in the Three Loveables Contest, I invited you to submit names and say why you were interested in people.
Now I’m going to ask more boldly what matters most to you in spiritual teachers, healers, psychics, others in the metaphysical community. So many ways to do intuitive reading, so little time, so many pressures.
Who is a shining light to you, and why?
I know all three of the people you just mentioned. Chrissie Blaze is someone I also count as a friend.
What matters to me in teachers is integrity and their ability to get out of the way - that they have the ability to check their egos and to be of service. It is one thing to help someone for self-aggrandizement and personal profit, quite another to help someone to be of genuine compassionate and humble service. The motions may look the same, but the feeling and impact are quite different.
For me, personally, with my background, I like a teacher who can embrace the spiritual and the practical, the “woo woo” and the mainstream.
Like a scientist, I also like to have evidence that the information a healer gives to me is accurate and that their techniques work/are effective. I remember calling into a radio program during a call-in hour where a very famous psychic was a guest, and she told that I would be surprised about where I ended up next - it would be in some part of Canada - which is impossible because I didn’t apply for any positions in Canada. She might be a great psychic, but she has very low accuracy, thus making her not very effective in her particular line of psychic work…
With Rose, I started having her read the faces and auras of people I knew very well, such as myself and then my family and close friends. Information that I could verify from what I knew about myself and them. Then I moved on to people I knew less well and things with higher stakes.
I also look to the recommendations of others. With so many spiritual teachers out there, I really do have to ask around. In the same way that most people don’t find their doctors through the Yellow Pages, I have tended to find my best spiritual teachers through a combination of word-of-mouth, intuition, and reading the faces/auras of those teachers.
I am inspired by life coach Martha Beck. I truly do think that she was someone on the vanguard, someone who really coined the term “life coach” and made it a legitimate profession. With her three Harvard degrees, she could have gone on to any career - and yet she chose to do something incredibly innovative, courageous, and risky.
Now I’m going to ask more boldly what matters most to you in spiritual teachers, healers, psychics, others in the metaphysical community.
Anita stated what I look for very elegantly. Integrity, getting out of the way, accuracy, and practicalness are important to me.
One person I like is Andrea Hess. I probably will complete her Soul Realignment™ practitioner program in the not-too-distant future.
I also look for teachers who are not pushy or coercive and respect and like their clients.
I know it sounds funny, but there are a lot of pushy teachers out there and ones who don’t respect their clients but rather look down on them as lesser or inferior. Or are so annoying because they are always looking at everything as a “teachable” moment for their clients.
Bill Bauman had a wonderful phrase in response to a concern that I once asked him that about that I still adore to this day: “Anita, you don’t have to accept that invitation.”
He reminded me, in that answer, that everything in life is an invitation. We can choose to accept the invitation or not - we may say “yes” or “no” at different times because of what is happening in our lives or our level of consciousness at the time.
Spiritual teachers, at their very best, send out a gentle invitation. They don’t shove that invitation down other people’s throats or coerce others to accept the invitation.
The best things in life are invitations, I think. Friendship is an invitation, a gift you can choose to accept or not, offer or not. It’s not a transaction.
Does a spiritual teacher inspire me with an invitation to become more involved? That is the feeling I look for.
I don’t want to work with spiritual teachers who espouse messages of love and light and service but whose behavior says, “I only care about me. Love me. Serve me.”
Heroes and shining lights
Shining lights: -
Jesus
Buddha
Today’s living shining lights
Neale Donald Walsch.
Attended one 5 day event. It was absolutely beautiful. Assume all the other events are like that. A lot was lost (STUFF) during that week and a lot was understood?. Don’t ask exactly what since 90% of it was mostly non-verbal. I found Neale to be honest, humble and of integrity during that week. He did make light of people and their complaints at times but stopped as soon as they understood their issue in a deeper way.
Dr. David Hawkins
If you want to understand more about mass consciousness, the challenges and pitfalls along the way and loads of other bits and pieces. Having picked up any book or cd I instantly arrive at a place of peace and understanding. My brain has delightfully blown many fuses thanks to the work of Dr Hawkins.
Dan Millman
Never met Dan but really enjoyed his books “way of the warrior series”.
Dalai Lama
Somebody else who every time I see his photo, there is this overwhelming desire to break out in the biggest smile possible.
Mother Theresa
Wow, Some times wonder how she managed to find such dedication.
All of the above have under gone many, many challenges and still kept going with loving purpose, still kept their honesty, humility and integrity. Although anyone can have a bad hair day.
Other Shining Lights –
Life
Us -> myself and you
As well as the messenger the beauty is in the actual message itself. This message has always been the same. Love, peace, forgiveness, understanding. The benefit of the teacher – Grace – it can provide the awareness to our understanding in an instant. Something which without could possibly take many hours or years of struggle, meditation. and understanding
Us
We are all the same, we all have the same divine essence. The only seeming difference between ourselves and the above people. They have far less “stuff” and have applied the Love, peace etc. qualities on a consistent basis over time. There might be of course a different way from here to there.
Who will be the teachers of tomorrow, none other but the eager and reluctant students of today. In that respect life teaches us all we need to know.
I am totally unfamiliar with all the passages and quotes in the bible but one that I think was attributed to Jesus was about his miracles. It was something like “These things I do, so shall you and more so.”
BRIAN, what a generous list. Thank you so much. As for your taste, impeccable!
Rose - Thank you.
Oops, perhaps a good job I didn’t take history. Not quite sure exactly which High street Mother Theresa is currenlty living on.
It is amazing how I may admire someone for a while, basically by reading their books or attending workshops and something seems to burst their bubble for me. I then see that they are just human beings after all not spiritual gurus.
I read all of Shakti Gawain books and felt that Living In the Light and Creative Visualization were channeled. She had spend some time in India meditating and it showed. Later I attended a workshop in Hawaii and connected well with her..we were born on the same day. On a cruise I went to a workshop on relationships. Her current boyfriend stated how controlling she was and full of her own power. She was shocked. He seemed very immature to me but I thought like attracts like. What a surprise. A famous psychic friend said she was going to get her books published by Shakti and she lost her money because her company was going downhill. Again surprise, she was teaching prosperity. I still treasure her two books.
Louise Hay still has my respect. Her publishing company seems to be prosperous. She continues to teach a message that she learned through her own healing experience with Cancer. I admire people that are authentic and she continues to help so many people and share her life with us.
I saw Caroline Myss at VA Beach for a conference. I was not as impressed as when I first say her on TV. She actually spoke badly about New Age people. Making fun of reading vibrations which is what she does. I realize there are some who are not as high energy as others but my friend from ARE thought she must be having a bad night and we walked out. I still read her books which bring out the best in Caroline but that experience turned me off.
Wayne Dyer has always been one of my favorite people. I have seen him twice for workshops and have read almost all his books and particularly love his autobooks because I can hear his soothing voice. I was surprised that he used to talk about abusing alcohol and how he got over his addiction. Now he speaks as though he just chose to quit to become more spiritual and at the same time says he put it down at 3:00 AM one morning and promised his wife he would quit. He says he never really became addicted. Which is true?
I will still admire what I have learned from him but inconsistency in honesty bothers me.
I enjoyed a conversation I had with Mauricio an amazing Brazilian healer. He shared his spiritual experience with me ,occurances not in his books. I will always treasure that time with him. He and Barbara Deangelis had their auras photographed at a convention in Ocean City. At that time they both had amazing auras with purples and blues from the higher Chakras.
Thanks for giving me a chance to share my experiences.. I still remember your classes and when you read auras at my home for Unity Church…
I felt a spirit of love from you and a rainbow of color…Joan Marie
JOAN MARIE, how lovely to have heard from you here.
Aw, I’ll always remember having you in my classes and that amazing and generous party you threw as a gift to Unity of Fairfax.
These are wonderful shares. Please comment again soon.
Like Brian, I also get an auric high every time I see a photo of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I have never seen him in person, but that is on my wish list.