Contents

Chapter Three

The Path Under Foot

        Take the Knowledge and Run.  As we seek to move faster along our paths of personal evolution, we can find it difficult to evaluate how well we might be assisted by the many teachers available to us. Even if a teacher has achieved a high stage of evolution using the methods he uses with success, this does not mean the teacher's methods will bring us to the teacher's level. The teacher may have done well the work on him- herself, but how will that help us? We often don't even know where to start, and simply pick one that suits our liking at the moment.  

        Many of us, after becoming dissatisfied with teachers employed by religious and university corporations, seek out so-called "alternative" teachers. While it might be pleasurable to be in a teacher's company and to feel the teacher's "light," this in and of itself is not sufficient to intensify one's own light. The source of a teacher's light may be not in himself but rather in the collected light of the students.

        There comes a time when the paths should separate. There are persons who have been following spiritual masters for years, doing workshops, taking courses, but who have been unable to cut the tie to their leaders. The true teacher knows when it is time for a follower to leave the organisation and find his or her own path. The true teacher sends the student away sooner rather than later.

        "The hardest path to find is under foot."  This Native American saying is very wise indeed. We can be spiritually starved in the midst of plenty because we fail to see the spirituality we already have. There is more than enough spirituality right around us, yet we seek it somewhere else, often looking half way around the world. Consider the case of Americans.

        Americans, for example, can find right under foot the spirit energy which is deep within their psyche and locality. For example, the spirituality of some of the Penacook nations was based on reverence for liberty. Some even went so far as to consider liberty as sacred. Today that same spirit of liberty has influenced much of the world. The American Bill of Rights is based on many Penacook principles. Twenty-six American states are named after Native American nations.

        Another aspect of Native American philosophy is based on the idea that our higher powers are derived from nature itself, and that such powers gather and concentrate the healing powers of nature. Another Penacook method was to apply reverence to all of a person's actions. (More on reverence later.)

        The path under foot, however, is sometimes hard to find. Perhaps this is because so many of us spend more time than necessary with teachers who are able to teach only their own path. Yes we must acquire understanding and knowledge from others. But now we must do it in a new way. We must take in the knowledge from teachers only in order to further evolve our own higher power, our true spiritual teacher. The inner guru is faced both "down" toward our everyday consciousness and "up" toward the gods that we are being and becoming. We must combine our own higher power with the knowledge gained from the higher power of others.

        Many of us confuse the power of knowledge itself with the power of the person who passes knowledge along to us. The result is that we relinquish our own power by "following" the teacher instead of the knowledge. Good guides or teachers are simply persons who happen to be farther along their path than we are on ours. No teacher cause another person to evolve. Only knowledge can do that.

        Reverence.  Reverence is the application of heightened intention energy to all our actions. We must approach everything we do with reverence in our hearts and minds. This is especially true in eating, learning, and relationship because we are what we eat, we are what we know, and we are our love.

        The following dictionary definitions may help us better understand reverence.

        Another thought: Reach for the higher self with reverence. The higher self is faced both "down" toward our everyday consciousness and "up" toward the gods that we are becoming.

        The Spiral and the Light.  Spirals represent expansion, and then contraction which leads to further expansion. They represent the repetition of the circle and yet expansion. We can spiral into our higher power and then back into the world with a greater understanding of who we are and why we are here. And then back again into our higher power, and back yet again, ever more expanded. The spiral thus pictures for us the repeating and yet ever-expanding nature of our eternal journey. 

        The word "light" of which so many speak is used in at least four different ways: (1) physical light, (2) inner energy, (3) cellular energy, (4) the light of knowledge. The inner light radiates from the god you are.

        Suggestions As to Where to Start Anew.  Where we might begin is up to each of us gods to decide. We can ask our higher power for the right book or the right teacher. We can seek advice from others as to where to start.  We can choose randomly. It is a matter of logical faith and trust in our ability to intuit what is best for us.

        Try this: Make a calendar with each week or month consisting of a new path, a new spiritual guide, a new belief system, etc. After a year you may be much more knowledgeable about choosing a path or a branch from your path. Perhaps entitle the calendar "Paths to Take." Or perhaps create an appointment book with scheduled exercises from many different paths to personal growth, day to day, week to week, month to month.

        And try this: Another way to choose a path is to use a random method of selection. One of the ways the scientist insures the objectivity of an experiment is through the use of the random sample. Make a list of six different paths, and then roll dice to choose one. After spending some time on that path, make a new list paths connecting to the one you are on and then roll the dice again. Or one can stay on the path a while longer. (One can even use the die to decide whether or not to stay on the same path a while longer: even number = stay, odd number = change the path.) Or simply imagine the dice throws. (See also the I Ching.)

        Yet another way is to use one's imagination. Try this: Imagine a classroom with empty desks and a blackboard. Have a teacher appear at the front of the classroom. Ask the teacher a question. Then have the teacher write an answer on the blackboard.

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