Through parental and societal conditioning, many people find themselves looking for the answers to their problems outside of themselves, and when they embark on a spiritual path they become either a seeker, or someone who is waiting to be saved.

This weak spot is often abused by teachers and gurus, too willing to take advantage for their own personal gain, often with highly destructive consequences.

The simple truth is that the solution is never ‘out there’, and no spiritual teacher can save you or make you find yourself.

Everything you seek is within you.

So when you work with others in a role that helps to facilitate change in people’s lives, how do you embody the paradox that you are marketing yourself as someone that can help, while simultaneously working with people in a way that liberates them from needing your help?

In psychotherapist Sheldon Kopp’s book, ‘If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him’, he shares his experiences working with clients as they learn to untangle themselves from the idea that a therapist has the answers they need.

What I have come to see, through Kopp’s work and my own experiences, as both a coach and a client, is that the very idea that someone can be your guru or teacher is actually a necessary, and even desirable, part of the process through which the student sets them self free of the idea that the teacher has something they don’t.

Admiration is a projection of your own capacity. Really, it is you yourself and your own potential that you see.

So I am happy for you to have the idea that I have something you don’t, if it makes you willing to walk with me to find out that this is never the case.

As we walk together, I will help you to kill your idea of me as anything greater than you.

The only difference between you and I is an idea.

Loving you, JP ❤️