The greatest teachers of all time rarely cite others to enhance their lessons or prove their validity. Their knowledge comes from experience, and mostly inner experience at that. I think of the Buddha, who came from a tradition of Hinduism and extreme social stratification (of which he was a nobleman), who is arguably one of the best teachers that ever lived.
I also think about Jesus, another great teacher, who spoke in parables and only cited stories from sacred texts so he could upend them. He said his way was the way to relief, peace, freedom from reckoning, and eternal life. We don’t know where the historical Jesus was from approximately the age of 13 to 30, and so there is speculation he went east to learn from great sages. But even if this is so, he never felt a need to cite them. Why not? I think those who know things, know them from living, not from studying.
Jesus tried to talk to people where they were… not where he came from (or who he studied).
I also think of dozens of saints, ancient and modern, who nearly all recount their own direct experience with the divine as the only source needed. And there is no “proving” vibe in the best of them, just stories and practices…thankfulness and love.
I think of my favorite teachers like Ram Dass1 who only tell funny, true, and relatable stories of his own hunger for enlightenment and practical journey to realization something like it.2 I think how he did not care to prove himself to begin with (or maybe he did? He was a Harvard Professor after all). When Ram Dass emerged from Richard, he very shifted to simply sharing.
All I can show you is the finger pointing at the moon, not the moon
~Buddha and many others
Pressure for legitimacy
I have experienced many things in my life that defy quick explanation or neatly fit into any particular belief system. I have sometimes used the following known terms to help explain what I know: Near Death Experience (NDE), awakening, initiation, shaktipat, kundalini, self-actualization, intuition, meditative knowing, unconscious becoming conscious, archetypes, PTSD, karma, Bodhisattva path, one-with-everything, nervous breakdown/breakthrough, and others. I still don’t know what to call the once-per-decade run in I have with something that literally makes me feel like I jumped quantum realities and am now living a new timeline. Maybe I don’t have to explain myself to anyone. I know I’ve created pseudonyms to quote myself as a way to fake self-referential knowing.3
Why do the more rational among us feel compelled to cite intellectual giants to prove experiences which are varied, freeing, and true?
Philosophies and Star Trek
When I was 22, I worked for an eccentric Ayn Rand devotee in New York City. He ran a jazz club with the quirkiest set of entry requirements and practices. There we learned everything from how to Star Trek references when he entered is own place “Captain on Deck!” to carry our own bank so that we could “know” the feeling of being responsible for our own wealth-accumulation. He sat me down 3 months into my working there. “What is it that you know? It’s clear to me you know something. How do you know things?” he asked.
In his Ayn Rand world, belief had been downgraded, and faith was a ridiculous fabrication meant to appease the stupid.
I told him, “I know there is a benevolent force in my life.” He argued with me, “but you can’t ‘know’ that, you can only believe that.” I held my ground, because I did know it, I knew from experience. I had been lifted out of — or brought into — experiences of peace from experiences of hell. This was no hyperbole, this was my bone deep experience, and I knew it as much as I knew anything, like I know my own foot.
No citing required, none to find
In my best understanding of the way of the Tao, and the way of a spiritual tradition I was dragged into at 114, enlightenment is the play of life recognizing (and loving) life. It’s consciousness: expanding, exploring and loving consciousness. There is no difference between the outside and the inside. And your body’s experiences are your karma and your unique lens. But really, All is One.
Holding this space is the hard part. Why? Because we have egos, and mine still wants to write and, yes, have my exeperiences recognized by others as “real.” Fortunately, my ego isn’t so big, I think I should create a religion around my own unique path. Instead, I’m pointing to the moon and pointing to those who have also pointed to the moon.
Yeah, I guess I’m citing after all…Ha!
- Ram Dass is best known for his book Be Here Now, and experiences transforming from Richard Alpert to Baba Ram Dass during the period of time where lots of academics and acid-trippers were going to India and doing just that. ↩︎
- Ram Dass would famously say in one of his stories about a young protege becoming enlightened, “who the hell is he to get enlightened? I’m not enlightened.” His stories are available for personal listening here, but may not be duplicated as they are the property of the Ram Dass Foundation in both ethical and practical reality. ↩︎
- W Leitzen loves to try to sound wise. Like here, and here and here. lol ↩︎
- Siddha Yoga. As a child, I spent several weekends at meditation intensives in South Fallsburg, NY and Boston, MA ↩︎