The old paradigm of life-controlling and mind-manipulating belief systems has left many to finally realize they have been living in an artificial reality created by egotistical people on power trips.
This has led to a situation where many are wandering, trying to find their own way in a world without many true leaders. As a result of this, a new market has developed which attempts to showcase answers to these people who have become disillusioned with the old dogmatic systems.
However, there are quite a few (an understatement) in this new domain of contemporary spiritual guidance that are taking outright advantage of people and creating circumstances that vary very little from the old paradigm, they simply polished it and gave the illusion that it’s something else.
There’s an influx of ‘enlightened masters of the universe’ pervading the spiritual sphere these days. Gurus and spiritual teachers are popping up left and right. Many of them seem to provide an easy way out of the voids many people feel they have within their lives and as a result these gurus and teachers make a ridiculously massive amount of money…even earning social ranks akin to being glamorous superstars.
Yes, it seems there are those within the spiritual arena who are looking at the qualitative aspects self-growth and seeing a marvelous money-making opportunity or a way to have incredible power over others; a pyramid scheme is sometimes then created and established. This is very dangerous in that it can negatively affect the perception of legitimacy of the entire spiritual community and all that it encompasses. True genuine spiritual teachers and self-growth coaches will be disregarded as just being false gurus giving out spiritual-sounding nonsense that lacks substance and is unhelpful for a person’s spiritual growth.
Being aware that there are such enlightenment pyramid schemes can help us steer away from the false gurus and seek out the genuine teachers that truly wish to help people and the global consciousness of humanity. It is admittedly difficult at times to see through the spiritual facade that some create as a front to hide their true nature and intentions, even moreso with teachers who were once very enlightening but the money and the fame got the best of them.
Having others do the work for us such as various guru rating services that exist today is dangerous as well since we are putting our faith in a complete stranger to pick out “authentic” and genuine spiritual teachers. It should be obvious that there can be plenty of deception, subjective bias, and decisions which are made without the raters being fully informed about a particular person in line for the golden star of approval.
9 Ways to Spot a Fake Guru or Spiritual Teacher
1. Charging Large Amounts of Money
Actions speak infinitely louder than words. Anyone can proclaim magnificent and wonderful things but do these words live up to how the person lives and expresses themselves in his or her daily lives?
Perhaps the biggest problem that I have found is the issue of money. I have seen self-appointed gurus, spiritual teachers, and whatever other title they go under charging unbelievably large amounts of money for information, knowledge, or so-called higher wisdom, that is available to everyone (by looking to sages who charge little or nothing and also looking within for the answers via meditation and other self-induced spiritual practices), as well as several money embezzlement cases.
Recommended: What Are The Real Causes Of Spiritual Awakening Or Enlightenment?
If you’re paying someone $295 for a spiritual ’12 strand DNA activation’ (a dubious declaration to make) then you’ve just been conned.
2. Giving Themselves Fancy Titles
While on the subject of empty words, when looking to a potential spiritual teacher for guidance notice if that individual proclaims such magnificent titles referring to themselves as being enlightened masters, self-realized yogis, or being a saint (one of the ultimate delusions of grandeur following the narcissistic Christ Complex). An enlightened person finds no need for ego masturbation.
Those who have experienced the Ultimate/Absolute Reality don’t continuously boast about how they have achieved enlightenment and are better than others. They are in fact, quite humble (perhaps sometimes too humble, but humble they are). They understand that there is no benefit to themselves or their students to make such declarations based on the realizations they’ve had about Reality.
There is no need to establish a hierarchical framework amongst teachers and students as we are all passengers on the same train, separated only slightly in that we sometimes sit in different train cars. We are all going the same direction, ultimately.
3. Inability to Take Criticism
Another sign of a con-man in guru’s clothing is whether the person is able to take criticism or not.
Those who are not genuine spiritual teachers will get offended and defensive over criticisms made towards them instead of looking inward and taking into consideration what those criticisms are (nobody is perfect, after all).
How dare an unenlightened mortal criticize them! I have even seen the sad situation of lawsuits being made by these so-called enlightened masters against people who had the ‘nerve’ to point out something they feel was incorrect, deceptive, harmful, etc.
4. Overly Focused on the End Goal
If you notice a spiritual teacher or guru having an almost-bizarre love affair with enlightenment this and enlightenment that, be cautious.
Many of these enlightenment gurus focus on enlightenment itself instead of actually teaching others how exactly to attain that state. They do not teach about all the baby-steps leading up to the enlightening of one’s awareness in the most authentic of ways.
Recommended: 7 Reasons Why Your Spiritual Awakening Has Come To A Sudden Stop
Even the revered Buddha did not reach enlightenment overnight. Unless a spiritual teacher shows you a realistic way to reach enlightenment (such as through a particular meditation or awareness expanding technique) then you will be better off without their help…and you will keep your hard-earned money as well.
5. Behaving Hypocritically
Beware of hypocrites!
This is perhaps one of the simplest methods of weeding out spiritual “snake-oil salesmen”. Look if they practice what they preach. If they teach about how you should meditate daily to promote your spiritual growth, do they meditate daily?
Are they leading by example? When they talk about radiating love and your inner light and all that is beautiful, are they doing so themselves? Nobody likes a hypocrite, especially if that hypocrite is promising spiritual enlightenment. ‘Do as I say not as I do’ shouldn’t be an excuse for a teacher to be hypocritical.
6. Focus on Fulfilling Egocentric Desires
One especially important aspect of a guru or spiritual teacher that we should look into is their investment in the material aspects of life. Are they displaying behavior that is indicative of being a neophyte on the spiritual path? Do they overly focus on money, sex, and power?
A dynamic Taoist-like balance is a necessity for a balanced life but when dependence and abuse start to emerge and creep into the mind then there is a problem.
7. Displaying Spiritual Materialism
Spiritual materialism is something that Chogyam Trungpa (who himself was prone to spiritual pitfalls) wrote about in the 1970s classic Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism
The increased focus on spiritual materialism is problematic. All the courses, teachings, books, and workshops that focus on using the Law of Attraction to bring us riches and worldly abundance hold materialist desires at their core, and do not reflect actual messages of spiritual growth.
Recommended: 7 Warning Signs that Your Spiritual Path is Headed for Pitfall
Although spiritual growth and self-actualization can lead to like attracting like because of the immense positivity we project outward, attracting riches is not the purpose of attaining these mind states. These messages that use the dynamics of attraction are not bad in and of themselves, but when they are misrepresented as being a path towards higher spirituality, then that is when we should be cautious of proceeding further.
Do not become lost in the illusion that faux spirituality creates.
8. Behaving Selfishly
Selflessness should be the dominant quality in the spiritually-advanced soul, not selfishness.
Spirituality has no place for superstars and glamour. It is not the spiritual teacher themselves that should be the focus, but rather the spiritual messages and teachings.
How can we attain our own Self-realization if our position of awareness is focused externally on the teacher, rather than internally on the Self?
9. Promising a Fast Path to Self-Realization
There is nothing directly bad with spiritual workshops themselves, but when you see a spiritual teacher giving a spiritual course that’s several hundred or thousand dollars and lasts several days or even weeks do not expect to reach enlightenment just by completing such a workshop.
Yes, we all live busy lives and feel as if we do not have enough time to dedicate towards our spiritual growth, but let’s be realistic: it is highly unlikely you will become fully self-realized in 3 weeks on a retreat in Bali.
The processes of spiritual growth, self-actualization, self-realization, and enlightenment can take years or an entire lifetime (some even say multiple lifetimes). It’s said that there is only one person in recorded history that attained enlightenment in one lifetime (Milerapa) and the way he attained the enlightened state was highly unorthodox, to put it lightly.
We would all like to believe that there is a fast lane to these things, but this is not the case. Of course, there are always exceptions and some reach the mountain’s summit faster than others, but as a whole, it is a process that includes much dedication and time.
In closing…
These are several ways in which you can spot a false guru, spiritual teacher, or other peddler of faux spirituality. In this day and age where there are thousands of so-called gurus, we have to be careful who we choose to listen to because if we make the mistake of following someone who is ego-centered in their true intentions, then we will lose time, money, and opportunity costs (among other things).
It is my hope that this article can help in discerning between the genuine teacher that wishes nothing more than to help others become self-realized and experience spiritual bliss and those who proclaim they will do these things for you, but in reality are just emptying your bank account. Be mindful of who you decide to listen to and follow, and you will be thankful you spent some time to discern between those who are looking out for others and those who are looking out for themselves.
By: Paul On shift.is
It’s difficult to acquire knowledgeable men and women within this topic, and you could be seen as you know what you are dealing with! Thanks
Hi, i think that i saw you visited my blog thus i came to “return the favor”.I am attempting to find things to improve my web site!I suppose its ok to use a few of your ideas!!
One more important issue is that if you are a mature person, travel insurance for pensioners is something you need to really look at. The more mature you are, a lot more at risk you’re for getting something bad happen to you while abroad. If you are not necessarily covered by some comprehensive insurance coverage, you could have quite a few serious challenges. Thanks for discussing your good tips on this web site.
Hello! I know this is kinda off topic however , I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing a blog article or vice-versa? My site covers a lot of the same topics as yours and I think we could greatly benefit from each other. If you’re interested feel free to shoot me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Terrific blog by the way!
I think your blog need a new wordpress template. Downalod it from
I am happy that I noticed this web blog, just the right information that I was looking for!
Dead pent subject material , appreciate it for information .
sometimes i have a hard time choosing laptop accessories, there are just so many options to choose from,,
Quite insightful post. Never believed that it was this simple after all. I had spent a very good deal of my time looking for someone to explain this topic clearly and you’re the only one that ever did that. Kudos to you! Keep it up
There may be noticeably a bundle to know about this. I assume you made sure good points in features also.
Throughout the awesome design of things you actually secure a B+ with regard to effort and hard work. Where exactly you actually lost me personally was first on the details. You know, they say, the devil is in the details… And it couldn’t be much more correct here. Having said that, permit me say to you what did deliver the results. Your text is highly convincing and this is probably the reason why I am making an effort in order to opine. I do not really make it a regular habit of doing that. Second, whilst I can easily notice a leaps in reasoning you make, I am definitely not convinced of exactly how you appear to unite your details which in turn help to make your final result. For now I shall yield to your issue however trust in the future you actually connect your facts better.
After study many of the blog posts on your own internet site now, and i genuinely much like your means of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark internet site list and are checking back soon. Pls check out my website as well and let me know what you think.
You made some decent points there. I looked over the internet with the issue and discovered most individuals should go as well as using your internet site.
You will find on our sites distinctive no deposit bonuses,no deposit casino , no deposit poker , no deposit bingo , no deposit forex and all the very best deposit bonuses
The following time I learn a weblog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I imply, I do know it was my option to read, however I really thought youd have one thing attention-grabbing to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about one thing that you might fix in case you werent too busy in search of attention.
Oh my goodness! a wonderful article dude. Thanks a lot Nonetheless We are experiencing problem with ur rss . Don’t know why Unable to join it. Possibly there is anyone getting identical rss difficulty? Anyone who knows kindly respond. Thnkx
I am frequently to blogging and i also truly appreciate your posts. Your content has really peaks my interest. I am about to bookmark your web site and keep checking for brand spanking new details.
I think other web-site proprietors should take this web site as an model, very clean and excellent user friendly style and design, let alone the content. You are an expert in this topic!
I gotta favorite this internet site it seems very helpful very helpful
hey all, I was simply checking out this blog and I actually admire the idea of the article, and don’t have anything to do, so if anybody want to to have an engrossing convo about it, please contact me on AIM, my identify is heather smith
I love the valuable info you supply in your posts. Do you still feel this way?
baby books should have as many pictures as possible because babies like to see pictures.
Usually dislike any form of commenting, but when you read an excellent publish occasionally you simply have to get from those lazy techniques. That is such a submit!
With the whole thing that appears to be developing throughout this subject matter, your perspectives are very refreshing. However, I appologize, but I can not give credence to your whole plan, all be it exhilarating none the less. It would seem to everyone that your comments are actually not totally justified and in actuality you are generally yourself not even fully convinced of your point. In any event I did take pleasure in reading it.
I believe one of your advertisements triggered my browser to resize, you may well want to put that on your blacklist.
I went over this website and I believe you have a lot of excellent information, bookmarked (:.
Thanks for the good critique. Me and my friend were just preparing to do some research about this. We got a book from our area library but I think I’ve learned more from this post. I am very glad to see such excellent info being shared freely out there..
An impressive share, I given this onto a colleague who has been doing a small analysis for this. And hubby in truth bought me breakfast due to the fact I uncovered it for him.. smile. So ok, i’ll reword that: Thnx to the treat! But yeah Thnkx for spending plenty of time to discuss this, Personally i think strongly regarding it and adore reading more on this topic. Whenever possible, as you grow expertise, could you mind updating your website with additional details? It is highly ideal for me. Big thumb up just for this article!
Hi are using WordPress for your blog platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and set up my own. Do you need any coding knowledge to make your own blog? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
David Bowie is a classic, i like all his songs during the old days.”