One of my favorite resolutions is to imitate a spiritual master. My spiritual master is St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and I've read her spiritual memoir, "Story of a Soul," many times, as well as a whole shelf full of biographies. I think about St. Thérèse every single day (and I'm not even Catholic).
From reading the impassioned commentary surrounding the death of Steve Jobs, it's clear to me that many people look to Jobs as a spiritual master -- for his creative genius, for his perseverance in the face of failure and frustration, for his ability to communicate his vision, for his fidelity to himself and his own values.
When I read in Charles Duhigg's New York Times piece that people were paying tribute to Jobs by leaving apples, with one bite missing, outside Job's house in Palo Alto, I choked up. I went to re-read, for the umpteenth time, Jobs's thought-provoking 2005 Stanford commencement address, and I finally found the video version.
The first step to imitating a spiritual master is to identify that person, and then to contemplate what that person stands for -- what that person is teaching you. The final step is to try to put those teachings to work, in your life.
One quickly, yet meaningfully way to honor Jobs' life might be to sign up to be an organ donor. And of course there are countless other ways, too, each specific to an individual.
It's interesting, both St. Thérèse and Steve Jobs knew that death was imminent (from tuberculosis and cancer, respectively). Jobs observed, "Death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life's change agent." One of the goals for my happiness project is to appreciate my life now, without the threat of death, beyond the ordinary intimations of mortality.
Who is your spiritual master? How do you try to imitate that person's example and teachings, in your own life?
I'm working on my Happiness Project, and you could have one, too. Everyone's project will look different, but it's the rare person who can't benefit. Join in -- no need to catch up, just jump in right now. Each Friday's post will help you think about your own happiness project.
I always enjoy checking out Time's Healthland -- "a healthy balance of mind, body and spirit." Lots of great information there.
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Roya R. Rad, MA, PsyD: How to Look for Genuine Spirituality When Your Religion Can't Give It to You
when I think of spiritual masters I dont think of steve jobs.
sri ramana maharshi or sri aurobindo in my view would be spiritual masters. ie there are others.
but no spiritual master has all truths. their journey will continue in other dimensions; I suspect a much or next higher dimension than most of us go to after this physical life or between our physical lives here on earth.
one cannot be a capitalist and be what we refer to as a spiritual master. oil and water thing.
There are so many examples where the teachings are far in advance of the teacher. And that's alright, for there is still much to be learned from them. I do hope, however, that this is not a competition, but a case where we can learn something from each other.
For someone who actually walked his talk, and is greatly respected by some of the most conscious minds on the planet for his mastery of Advaita, I'll have to go with Sri Ramana Maharshi.
but it is a worthwhile study as I studied it in depth in the 90's.
from my point of view the advaita teachings fail to understand this aspect of infinite quoted below.
the Hindu mystic Sri Aurobindo: “The world is manifestation of the Real and therefore is itself real.”
"When we stop regarding the unreal as real, then reality alone will remain, and we will be that".Sri Ramana Maharshi. what is unreal? the world?
when I dialog with his followers I think they have misunderstood his teachings to a great degree.
phenomena may be temporal and transient but it is real. the illusion is that we believe that we are separate from the Real.
my interest in sri aurobindo as a spiritual teacher compared to sri ramana maharshi is that aurobindo deals with the reality and origin of ignorance. the buddha did not teach the origin of ignorance only that ignorance/unawareness is the origin of suffering.
from my point of view having knowledge of the necessity of ignorance for manifestation/creation of unique souls to occur will reveal a whole new aspect of reality.
we all have our unique path for some it is advaita teachings, for some it is other spiritual teachings.
guess no one else wanted to share their idea of a spiritual master. :-)
As religious teachings, the teachings of Buddha and Jesus are some of the very best of life’s teachings.
Of course love cross validates the very best but there are others.
One person that preferred to remain unknown to the world during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s wrote down spiritual teachings while in a trance state from a “spirit” that he called the Master Mind has been my favorite spiritual teachings to date.
Only 22 pages of teachings but the depth of knowledge is beyond anything I have ever read. That spirit never gave a name or did the medium seek recognition or offered his mediumship services to anyone.
I was very very fortunate to receive those teachings through his son's writings as they were kept in a blanket chest for many years.
I have found no spiritual teachings to date that come close to these teachings. So they have become my daily study for the past 12 years as I continue this journey. Who knows what the next day will bring? :o)