May 21, 2017
Claiming VS Earning ‘Guru’ Status
In world full of false prophets, finding authenticity is becoming harder.
Too many people today think they can just decide to be a guru & claim that title themselves.
I had a moment this morning to reflect back on when I was a punk ass 25yr old hippy, Vegan & self proclaimed ‘philosopher’..
People used to tell me I was ‘so wise’ for my age, that I was a ‘mini guru’ and all that shit.
Although I may have compressed a lot of experience by that age, I can confidently look back now & say: I was no fuken guru.
Over that period of so-called spiritual enlightenment, (where granted, I did a lot of internal exploration) I almost convinced myself & others that I was some sort of young guru..
I was even planning to be a speaker, become a coach, wrote books & do all that shit!!!
THANK FUCK I DIDN’T
Something inside stopped me.
I don’t know what it was, wether it was just some internal sense of integrity, my feeling that I wasn’t ready, or just my own internal bullshit meter, but I thankfully didn’t take that path.
Being a guru is earnt!
Life experience & book experience are two different things.
Now don’t get me wrong. Reading is a profound practice — not enough people do it. The problem is the application & experience of what you’re reading. Most people stop at the reading part.
Books / articles / reading are for inspiration. They spark ideas, they help you visualize & develop the initial “intellectual” understanding about something before you go out & “do it”.
The problem is the application & experience of what you’re reading. Most people stop at the reading part.
Anyone who’s experienced murderous thoughts toward an Ikea Cabinet whilst putting it together without reading the instructions knows what I’m talking about 😅😂
When I was 25, I’d had a little life experience, but a shitload of book.
I was very good at regurgitating other people’s lessons, but had a lack of my own story to substantiate most of the claims.
Experience separates the authentic from the shit talkers.
I don’t know of ANY true leader or “guru” in any field that are TRULY respected who have not been there & done that in their field for at least 10yrs.
They didn’t set out to be a guru in their field.
They set out to make an impact of their own.
After they did, they earned their status.
People came to THEM for advice.
Patience & Timing
I’ve been writing in a more private capacity for about 18yrs (on & off).
I finally stared writing a little more publically a few months ago, and primarily around business, entrepreneurship and startups because, hey; I’ve been doing this shit for 10yrs now!
I know a thing or two about it & can unequivocally back up the lessons I’ve learnt with real life experiences (and a shitload of those might I add).
I’ve learnt other things along the way (as u do when you’re a hungry, driven lunatic like I am) so my writing has other lessons sprinkled into it, but I try to maintain a core focus that stems from the area in my life that has the deepest level of experience..
So you need to choose the right thing to talk about, the right time, and….
You Need a Story
Without a story, without experience, without having been there & done some of what you’re talking about — you’re all hot air.
The story is what separates the walkers from the talkers!
Your story is your life experience. What have you “done”? where have you “been”? What have you “seen”? What have you “experienced”?
This is where true, authentic understanding comes from. It’s where we build empathy, which is a deep level of emotional understanding. It’s one thing to see starving kids in africa on TV & then change the channel — it’s a totally different experience to go to Africa to live with them & help them (something I have not yet done, ‘yet’ being the operative word).
Understanding has 3 Levels:
Intellectual understanding → Emotional Understanding → Physical Understanding
Intellectual is basic. It’s the first level.
That’s your expert regurtitators, keyboard warriors, book worms & theory monkeys. Great place to start, but 95% of people hang around here. Smokers who “know” smoking is bad for them, but don’t have the balls to stop is a great example of someone with intellectual understanding.
Emotional understanding is where you’re affected emotionally.
At this point, you tie consequences to your actions, and you actually feel an emotion tied to an action. You don’t go to the gym because you know it’s good for you — at this point, it actually makes you happy! Or in the smoker’s sense, you actually feel guilty, or angry that you’re doing it.
The final level is visceral. It’s where you become congruent with what you “know” and you live by it.
It’s where you associate physical pain & pleasure to what you know, for example, people who can’t drink a certain type of alcohol because it will make them sick. That means you’ve learned something on a deep level 😜
It’s often called the level of unconscious learning, or “Unconscious Competence”.
The only way to get to this stage is to live it!
You experience the world through your body, through your senses. This is why ‘learning by doing’ and the very idea of being experienced is so damn powerful.
Anyway..
That’s just my morning rant.
Running down a secluded beach & jumping into the morning ocean butt naked has that inspirational effect 😂😂😂
Plus it reminded me of when I was in my first “spiritual sabbatical” where I almost sum chose the path of young guru..
That was a near miss!!
Lesson for today??
Go out & DO what you’re reading about, or dreaming about or talking about!!!
There is no time like now, and yes, granted you may be in the middle of something so packing up & leaving this second may not be the smartest ting to do — but stop fucking procrastinating & hesitating — move your ass, literally!
If you enjoyed this article, show it some Love & if you really liked it, maybe you can also share it too 😜😜
Thanks again for reading!
Aleks
