Dear Reader,
It is morning here in Shetland as I write to you. The day is clear. As I look north across Lerwick Harbor, the sun is streaming brilliantly past my window from right to left. The water is still. A single bird, with dark coloring on top and a pure white underbelly, repeatedly circles low over the water directly in front of our little house, no doubt looking for food. Each time it circles, its white belly catches the sun in a bright flash of light. Turn, flash….. turn, flash…. turn, flash…..
While all that is going on, I am listening to a short but powerful piece of music that Louise found this week, from the soundtrack to the TV show “Merlin.” The music is titled “Hiding Excalibur.”
Now it has all stopped (except for the sun pouring into the harbor from the east) – the bird circling, the music – and I am in the silent aftermath.
My mind, free to receive and make associations during that time, has now turned to focus on writing. As the bird circled and the music played, I found myself thinking of great teachers. Do you know who your great teachers are?
For me, a great teacher is a gatekeeper, one who helps the gate swing open for you to directly experience truth. Directly experienced truth is wisdom. A great teacher can be a person, living or dead. A great teacher can be a thing, an idea, a body of work – or a hungry bird turning low circles over still water. A great teacher can be a moment and the network of forces present in that moment.
A great teacher may help the gate of insight swing open with his or her words, or a question asked at the right time, or by remaining silent and saying nothing. A great teacher may help the gate of insight swing open for you simply by being fully present and doing what it does naturally and best, as the bird did for me.
For any great teacher, no matter what form or appearance taken, to successfully help the gate of insight swing open, there is one factor I haven’t mentioned – you.
You are one of your own great teachers.
You are the one who sees, hears, feels – the one who allows the teaching to unfold. As one of our great teachers said, “Those who have ears, let them hear.” And you are the one who makes meaning of that teaching, even if you can’t describe it in words.
As you find your way in life, dear reader, may your recognize your great teachers. May you be present to allow and experience great teaching moments. And may you have the courage and clarity to simply do what you do naturally and best, so that you may act as a great teacher for others.
I honor your loving heart,
John
You got me pondering about who my great teachers are, were.Some I have never met in the physical and some have passed on though I still feel their presence at particular times in my life, like when I feel I need the quality of what that particular person, place, whatever, taught me, for instance my late Grandmother taught me lightness of heart and strength of spirit.While others inspired me and helped me to believe in myself and encouraged me.
I guess all our great teachers mirror aspects of ourselves that we aspire to, or that are already within us, and as I write this I feel great joy and my heart is opening. Gratitude for all the great teachers in whatever form they come.
Thank you John for this opportunity to feel all the love I have around me and within me.
John, you certainly opened the doors to some memories with this post.
My 6th-grade teacher was Mrs. Carnell… about all I remember about her (except that, in my 6th-grade mind, she was a trillion years old) was that every morning, she would write “THINK” on the chalkboard.
At the same time in my life, I faithfully listened to a daily radio commentary before going to school… the commentaries were recorded by motivational speaker and author Earl Nightingale.
18 years later, in 1991, shortly after I started to job I still have today, I received a mailer for an Earl Nightingale program, “Lead the Field”. I was excited to order the audio series, and while listening to one of the chapters, Mrs. Carnell’s simple lesson came rushing back to me… Earl said:
One morning, I was having breakfast in a restaurant in Monterey, California – one of the most naturally beautiful places in the world. Suddenly, I was aware of the young couple sitting in the booth next to mine – they couldn’t have been more than 25 years old. It was obvious that they were very unhappy. The young man was saying: “Well, I’ve tried everywhere, but nobody wants to give me a job. I guess we’ll have to go back home.”
It was apparent from their attitudes that they wanted to live on the Monterey Peninsula, but they were almost out of money and unable to find work. But he had said, “Nobody wants to give me a job.” He wanted someone to give him something – in this case, a job.
What might have happened if he had turned the whole idea around? What if he had said, instead, “What do I know how to do that will serve some of the people of this beautiful part of the world?” Or, “How can I, or we, be of value to this community?
“The people here will be happy to supply us with the living we need if we can think of some way to serve them.” If we can think of some way to serve them. “What do they need or want that we can supply? Do they need a handyman, a first-class housekeeper, or both? Can we wash and wax cars right in their driveways? Can we detail the cars so they look like showroom display models? Let’s buy a pad of paper and ballpoint pen and start making a list of all the things we can do to earn a living here. It will give us time to think of other ways, more profitable ways. But that wash-and-wax idea might grow into quite a service for the community. And let’s not stop there. Let’s think of some more ways we can start right here to be of service to the people who live here.”
Right there in the restaurant, instead of being depressed and considering themselves failures, they could have come up with a dozen or so ways in which they could have remained on the Monterey Peninsula and built a fine business for themselves. They didn’t need a job; they needed to think. But they had never thought before. It was as foreign to them as speaking Urdu.
Thank you, Mrs. Carnell… I have known now for over 20 years that you really did have my best interest at heart.
That’s a great point Pamela – that you can call on the qualities of a great teacher at any time! Yes, great teachers can mirror aspects of ourselves we aspire to – or they can confound us and remind us of aspects of ourselves we don’t see or are trying to run away from!
And once you open the doors, who knows what or who will come through! Thanks for sharing a great story John. If you were listening to Earl Nightingale in 6th grade, you got a real head start on personal growth!
Yes, indeed John there can be tough teachers we meet along the way,yet none the less they are valuable also. They can show us aspects of ourselves that we no longer need to play out or that we need to look at, as you say.