THE PROBLEM WITH GURUS

The world has been shaken.

To be fair it's been shaken many many times on a seemingly accelerated basis since March 2020, however in particular what we’re talking about here is the revelation that many of our "trusted" “leaders, both spiritual and political, have been dabbling in things they shouldn't have been dabbling in, are not the people that they say they are, and worse, have been grossly misrepresenting themselves at great cost to other human beings.

When the Epstein files were released in January bringing to light one of the most disgusting, ongoing and twisted misuses of power ever, the ripples ran deep. As more and more names were exposed in the files, some of them being names most of us probably weren't surprised about to be honest, but some of them were most definitely a surprise. On a personal level, I've always been suspicious about the global banking system and those who control it, the pharmaceutical and business elites who wield enormous power over our access to agency and choice, Hollywood celebs and music industry ‘stars’ and of course, royalty and politicians. In most of these cases, I have found that scepticism is warranted!

I grew up understanding that respect isn't something that we automatically give to people we consider to be more powerful, older, or wiser without proof of that wisdom, rather that respect is something earned from our innate way of being. I understand that the people who hold status and power in this world have either been put there by our goodwill, or found themselves there through legacy access to money, which typically buys a LOT of power. Holding that power wisely seems to evade many, as these old self serving infrastructures lean in to protect those who have, keeping those who have not effectively disempowered.

Personally, I respect people whose actions align with their words. I respect people who walk with humility and treat all people as worthy of respect until they prove themselves otherwise. It never mattered to me whether it was a person cleaning the toilets or the person planting their backside on a gold plated toilet, what mattered was how people were spoken to and treated regardless of status. I have seen many people in power talk down to people they consider less than them, simply through things like the class system, financial status, education, privilege or entitlement. Us brits have successfully colonised so much of this world and the British Empire has a helluva lot to answer for, something I’m glad to see being called to account now.

But back to the Epstein files and the question of gurus.

So many people were surprised to see names like Deepak Chopra, Peter Attia, and Richard Branson there, whilst perhaps less surprised to see Bill Gates and Bill Clinton, Woody Allen, Andrew Windsor (formerly Price Andrew) and Peter Mandelson there. This is not a just a question of a few friends hanging out doing bad things, this is the systemic organised abuse of young women and children, and that carries with it a legacy history of the same. These people thought they were beyond accountability. They thought their actions came with impunity, and on some level I'm sure they still do because this is not going to change overnight. When we create systems of imbalance and power over, there will always be people who will profit from that and people who will pay the price so for me the more interesting question now is how do we do the work to change these historical legacies and systems of power.

In spiritual and wellbeing communities (of which I am part), the biggest reaction seems to have come in response to the exposure in the files of Deepak Chopra and Peter Attia, but let's be honest here, when we live in a world that puts people on a pedestal and teaches us not to trust our own instinctive responses to people’s behaviour, words and actions, we are setting ourselves up to be disappointed when those same gurus fall from grace. A guru can fall at any moment, and when we begin to idealise folk, place them of lofty pedestals, deny our own instincts, and hand over our personal power believing them to know more, be more, be honest and truthful, integral and humble, when we do that without discernment, for them, there’s a pretty long way to fall. But I’m not concerned about ‘them’, I’m concerned about those who fall into their traps and suffer the consequences.

I walk a shamanic path - it would be easy for me to homogenise this experience of my own indigenous and other teachers, but I have found the same fallibility and flawed humanity, and the same amazing potential we all have, in most of them (and in myself). Life shapes us all in difference, contrast and in recognition. Life is here to teach us how to both stay sceptical, and to keep our hearts open and our minds sharp. It teaches us to trust in ourselves if we are ready to put the work in.

We have seen the exposure of the shadow of many of the spiritual leaders in recent years, and I have no doubt that there are still as many out there operating. The key point for me is how we bring ourselves back to our own personal sovereignty through understanding our own nervous systems, learning how to feel and communicate well, developing strong and healthy boundaries, trusting our instincts more, and respecting ourselves as being worthy of great care and consideration. Simultaneously we have to address the collective systems in which we live, and in order to get to that point we have to learn how to manage our own projections, and learn how to step into accountability and maturity in a whole new way. Some cultures and communities have been living with this kind of power over and misuse for centuries, and this is not new to those people. For others, the blinkers have been taken off and the shock waves are real.

As facilitators of breathwork we must be able to take accountability for ourselves before we invite others into doing the same. We must recognise in ourselves the way that we think and live according to the belief systems that we have been brought up in or had access to. It's not always easy to say “I'm sorry” or “yes I/we can do better” without the unholy trinity of fear, guilt and shame sabotaging that recognition but we can do it! We are doing it! Can we gaze into the eyes of our own personal biases and privilege, manipulations and shadows and still find love and humility? I believe this is the work, and if there's one thing I've learnt over the years, it's that it's easier to do it in community than it is to do it alone.

What has been your response to the release of these files and the names of those people coming out? Have you felt shock or disappointment, cynicism, or disbelief, or have you felt hopeful that these things are now being revealed to create better ways of living and being?

We would love to know more. Leave a comment - what's your perspective?