First of all, if someone is actually walking on the Spiritual Path, I salute them, as so few people are. If someone is attempting to raise their consciousness and come to a higher state of being, I think that is great. If someone is attempting to grown on the Spiritual Path, to make themselves a better and more useful conduit to help others, good for them. That’s great!
 
Every now and then I get to speaking with someone and they bring up one of their teachers on the Spiritual Path. Sometimes, I have had a personal interaction or interactions, or even know the person they are speaking about fairly well. In some cases, all I have is praise for that teacher. In other cases, however, my feelings are very much just the opposite.
 
It’s no secret that a lot of so called, teachers, gurus, coaches, guides, or whatever else they deem themselves to be have been proven to have had less than an ideal understanding of caring empathy about humanity, and that has been proven over and over and over again.  …They have confirmed themselves to be anything but a truly spiritual being. Many, are just in it to win it. They present themselves as something that they are not. We’ve all heard about all of that, so I won’t go into it any deeper here and now. But, you know what I’m speaking about.
 
But, when you know someone is not who they are claiming to be, what can you do?
 
There are all of these people out there, particularly where we currently find ourselves in time and space, in this Age of the Internet, who throw all kinds of hate in all kinds of directions. But, that style of scrutiny in not useful or helpful. All it does is to muddy the waters of life.
 
There are those who are drawn to that style of negativity. But, are those people walking the Spiritual Path? No. A person who truly walks the Spiritual Path would not be drawn to that level of human communication. And, in fact, they would reject it.
 
So, what can you say when you do not want to say anything negative, even though, from your own personal experiences and interactions, you know an individual is not behaving in a pattern representative of whom they are declaring themselves to be?  
 
That’s a complicated question. With, at least as far as I can tell, no discernible answer.
 
I believe it all comes down to whom a person is claiming to be. If someone is claiming nothing, then they have nothing to prove. If, on the other hand, they are representing themselves as that Spiritual Something, they have everything to prove.
 
I often think back to this one neighbor I had. He sold himself as the conduit for this archangel. Yes, he actually told people he was the voice of an archangel. To save the grace of that angel, I will not mention the angel’s name. But yes, this guy claimed he was him. But, when he wasn’t doing psychic readings at the local psychic bookstore, or talking to his disciples via Zoom, he was screaming, “Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me,” over and over again, and stomping on the floor like a three-year-old. No lie. That’s the god’s honest truth. So, what do you do with that? Who do you tell?
 
There have been others, some very-very well known, “Teachers,” whom I have had personal interactions with. From my experience, what they did and how they behaved was anything but spiritual or reflective of the way they presented themselves to the world. Though they may have had some good ideas, and, in fact, did help some people on their path, at their root, they were not who or what they claimed to be. Again, what do you do with that?
 
In a few cases, I wrote an essay about my interactions with that individual. Never attacking, but simply presenting the truth as it was laid out to me by them. I let others then make their own assessment of the person. …I mean, who am I? I’m just a small player in this vast game of life.
 
As some of these individuals are no longer with us, I removed my writings. It’s not good to speak ill of the dead, and all that… But, that did not change the illusion they were presenting to the world. What do you do with that knowledge?
 
Did they help? Did they hurt? Only their followers can answer that question.
 
Again, this all goes back to whom an individual is claiming to be. If they are claiming to be a teacher on the Spiritual Path, then they have a lot to live up to. Many/most fall very short.
 
If we look to the highest example of this, The Buddha, when asked, “Are you a god?” He answered, “No, just a man.” “Are you a guru?” “No, just a man.”
 
Krishnamurti, a very respected teacher, never claimed to be a teacher. He simply spoke his realizations. If people listened, all-good. If not, that was okay too. I was lucky enough to have been in his presence a number of times.
 
I think back to when I was twenty-one. And, this is a very important example about how we are each presented with the opportunity to either make a turn to the left or a turn to the right when we arrive at the crossroads. A place we will all find ourselves at some point in our life—sometimes more than once.
 
I was teaching a class on the spiritual aspects of Yoga, via the university extension program. By, that point in my life, I had been initiated into Sanyass, so I had a funny name I could use and I wore orange clothing. At the end of one of my classes, this young couple, who were taking the course, asked if they could speak to me in private. Sure. I invited them over to my apartment. We spoke for a time about the various aspects of the Spiritual Path, and how they wished to walk it more formally. They asked me if I would be their, “Guru.” Yes, they used the word, “Guru.” I just smiled and told them; I was not that. 
 
Another person, perhaps someone who wished for devotes and disciples and needed to feel all empowered about their own importance, would have accepted their request. But, I knew then, even at that young age, there is no truth in someone who claims to be anything but just a simply person trying to walk a positive path.
 
Have I had teachers? Yes. Have I had a guru? Yes. Did they help me? Yes. But, there has also been some negative claims made about them. They did nothing to me but help my movement forward. But, if what others have said is true, then should they really have allowed themselves to be put on a pedestal? Probably not.
 
The main thing to take away from this is, at least I believe, if anyone is claiming to be anything, you really need to take a long hard look at what that person truly is, why they are doing what they are doing, and is what they are claiming to be actually the truth.
 
Some people are very good bullshiter.  Some people, myself included, have formally walked the path, studied the teachings, and have earned the credentials to claim to be that Some Thing. But, the catch comes when they are claiming to be that Some Thing, are they truly what that Some Thing represents? Or, is all they are doing based in their need for admiration and the need to fill that empty hole, their own lack of self-worth, that is locked deeply within their own being.
 
Be careful whom you follow.