by Gonzo on Fri Jan 16, 2009 6:39 am
We've had several discussions concerning teachers, or better, concerning folk who position themselves as teachers, for the most part on Toltec forums. Repeatedly, the attributes of teachers have been described, and those not claiming to be teachers have generally said, "Huzzah", while at least one "teacher" has responded with "bullshit", the response alone sufficient to disqualify.
We seem somehow to know who are genuine and who disingenuous, however, it goes deeper than that. It involves the business of acting or pretending to be superior. That's part of it. The other part is self-aggrandizement. That is, the person demands to be recognized as a teacher because that label is an inherent part of their self-image.
In my own dealings, there are other subtleties, which have been pointed out to me repeatedly, and which heretofore I've opted to ignore, or perhaps to work around. It was pointed out to me that approximately every three months, Della managed to precipitate some sort of an emotional upset. It has been opined that her reason ultimately was to be rejected, perhaps exhibiting her own reflexive behaviors. From personal experience of many of these episodes, I can say she becomes extremely nasty, vicious, and insulting.
From the outset, because of these behaviors, and because of her lack of exhibiting many of the attributes of an adept, or of a teacher, I have often publicly doubted her status.
I have little experience with other teachers implied within this thread, however, what little experience I have had leads me to the same conclusion: pretense to superiority and self-aggrandizement are not attributes of valid teachers.
Daphne posted a fine one about dead horses, and I think it is applicable here. We have a dead horse on our hands. We all know who the phonies are, and we all know our reasons for thinking so. Even so, we are probably not in total agreement. Some feel they obtain some valid guidance. And I'll admit to having got that myself, however, enough is enough. The horse is dead, that horse being the business of who's a phony teacher. I say, lets get off the sonofabitch.
Is that so?