I’ve listened to many many spiritual teachers over the last 7 years since my spiritual journey began. As I mentioned in my first blog post, “My disastrous spiritual awakening”, I consumed endless hours of youtube videos, read books, and watched interviews with teachers from all around the world, the best I could find. Below is the chronological list of teachers who I have found most helpful to me on my path.
Gary Weber
I was initially attracted to Gary because he seemed very down to Earth and came from a scientific background just like myself. He was also very involved in brain research on the differences in brain wiring that so-called “enlightened” people had compared to “regular” people. He is also a subject in the new book by Dr Jefferey A. Martin which is a research book on this topic called “The Finders”, which I highly recommend for the scientifically minded among you!
Videos of Gary:
Interview with Robert Wright –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNLDpizTrFQ (48 mins)
“Gary Weber stopped thinking, got smarter, and sustainable” –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEOujFKnHwc&t=303s (19 mins)
Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle is a great teacher for a general audience, and one of the best introductions for learning to live from a place that is not so dominated by the mind’s chatter. I highly recommend the interview series he did with Oprah where they went through his book “A New Earth”. (His first book is called “The Power of Now”)
Documentary with Eckhart Tolle –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3CunRgjXBk (138 mins
Oprah series –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0hxYtkNOaw (12 part series)
(Okay, time for a controversial one!…..)
Osho
I don’t usually like telling people that I have loved listening to Osho because there is so much controversy surrounding him and what happened at his ashram (ashram is a Hindu word which basically means a spiritual hermitage or monastery/community). I don’t know the details of exactly what happened, although I think a lot of the negative stuff that happened was actually perpetrated by the person he left to run his commune, Ma Anand Sheela, while Osho went into silence and seclusion for 3 years while his ashram was being built. But despite all that, and despite his often (intentionally) provocative and playful nature which some can find confusing, I found him to have an incredible amount of insight in spiritual matters, and I do consider him someone who was enlightened.
Note: I will just add that if Osho were indeed responsible for any of the crimes or allegations leveled against him, then I would just say that his enlightenment was not as complete as I previously thought. Enlightenment is a process just as much as it is a “shift of perception”, so you can still get some “enlightened” people behaving badly – all it means is that they haven’t fully integrated their awakening yet. However, I am very skeptical of the claims against Osho, because a lot of people had reason to dislike him. I should also add that he was never charged with a crime (unlike Sheela), despite the FBI doing their best to do so. That’s all I’ll say on that matter. His teaching remains great in either case.
Videos of Osho:
Baby, My Whole Work is to Confuse You –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xggTJCCxFss (16 mins)
With Meditation Life Will Be a Sheer Joy –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHgNVRnkO88 (10 mins)
Adyashanti
Well, what can I say about Adyashanti…
Aside from Isira, who I mention in the end of this post, Adyashanti is the teacher who had the most profound effect on me, and who I considered my main teacher for most of my journey. Another teacher I listened to a bit, “Kiran” (aka Mystic Girl in the City), once described Adyashanti as “the shit”, and I think that’s about the best description anyone has ever made of him. He is an incredible teacher, and would be one of the first I would recommend people listen to, along with Eckhart Tolle and Isira.
Videos of Adyashanti:
“What is enlightenment?” –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLQD90Las5c (10 mins)
“The enlightened shoe” –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ChPAO9AYzI (5 mins)
“I want to wake up.” –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fjxAZ5ogGM&t=46s (2 mins)
Ramana Maharshi
I never really read much of Ramana’s work – not that he had a whole lot to read – what I know of him mostly comes from quotes I have seen, but I still consider him one of the greatest enlightened masters to have ever lived. His presence even just in photographs is palpable.
Fred Davis
Fred has a bit of a checkered past: He was charged (40 years after the fact) of indecently assaulting 2 of his nieces when he was a teenager. Not a very nice story, but he was charged for the crime and sentenced, and today he is now a very good spiritual teacher. He has a very direct, straightforward way of explaining concepts that can be difficult to grasp, so I highly recommend him for that. Some people refuse to listen to him because of his past, which I understand, but I believe people can make amends for their pasts if they are truly remorseful, which I believe Fred is.
Videos of Fred:
Buddha at the Gas Pump interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF3QKeBatPM (2 hours)
“The Easiest Way to “Achieve” Realization” –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8OtW1qilVA (6 mins)
Bentinho Massaro (Another controversial one!)
Bentinho came onto the scene as a young, fresh-faced nonduality speaker a few years ago, and he was great at what he did. He was certainly very clear in his teachings. He then moved into more empowerment/manifestation style teachings, at which point a lot of people (including me at the time) started to not resonate with him as much. I now see the value those teachings can have, and I now consider him a fantastic teacher of both nonduality and empowerment/manifestation teachings. He has been accused of being cocky and egoic, and I can definitely see why he rubs some people up the wrong way – to me it’s still possible that he has a bit of an enlightened ego – but regardless, as far as his teachings themselves go, he’s one of the best in my opinion.
Video of Bentinho:
“Completely Resolve the Spiritual Search in 90 Minutes” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJU8clQBff4 – (1.5 hours)
Bashar (channeled by Darryl Anka)
This is where my interest in spirituality took me a little bit more… out there. As I mentioned in my previous blog, “My disastrous spiritual awakening”, I came across this person who claimed to channel an extraterrestrial being called Bashar on an interview program called “Buddha at the Gas Pump”. I was very skeptical at first, but was soon blown away by the clarity of his teachings and guidance. He ties in nondual philosophy with empowerment teachings, and really opens up your mind to the possibilities of the world we live in. Fantastic teacher!
Video:
Darryl Anka’s Buddha at the Gas Pump interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zMDMtv5XwY&t=3s (2 hours)
Isira
Well, as with Adyashanti, what can I say about Isira…
I think she is hands down the greatest spiritual teacher I have come across in my seven year journey into spirituality. I have not yet seen anyone who has both the depth and breadth of understanding of spiritual matters (aka life matters!) as Isira does. Like Adyashanti, she is essentially a “middle way” teacher – able at one point to direct someone to the absolute truth of who they are (consciousness) and then in the next moment provide pin-point guidance on any topic I have ever heard someone asked her a question about. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I was volunteering with Isira for 2 years before a big shift happened for me, and in that two years I was constantly amazed by the clarity and truth expressed through this teacher. I find it hard to imagine finding another teacher as good as her. A+!
Videos of Isira:
“Breaking the Habit of Stories” –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na9uyjXpPK8 (4 mins)
“Who Am I?” –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L030ETI0qz4 (3 mins)
“Do We Have Free Will?” –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAXT2SDOrNY (2 mins)
“What meditation does for you” –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRnwI4YPAnc (6 mins)
To end with, I’ll just add special mentions to some other teachers who I’ve loved listening to: Byron Katie, Mooji (unfortunately now in his own controversy, although I am very skeptical about this because the article written on him was written by someone who intentionally sets out to defame spiritual teachers), Gangaji, Rupert Spira, Jac O’Keeffe, Nisargadatta, oh and of course Jesus of Nazareth 😉 (another pretty controversial guy there too! 😛 )
For more stories like this, including mental health, extraterrestrials, and spirituality, please subscribe to my blog, follow my Facebook page “The Ostrich and the Elephant”, or find me on Twitter @willkenway, Medium @willkenway, or Instagram @will.kenway. Thanks!
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