The Three Types of Teachers, Part 2

The Teacher That Won’t Let You Rise Above Them

Expanding upon yesterday’s post, the second type of teacher is the teacher that wants you to excel, but not past them.

This teacher will help you in varying degrees, until you get close to knowledge of how they work or their secrets.

I think most teachers — and for the most part, most people — fall into this category.

Personally, I think this is due to competition or fairness.

In regard to competition, we don’t like others beating us, being more right, better, or perceived as more “good.” We use others outside of ourselves to compete with instead of comparing ourselves to the internal standards we have set for ourselves. It is tough to note that even at our best, there is someone better. We don’t like to see it or experience it. This competition can happen in both men and women, but seems to be much more dominant in males.

Fairness seems to be a favorite in the fairer sex, but is well known in males too. If there is competition, it is always about who is more fair. 😉

If someone excels too far away from the flock, then the flock can do all kinds of amazing things – little and big – to see to level the bifurcation of the one.

When you get to this level, it is sometimes good to seek another teacher. Retain a friendship with the previous teacher, but work on your growth with someone who does not feel competitive with where you are now.

Recently, I saw a peer of mine from a long time ago and saw him working on stage with 150 people. He was doing incredibly well, and I felt my competition revving inside of me, thinking of what I would have to do to outpace him. Part of this is healthy, but I also had to ask myself to feel positively, to feel pride for my friend and his growth. It didn’t take long, because I genuinely like and care about this man.

When we talked after his presentation, I told him about a seminar I had done in front of only 600 people in Moscow for 2 days. In my mind, I was disappointed, because we had expected 1,000 people. He jumped up and said “only? 600 people? Mate, this is fantastic! Congratulations.” He was excited and wanted to know more about what I spoke about.

He showed me that I needed to upgrade my thinking, beliefs and values about myself as well, since last September. I realized at that point I personally had not given myself credit for the work I had done both in Moscow and Novosibirsk.

I also saw that I needed to practice more gratitude and excitement for others if I am going to be the kind of teacher I respect.

I think of one spiritual teacher I know who is in this area, and it is funny, because it is his inability to push his students to the next level that keeps him from being a teacher who could be one of the greatest in history. His pride, his competitiveness, his insistence of being superior to all in his environment hidden within creative cracks in his psyche that keeps him from exactly what he seeks.

Here’s the huge lesson: It is within what we won’t or can’t GIVE that keeps us from attaining our own greatness. It is about power, how much we are willing to give, or how much we hoard and try to keep.

Tomorrow, I’ll talk about teacher #3… the type of teacher that loves to see you soar to heights even you cannot imagine.