Let's take a fresh look

Hey all,

This exploration of life on never not here is highly valuable. When insights come to us, we often start functioning in a way that is more open, loving. Old stress-patterns begin to ease. An deep appreciation of life starts. This is even more than highly valuable, it's hard to put into words.

Going back to even the Buddha: he emphasized that this is for the awakening of all beings. I think this still holds. It's not just for myself; how could the whole of society benefit from this?

Lately I've had the luck to be unable to close my eyes to a critical look at the way this is expressed. This is a really good thing. Too many times I've just been following the words of the teachers. Although many words are helpful, I think it's good to keep questioning also.

I'll list a few things I noticed on my own journey:

• For many years I have very persistent tensions in my body. My first teacher pointed me to awareness, and also was deeply present with me in all this. This was extremely valuable, even beyond that. I left her after 4 years, and I didn't have much concern with the tensions after that. But 1,5 years after that, I realized how much it was still interfering with my daily life. Through my own searching I then found EFT (emotional freedom techniques) which helped to bring things more to peace. Some of the teachers I met discourage such practice. If I would have followed their words, I wouldn't have found this method!
  
• For 4 years I was with one teacher and took her words for the truth! I didn't realize this: someone can claim to speak from the source, but the words are still just an opinion. Another teacher can also speak from the source and say the opposite. So, we have to find our own expression. I don't know how many people are in the same loop that I was in, but I'm sure I wasn't the only one
  
• In these first four years I also was into over-'advaita speak'; I was taking the 'there is no I' to an extreme. This is something that's been discussed on the show before. Too bad, but it happens frequently with people. I also disembodied a lot; I wasn't in contact with my body. This was an old pattern. There is a danger in this: I had a tendency not to care for my life too much. Luckily this stopped at the end of these first for years, and my life situation didn't go downhill.
  

I want to put up some questions. It might be interesting to take a look at:

• Are these things written above that I encountered on my journey all necessary growing stages? or could some of these be skipped by people that are new to this?
  
• What would be possible using different words?
  
• How could we re-evaluate the 'authority of the teacher?' How can we be our own authority?
  
• In an anxious state it is often very hard to open up to new possibilities. For people that are in deep pain or are traumatized: how can they be supported so that they can relax and open up in an easier way. (don't underestimate; this statement holds for a significant part of the population)
  
• How to support people that are way deep into advaita in realizing they still have to care for their bodies and their lives?
  

Some have said that everything happens as it is supposed to happen. By the same token, everything that happens can also lead to a learning curve in how we express.
I'm curious to see replies, please share your thoughts