What should I look for in a spiritual guide in Taoism?

How does a spiritual guide help others in Taoism?

Being a spiritual guide is a fine art. It requires grace to guide a person to find peace in their own spirit. These are a few important points that people often overlook when finding a spiritual guide or when helping others find spiritual peace.

A Spiritual guide isn’t a person who can quote a book, it’s someone who will help find the words in your own life, that you are trying to express fully!

1. A spiritual guide teaches a person to trust their own heart first and foremost in their life. Every person is the expert in how to be themselves. So Taoist teachers will give outside perspective to help smooth out the process but will never let the student they’re guiding lose sight of the path within their own heart.
   

   Here is a truth: Many people go to experts, to allow themselves to let go, to not be responsible for their own life…In effect to lose themselves. This is not acceptable in Taoism which teaches each person to embrace their own heart fully. You release into the heart not let go of life.

2. The person you are helping will make mistakes! We do our best to avoid the biggest mistakes… To heal a person is often to let people make smaller mistakes. People often learn more from the mistakes than being right. We don’t stop moving forward becuase of the risks, we move forward do the best in love and work towards better relationships as issues come up one at a time.
   

   The trick is to make sure the mistakes are small ones which a person can heal from.

3. You can’t save another person. See number (1). Don’t think you are being a life guard here. Every person needs to work out problems on their own terms. Otherwise people can’t truly transform. In other words you can guide a person but they still have to walk their own path.

   When I guide people, I help them pass the rougher points but they do the work. I am not the one transforming, I am being aware and assisting instead. It’s a very delicate process and you will be tempted to help more since you know what they are facing. However, everyone needs to make the process their own to truly transform.

   For this reason I am very careful how I work with others, since timing is very critical. Only guide others when they are ready to also help themselves. Otherwise you will hurt a person more as they resist change rather than embrace it fully.

4. This process isn’t static. A Taoist Master will not oversee everything in this process as everyone is unique. Instead we work with it a day at a time. In this manner, it’s possible to precisely act as needed when events unfold. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking guiding people will be predictable. Let the process happen naturally so it grows into a strong relationship with true transformation rather than create a weaker future based only on expectations.

5. This is just a start, each person will have their own needs. Flow with each person to help them find their path to discovering the Tao.

When learning Taoism discover that you are entering an interesting world. It is a world deep with many layers of stories. When finding a Taoist teacher understand you are connecting to a master story teller. A person who can show you how to add more color and vibrancy to your life. What is important is what we learn from the stories to improve upon our life. Taoist Teachers are many things and each one is very individualized. Taoism as a practice is very old, with countless lineages and variations of sects. Some lineages are easily over 50 generations in range and others merely a single generation. Taoism itself is so old, no one can accurately tell you which teaching style runs true. Understand all the roots run true to the earth.

If I were to tell you a river was my first teacher in Taoism, what would you think? Our teachers and guides do not even need to be human, nor even of flesh and blood. We learn from the world and life…

Taoist Teachers show a student graceful paths to explore, paths that give us joy to wander and explore. We all have many teachers, even those who at first may not seem as one.

Taoism is learned at the pace of life, never rushing to find the answers and always being grateful for each teacher that helps along a graceful path. In over 5000 years there are many variations and teachers to choose from, look for the ones that call to your nature. Trust your heart in this exploration. Looking for the right spiritual guide is a process of patience. Along the way find the Taoist masters who share their stories, the teachers that know how to speak to the heart.

In this you will learn how to speak from your own heart and then discover how your actions will speak out your own truth in turn.

Trust to your path and enjoy those we meet and meander along the way. To share the occasional story and make the journey a bit more full of life.

Namaste