SPIRITUAL AUTHORITIES AND BOOKS ON SPIRITUAL TOPICS        AUTHOR.TXT
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       In person and in discussions on the inter net I continue to come across
       people who come on to people and sound like they are authorities on
       spiritual subjects and know how everything is and functions in the
       universe spiritually and otherwise.

       And I think some of them actually believe they are.
       How much pride, ego and arrogance does it take to decide one is 
       a spiritual authority and or declare oneself to be a spiritual
       teacher since he/she has decided they are one ?

       They express their beliefs as truths, counsel others on spiritual,
       emotional, relationship and body difficulties, interpret others dreams,
       quote words from new age books written by other "authorities",
       [who also decided themselves that they are spiritual authorities.], 
       and statements by people who claim to channel spiritual truths by "out
       of body beings", "ascended masters" and "spiritual guides" in ways that
       say "this author or channeler KNOWS what the truths are in this
       universe, because they are receiving these messages."
       "you must read and learn their works."

       Some claim to be communicating to the dead relatives of a person in
       "readings". Some even claim to be enlightened...and may tell you what
       it is like to be enlightened in words....

       Some of these "knowledgeable people" even come with spiritual names
       and titles, eastern and otherwise, like swami this, guru that, shaman
       this and or names like spotted owl, twofeathers, isis, ra, etc. etc.
       But, if you push at them hard enough, you find they gave the names and 
       or titles to themselves. Basically, as I see it, they just decided, 
       "I am a spiritual authority," "I am a spiritual teacher," etc. etc....
       [And on the inter net you see nicks like atman, shiva, lightbringer,
       wiccan priestess, crowperson and on and on....]

       In the east, and I am sure this is true in other non-eastern traditions,
       one does not give oneself such names or titles, just decide they are a
       spiritual teacher and run around teaching people...the titles and 
       positions of spiritual teacher are earned and bestowed on a person by a
       person or group of people who are fully capable of accessing another's
       spiritual development !

       It is difficult for me to understand why so many take these people
       seriously, accept them as authorities, believe what these people
       tell them, take channeled information as truths, and accept the advise
       given by such self-proclaimed authorities.

       If I was rich and wanted to hire people to design an airplane for me,
       I would seek out and hire people who had the education and experience
       to do the job that needed to be done.
       I would evaluate the people's formal and non-formal education, work
       experience, contact their previous employers for references and evaluate
       their actual accomplishments in their field of expertise.

       I think that most educated intelligent people would take the same 
       approach in the above example, as the above actions are a practical
       reasonable and logical way to evaluate a persons knowledge about a
       subject. 
       So why is this not done in the spiritual area ?

       I see almost no one doing this type of thing in respect to choosing who
       they are accepting advise from, who they are choosing to learn from
       and who they are believing in spiritual matters.

       Now please be advised, I am not saying that some of the people I am
       speaking of have no information that may be valid, that you can not
       learn some things of value from these people. 

       I am saying I believe it to be a great mistake to consider them
       authorities on spiritual topics. That strong discernment and high
       awareness is needed when receiving information from others in the
       spiritual Area. Because people's beliefs are not truths, they are 
       only ideas, concepts and assumptions about "how things MAYBE" and 
       how things "MAY" function in the universe."
       I believe its important that seekers of truth and wisdom see and                 understand the differences in the two statements..."How things are"
       and "How things maybe".

       --g. das