Do not give your mind over to a teacher

This is one of those photos that could have so many captions. What springs to your mind?

In London there is an area in Hyde Park called Speakers Corner. You may of heard of it, it's the hotspot for exercising our right to free speech (to a point ... there are a few who are quietly asked to move on). 

It's is where I would go if I wanted a jolly good rant. I'm not a practicing ranter. Years of spiritual practice, breathing exercises and meditation have sorted me out pretty well. Also I've reached the age where I've seen or experienced some real horrors, so the little annoyances really aren't worth worrying about. 

The other thing the meditation has done, it's taught me how to stand back from a situation and see the other's point of view, which is scarily effective. I may not agree with them but I can understand where they're coming from, in most things.

So why would I would I want to rant if I'm so chilled? Surely I float serenely through life, humming to myself? Well sometimes, yes, but sometimes I march from A to B with a furrowed brow, with the best of them. The one hundred thoughts, currently deemed important that day, churn through my head constantly - but I do know how to put them into perspective now.

Which is why I know when I have a bugbear. Such a bugbear that I fantasise about ranting about it at Speakers Corner.

"Ladies and Gentleman - Do not give your mind over to a teacher"

We've all seen it, the impressionable student at school who is so enthralled by a tutor, that their eyes glaze over in adoration as they absorb every word their teacher gives them, as their own. 

And so it goes on. Charismatic bosses, politicians, spiritual and religious leaders (and that's without the crushes on actors and musicians).

As some seem programmed to inspire, some must be programmed to adore. 

But my mission, as I stand on that soap-box, would be to ask everyone to adore themselves and learn to trust their own gut feeling. 

"Learn all you want from each wonderful teacher but the moment you loose your own opinion, is the moment to step aside. Find another mentor, read another book, listen to another's view. Become your own guru." Which will probably be when the audience will tire and move on to the next soap-box.

It was the guru word that did it, wasn't it? 

Club Nirvana Sketch

Love this video. This sketch, from Goodness Gracious Me, made me smile. The extreme of the, not so spiritually, driven elements many of us have witnessed at some stage! Bless em.