Who Are Your Mentors?
When you think about all the beings who have ever lived, who would you love to be your teacher or mentor? Who has achieved some "enlightenment" that could help you out? Whose inspiration and consciousness would you like to be able to tap into? Jesus? Abraham Lincoln? Your father? Gandhi?
A MEDITATION:
Imagine a beautiful blue lake high on a mountain top. On the lake is an island. And on the island is a giant tree made of radiant jewels. It is the Wish-Granting Gem Tree and you are in its field.
In the branches of the Gem Tree are sitting all of your mentor beings. Picture them, sitting there sublimely. Wow.
As you visualize them, go through the following 7 steps.
SALUTE them — hey, you guys! Recognize and thank them for the contributions they've made to the world and for the help they may give you.
OFFER your world to them. Imagine you can pick up the planet and hand it to them. Here, you take it! Give them everything — your thoughts, your worries, your beliefs, all your earthly delusions. What a relief.
REPENT for any injuries you may have caused to others. Admit what you've done and lay the sins down before your galaxy of enlightened beings — without excuses. Resolve to behave better.
REJOICE in what you've done well and think about recognizing what others have done well. Be happy for yourself and others. Let go of any envious feelings you might be harboring.
TAKE REFUGE. ALLOW THE WISDOM AND INSPIRATION of your teachers in the Gem Tree to rain down on you like a shower of laser lights — ruby, topaz emerald, sapphire, diamond... Bathe yourself in their beautiful light as their teachings become alive in you.
REQUEST your galaxy of enlightened beings to notice that you are there — to take a moment from their transcendant bliss to visit with you.
SHARE. As you look back out across the lake from your Gem Tree field, you will see that the shores are lined with people — people you love, people you dislike, people you don't know. They see you, but they don't see your Gem Tree and its rain of inspiration. Let them see you. Share your radiance with them. The people who love you will mirror your radiance. The people you don't know will be curious about you. The people who don't like you will be interested and challenged.
Ahhhhh.... Enjoy this for a while till you find yourself back home.
This meditation is from the Robert Thurman lectures I've been listening to. The idea is to get you out of your self-preoccupation and to open up to those who are wiser and more adept than you.
I'm not sure exactly who is in my Wish-Granting Gem Tree. Who means the most to me in terms of energy, wisdom and inspiration? Who are The Greats in my cosmos? Certainly my family — for all their wisdom, courage, wit, congeniality, and skils. Then I'd like some artists: Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollack, Joan Miro... I'm stuck on the Moderns at the moment. Some leaders: Gandhi... Thinkers: Joseph Campbell... I need to make a list, because my mind goes blank. Who do I really admire? Who would I like whispering in my ear? Some great artists and writers wound up commiting suicide or dying too young from alcoholism or other form of despair... So, can they be enlightened teachers in my pantheon? A lot to think about here.
But I do like the sparkling Gem Tree.
2.15.07