Travis Eneix

I have considered myself to be an introspective person for most of my life, and a “seeker” for some years now. It’s an interesting way to live. Some of the best seeds along the way are the ones that make me bust a gut laughing. One of those gut busters is when you hear the same exact message YET AGAIN! Each teacher may have a subtly, or profoundly different way of pitching the teaching, but they all get to the same point. Sometimes that trip may be circuitous, but it is always there. Along the way they almost inevitably touch on one point -

You have to do/find/discover/realize/awaken this for yourself.

I find a great sense of relief in that, there really is no reason to keep looking elsewhere. The teachers and the teachings are still valuable, but from this perspective their usefulness is as coaches, cheering squads, testers and light bearers. They are not the way, but they do help us keep the investigation in mind. They also can provide useful methods for helping things along.

But, at the end of the day, the moment of discovery is just us with ourselves. Both the gate, the key, and the totality are all in the same spot. In us.

Recently, I have recommitted myself to this search. This was at the prompting of my wife, for which I will remain eternally grateful. As I cast about for seeds I opened my eyes to the positively enormous number of teachers and teachings available in this day and age. It’s astounding! I was always familiar with the heavy hitters – Buddha, Jesus, Ramana Maharshi, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, and so on. But, now there seems to be a guru/spiritual teacher/life coach everywhere you look! I take great comfort in this fact because the teaching is so wide open for the taking! Thanks to the global village, the social networking and web 2.0 you can barely take a step without stepping on some awakened messenger’s feet. What a time to live in.

The net of human knowledge now encircles the globe, and there is no resource for self-discovery that humanity has developed that is not available for the vast majority of the human population. This is an environment both rich for development and fraught with peril. The fecundity comes from the message being repeated so vigorously and in so many inflections that the message has even more chance to get through. The danger, of course, is something all the teachings warn against, summed up in the scriptures as, “Beware of false prophets.” Each individual inquirer must keep there minds alert and focused on the fact that it is always their own effort that counts, and if the words of a particular teacher/teaching don’t ring true it is time to continue the investigation elsewhere. These days anyone can put ash on their foreheads light some incense, start up a webcam and make a podcast about attaining the way.

But, there are also a plethora of authentic teachers and teachings available for the asking. Their voices, in all their individual inflections and tones, make for an ever growing song pointing back to the same place. You. In the end only you can liberate you, and the message has never been louder.

What follows is a list of online videos I came across today just by clicking on the first “related” video that was from a different teacher than the one I started with. Okay, here we go, starting with my current fav -

Ganaji > Adyashanit > Eckhart Tolle > Byron Katie > Swami Shankarananda > Ken Wilber > Genpo Roshi > Yogiraj Siddhanath > J. Krishnamurti > Paramahansa Yogananda > Yogi Bhajan > Prabhupada > Sadhguru > Deepak Chopra > Nathan > John Sherman > Papaji > Christine Breese > Swaha > ad infinitum

All of those humans carrying the message. It has long been a thought of mine that what the great teachers do is not create a new way out, they invent nothing. Instead they point back to a time before the misstep was made, before the “fall from grace.” They “hold the line” of the teaching rather than pull it from nowhere.

The answer is here, right inside of us, and all of these teachers are just waiting with smiling faces for us to come home.

Stumble it!