The Price For Education
In the old days the student's journey in eventually becoming a future master may have begun by walking through the mountains or forests with their own master and enduring the hardships of the terrain. They may have went for days eating herbs to survive, stopping along the way for deep periods of meditation or contemplation. The student and master relied on each other for many things; the master relied on the student for his young, energetic, physical energy and the student relied on his master for his wisdom and experience. It was a tight bond, and the student was in many ways closer to his master than to his own father. They went through years and decades of practice and learning and eventually there would come a day when the master sensed that the student was about ready to pass on the tradition to another up-and-coming student. The patience involved in cultivating the student was enormous. No shortcuts were taken and there were no time constraints in rushing the student.......sometimes the lessons took a lifetime, but when the student was "let loose" the master knew he was ready and was confident that the world had gained another master.
Today is a completely different story. In these modern times a person can become a master in 4 weeks by sitting in front of a computer and sipping a coke and typing away at the keyboard in a half-dazed state of confusion. All it takes are two things basically. These two things are money and the ability to put your faith in a person who claims to be a master. Whereas in the old days the journey began in the mountains with your master, today the journey begins by calling a self-proclaimed master on their cell phone or e-mailing him/her and giving them your credit card number. Then you take their correspondence course (CC) and you will eventually become a certified master. I guarantee you that I can find a person out there who has never heard of the word Feng Shui and within approximately 4-8 weeks become a certified master. No years of experience... no walks in the forest... no deep meditation... none of that stuff. As they say, " all it takes is money honey". Today "masters" are reeling in students like a fisherman reels in fish. "Masters" compete with each other to see who can catch the most fish, and you can be certain that there are fish to be caught. Once a master has you hooked you can forget about it, he'll keep throwing out more bait such as new classes, computer video seminars, new CC's, new e-books, "latest information", and so- on- and- on- and- on. The "master" will act as though nothing else in the world matters other than your education...but as soon as you run out of money he will want to have nothing to do with you. It is a sad but true reality. Recently I saw a picture of a guy who promotes himself as a master (who I've mentioned on my blog before) with many of his students/victims around him. The picture reminded me of a fat cat with swarms of lifeless fish surrounding him. The fish looked lifeless...but the fat cat looked content... like he was going to have quite a feast with all the fish he captured. Well, fish are fish and cats are cats...what can you do.
If you are in the market for a metaphysical education be careful. Although there are some good teachers and masters, the majority are promoters and business men/women. These types are charging thousands of dollars for this "education" that eventually runs into the tens of thousands of dollars and the cycle never seems to end. Don't believe you can become a master or qualified practitioner by taking a CC or a few classes. Don't believe these exaggerated claims. Anyone who tells you that you can become a qualified practitioner in less than a year is lying to you. Anyone who is churning "masters' out of his students by the droves is doing an injustice to themselves and to the student. We can stop them by refusing to be tempted by their dazzling claims. If we refuse to buy into their exaggerations they will eventually have to go work a regular job, whether teaching high school mathematics or whatever. It is ultimately up to us to put an end to all this nonsense.