I have put people on pedestals for much of my life, starting early with my parents, moving on up to rock stars on my wall, and eventually graduating to worshipping some spiritual superstars on my altar.
“OMG, that person is so evolved! If I could ever attain their vibration, I’d be so happy. But I’ll probably never get there. They are special, and so dedicated. Me? I’m lazy, and I still am obsessed with sleeping with Angelina Jolie.”
Putting people on pedestals can be a subtle way of putting yourself down. It certainly fosters a sense of separation.
When I was twenty years old I wrote a song (shared at the end of this post) called The Inside Out. As most of my early songs were, it was way ahead of my maturity level, a gift from my Higher Self that would take me decades to grow into.
It contained the lyric:
I’ve been practicing my follow the leader since back in my youth
I went from Mommy to Swami, everywhere to get at the truth
I met a real live Guru I said show me your stuff
She said my spiritual fireworks are not enough
You’ve got to find out what your life is about
From the inside out
While touring around the world for decades with my music, I’ve been blessed to get to know and sometimes befriend some famous spiritual teachers, and as well as some dynamic, super charismatic celebrity speakers and authors.
I have been privy to their luminosity, and also to their not-so-evolved behaviors and unexamined shadow sides.
Sometimes, the greater a person’s light, the darker their blind spots, especially if they are not doing emotional healing/shadow work along with working on their positive thinking and spiritual evolution.
Their was a famous guru named Sai Baba. I had several friends who spent months with him each year at his ashram in India.
He came to me once in a dream to help me finish a children’s song I had been struggling with.
He was what was called an Avatar. He could disappear and appear anywhere on the planet at will. He would manifest spiritual ash called vibhuti out of thin air and bless people with it. Even trinkets of jewelry came out of a wave of his empty hands. He was a spiritual master. Perhaps even his shit was holy.
But, holy shit, the master had quite a shadow side, and it came out that he was sexually abusing boys, as well as sleeping with some disciples.
And so the man on the pedestal came crashing down for thousands of followers. They were dis-illusioned, perhaps the greatest gift he could give to them. It’s an illusion that someone in human form has no learning left to do and is only here to serve.
If we are on the planet, we are evolving.
Years ago when it all came out I wrote a poem. It’s pretty damn funny, unless you still worship idols and are in denial about the side of Sai Baba that was a work in progress, a part that he apparently did not choose to progress through in his last lifetime.
I wouldn’t be surprised if in his next incarnation he comes back as a child who experiences sexual abuse, and then grows up and works diligently to heal his trauma, and then goes on to help people who have been abused.
But forgive me my fantasies. Here is the poem.
Caught With His Robes Down
Satya Sai Baba, the divine incarnation
Has lost quite a lot of his God reputation
His psyche, it seemed, had some unhealed repression
He might play with your privates when in private session
Behind his closed doors he gave seekers his blessings
And now it turns out that included undressing!
Sai Baba was human with de-light and de-nial
Denial that brought forth a real pedafile
He did produce jewelry out of thin air
He could whip out vibhuti, he should have stopped there
His devotees in shock needed time to forgive
Our beloved Sai Ram has been ramming our kids!
How could this be? This cannot be the truth!
How can God incarnate have a weakness for youth?
Vibhuti to ashes, and yes, lust to dust
Guru’s are human, in God put your trust
I once asked my teenage daughter who in the world she would most want to spend time talking to? She said Taylor Swift. I contacted her office and asked if Taylor might have a fifteen minute video chat with my daughter to share with her some of the challenges and hardships of celebrity. I did not get a reply.
I would love for Aysia to learn faster what took me many years to learn: Everyone on the planet has great gifts to share, blind spots that glare, great thoughts that they think, and shit that does stink!
Here’s the song I quoted from earlier, The Inside Out.
