Jesus Is My Guru
There are certain moments/events in life we know are from God. Certain dreams, for example, that are so clear and so real that they leave no doubt as to their meaning, and we live them out and look back and think, "Wow." And for me, there are certain books (in an endless list of books I've read and books I'm reading) that I know for a fact have been given to me by God Himself.
Most recently, while in a fit about men, men, men - my many, many men - God handed me (through my friend, Ryan, to whom I am equally grateful) "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. And it was as though He said, "Here, read this. It will all be better in the morning."
The book is an incredible life/spiritual journey to find oneself, God, and the balance between serving the two. It doesn't follow any given religious path, only the desperate need to connect with God; to know Him and be known by Him; to find Him and be guided by Him. It's BRILLIANT!
At some point, Liz (who reminded me so much of myself, especially where men are concerned) explains the origin of the word "guru." It's two Sanskrit words: the first means "darkness;" the second means "light." Therefore a guru leads one out of the darkness and into the light. She explains how the ancients believed it essential to have a guru in order to find God, and that, in order to find a guru, all one needed to do was desire one sincerely enough and all the Fates would align to bring you one. And she told of how it is the Guru's teachings, not so much his/her physical presence, that is important. For instance, Liz meditated at her guru's ashram in India without the guru herself, which was fine because it was the guidance that mattered, not the presence.
I read this part of the book and it was with all the naive joy of a toddler expecting Santa that I exclaimed, "JESUS IS MY GURU!!!!"
And thus it is: Jesus is my guru. He is the one whose teachings can and have and will lead me from the darkness, into the light and straight on to God Himself. And I don't need His physical presence because I have His teachings (in an astonishing array of translations!).
What I like so much about this prahse - "Jesus is my guru" - is that it so nicely sums up the manner in which I believe in God. Yes, I am a Christian and I suppose some folks would insist on calling me "saved" (a term I have never particularly enjoyed for reasons too numerous to expound upon here). But even in the deepest depths of my Christianity, which is sincere, there is something in me that believes God is much, much bigger than my own beliefs. I believe in a BIG GOD. All caps. I believe in a God who is SO BIG that all the truths of all the faiths of all the ages fit into Him with room to spare, allowing each to be euqally and unequivocally true at the exact same time without need to imply that if one is true, the others must be lies. And the phrase "Jesus is my guru" - which conjures up all sorts of "unChristian" images like ashrams and meditation and Buddha while simultaneously making clear that I follow Jesus with unabashed enthusiasm and humor - so nicely encapsulates my BIG GOD beliefs.
So Jesus is my guru.
And it was something about the combination of this phrase given to me in the context of this book at this time in my life - when my faith was burning brightly again (thanks in no small part to the fantastic teachings of Pastor Jonathan (a guru in his own right) from Renovatus Church in Charlotte, whose messages can be found podcast on iTunes)) but lacking in some way to really delve into it - that inspired me to dive into meditation for the first time in my life. It was something about the idea of Jesus being more than a perfect human who sacrificed His life for me - something about Him being a guru - my guru - that made Him so much more present and tangible than He had ever been before (with the exception of how real he was in yet another God-given book: "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt" by Anne Rice). And it was this personalization of Jesus into my guru that inspired me to meditate and pray more than ever before and to practice the art as though it were precisely that: art.
And even after only a few weeks, I had finally emerged as some version of God's promised "new creation." I had emerged as someone who, for the first time, really got that whole "Jesus loves you" thing and had allowed it to fill up all the holes and gaps that had been screaming for a human relationship for so long only to be so bitterly disappointed that no man on earth could ever have filled those gaps himself (oh, don't be gross, i meant that spiritually!).
And it feels? Freaking awesome. Finally, the promised freedom of faith! A freedom that says, "Baby, if you never have a single thing or person more than you have right now, you're still gonna be pretty damn happy because you have ME: your Jesus...your God...your Guru."