spiritual teacher

Setting the Record Straight

August 31, 2025 Joseph Dewey

Setting the Record Straight

In any type of spiritual work you run into critics. This is a case where a reader seemed to have a chip on his shoulder. Instead of giving an accurate criticism he seemed to project illusionary attitudes and beliefs I do not have and criticize them. Hopefully my answers help readers receive a clear idea of my thinking.

After reading my mission story a reader says this: I enjoyed being the senior companion and delighted in taking responsibility, but unlike what JJ seemed to communicate, I did not take glory in “being in charge of the work”. The one in change of the work was always the Lord, and we merely sought direction at his hand.

JJ: I hope no one else got this extremely distorted idea of how I think. If I projected the idea that I was taking “glory” in being in charge I would like to hear feedback on this.

I wanted to be in charge because I saw how to get the job done that wasn’t being done. I never seek to be in charge just to be in charge or for the sake of my own glory. If someone else can do a job well then I am happy to let them go and do not seek to replace them. The only areas where I seek to be in charge are those where I believe the job is not being adequately served in the present or if no one is doing useful work in an area of my interest.

By your reasoning here Jesus was seeking glory to himself because he sought to lead the apostles because no one else was qualified or available.

Would you think a Spanish teacher is seeking glory because he seeks to be in charge of his own class because he can speak and teach Spanish better than the students?

Personal glory has absolutely nothing to do with someone will a skill seeking to use it if the ego is placed aside.

Then he quotes me as saying this: “For instance, I am writing this account from memory as I did not keep a journal.”

Reader: That is pretty amazing, but I do get the impression that part of these stories, while interesting, is fictional.

JJ: The whole story is true and no part of it is made up. Some of the dialog may not be exact but it all accurately represents what happened. If I present any fiction, I will state it as such if it is not obvious.

Reader: I am with you to this point, but I am sensing the impression from this and your other writings that you believe are the only person who has ever thought about intelligence, and the only one capable of writing a book about it.

JJ: Wow, what have you been smoking today? I know a lot of people have written and thought about intelligence and never claimed a corner on the market. I do think I could present a unique perspective, but so do thousands of other people who write books on various subjects. That is why they write books. No one wants to clone material from others when they write.

Reader: There is a hell of a lot of stuff in this life that we are supposed to learn and discover. Wouldn’t it be a lot more fun if we were all free to learn and explore and experiment, and then share this information with each other without some thinking that they are entitled to do all the learning and experimenting, and others thinking that the best they have to hope for is experiencing life second-hand?

JJ: So you think that others here are not “free to learn and explore and experiment, and then share…”

You seem to be pretty free to do this just as you are now doing. Where do you get such an idea???

Then you think some (namely me) are entitled to do all the learning, experimenting and sharing.

I think you need to examine your belief system to see why you would come up with such an accusation. There may be an aspect of yourself you are not seeing.

You seem to be trying to say that I should just step aside as a teacher and turn the Keys into a free-for-all forum like most of the other sites.

If I want to learn Spanish, for example, the last thing I want to do is get together with a group that doesn’t know any more than me and learn as a group. I want to get a teacher who really knows the subject and can actually pronounce the words correctly. I can learn much faster from one expert than from a thousand amateurs in an encounter group.

There are certain things I know and I throw them out here and people can accept or reject them. I’m not participating in this group for group therapy.

Now this does not mean that the Spanish teacher cannot learn something from his students, but that is not why he is teaching the class and neither are the students there to teach the teacher. Neither are the wise teachers or the wise students interested in learning Spanish together without a workable agenda.

Then he gives this clipped quote from my mission story: “Now I was in charge …”

Reader: I took this attitude for a couple of weeks with my first junior, but he soon put me in my place. It was after that that I learn how to work cooperatively.

JJ: Quoting me out of context does make it sound like I may have been ego driven. Let us quote me in context then I will comment:

‘Now I was in charge we set out the best way possible to establish a good pool of people to teach.”

The point of the statement is this. Before I was in charge I was led by an Elder who had very little interest in the actual work of prospecting. He wanted to spend all possible time visiting with members and flirting with the girls.

The point I was making was that now that I was in charge we could get back to the nitty gritty work. The statement had nothing to do with the attitude of: “Oh, boy!! Now I am in charge I can boss someone around and do not have to listen to them.”

None of my juniors had to put me in place or felt the need for it and I gave them all the latitude and input possible. I think they all have fond memories of working with me, even my atheist companion.

Reader: Speaking for myself, I don’t have much of a problem for what your mind (not your brain) turns out, but you seem to project the attitude that you are better, more “capable”, more in tune, more intelligent, more perceptive, and have more significant insights and experiences than anybody else around you. You have elected yourself to be their teacher, when they are not necessarily looking for a teacher, but to just be a friend and a co-worker.

JJ: Actually, I did not elect myself as the teacher in this group. Rick Audette started this forum and asked me to come on it and teach. I didn’t really want to at the time but he persisted and I finally acquiesced. At first I thought I would only post now and then but the members wanted everything I could give them and more so I decided to take the job.

This is a class and not designed as a free for all. All are welcome but if any come here wanting a group encounter session then they will just become frustrated as you seem to be.

There are plenty of forums out there where there is no specific teacher that is available for this need.

I make no claims of being more capable or enlighten than anyone else. The only claim I make is that I have teachings available and if they are helpful then participants should stay. If not then maybe some other forum would fill their needs better.

Reader: In your posts about the Book of Revelation, and the Name of Christ, you mentioned the idea of a person standing on the higher ground, and lifting others up to where you are, BUT only when the other person ASKED for help.

I know that “the way” is strait and narrow, but not so narrow that we can only walk down it single file, with you in the lead. How about trying to walk it side by side?

JJ: Because that is not the way it works. The method of the Christ principle works like a great chain. The one person on higher ground pulls others up to where he is.

Let us say we are climbing a mountain together and I am a level higher. What makes more sense? For me to go down to where you are and reclimb together or for me to just reach forth my hand and pull you up?

Reaching down and pulling you up is much more efficient.

Whenever a teacher knows something that the student does not and he shares that knowledge it is like reaching forth his hand and pulling the guy up. Except it isn’t always single file. Sometimes a teacher can pull up hundreds, thousands or more.

This moving forward together and teaching each other sounds good, but when you really want to learn and move ahead with any speed you find someone who knows what he is talking about that is capable of actually seeing and understanding things you do not see and understand.

There are things I see and understand and I am willing to share most of these things and do not desire to relearn them in a group endeavor. Anyone who has pertinent information to share that is on topic is free to share for group benefit.

On the other hand, there are many things I do not know. For these things I seek out an expert who will lift me to higher ground.

In fact, that is what I plan on doing after I finish this post – that is I am taking an online course from an expert and will seek to be taken to higher ground myself. I have no desire to learn this course by sharing with a bunch of beginners that know no more than I do.

To read my “Mission Story” that generated this conversation go to this link:

Anybody can become angry – that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy. – Aristotle

July 7, 2010

To search the website, containing millions of words, replace the word “search” with the word or phrase you want to find and place the entire line in the Google search box.

“Search” site:freeread.com

Join JJ’s Facebook group HERE

Index for Original Archives

Index for Recent Posts

Easy Access to All the Writings

For Free Book go HERE and other books HERE

Teachers and Students

December 6, 2008June 26, 2017 Joseph Dewey

Book Of Quotes

Inspirational, Spiritual & Metaphysical Quotes

From The Writings Of JJ Dewey

1. “If I am right about everything, and you believe it and follow the teachings without confirmation from within, you have found nothing.”

2. “It is much easier to attempt to distort a true teaching than it is to be a true teacher.”

3. “To be a good student takes as much wisdom as it does to be a good teacher.”

4. “When the chord of truth is played by the God within it rings the same strings in the neophyte’s soul that also vibrated in the teacher, and in an instant they understand each other.”

5. “Perhaps philosophy and religion are the most ephemeral as far as proving reliability because of the number of forms the various doctrines will take and the difficulty in proving the teacher right or wrong.”

6. “There are three major tests to apply to a spiritual teacher before he should earn any of your trust for reliability. Can you guess what they are?”

7. “The student and teacher who start in harmony together will eventually meet conflict that must be resolved. In that resolution comes greater soul contact and vision of higher truth. If the conflict is not resolved and the teacher possesses the greater light the student will then carry the conflict within himself and often hold a lifelong grievance toward the teacher.”

8. “Take the things you have learned to be true with reasonable certainty (especially from soul contact) and compare them to those of the spiritual teacher. If there is a high degree of complimentary thought this is a sign that you have a good starting point and a certain amount of trust is beneficial.”

9. “Examine the teachings of the potential earned authority over a period of time and range of material.”

10. “Any true student or teacher in this age will not depend on lower psychism for guidance, but will test all things against their own soul and that shall be their guide.”

11. “As the Christ solidifies his work he will have within his association about 9,000 who will have a clear enough vision of the work to be an associate teacher, ten times more than the Buddha and his 900 in ancient times.”

12. “To follow is a virtue if you are following someone who has something real to teach.”

13. “If a teaching just seems to make no sense do not trust it until it does make sense.”

14. “No earthly teacher is flawless.”

15. “If you limit yourself to learning exactly according to the mindset of a teacher, you will also inherit his flaws.”

16. “The more directly teachers become involved in doing for us what we can do for ourselves, the more things get screwed up.”

17. “Receiving from two teachers brings two points of vision that can slow down the learning process and sometimes bring confusion.”

18. “It is always difficult for a spiritual teacher to get the attention of the masses without some strong astral attention grabber.”

19. “Many of the teachings I have given out have been either new, or a new slant on the old, and cannot be found in any book. This is what the student must look for in any teacher who works through the soul.”

20. “It is always a big temptation for the beginning server to create the illusion that his borrowed material is his own so his ego will be fed by the praise and adoration of his students.”

21. “If one teaches that the world is round that does not mean the teacher is claiming to own the world. If one teaches about the creation of the universe this does not mean the teacher lays claim to all of creation.”

22. “The rising teachers of the human race will teach through the authority of the soul instead of through the sanction of an organization.”

23. “We do not need the same old precepts that we should have mastered years ago drilled into us over and over with a sledge hammer. A light threshing of the simple doctrines is all we need so we can withstand the heavier.”

24. “Do you teach of a way to discover whether or not your teachings are true?”

25. “When Jesus appeared he did not concentrate on the standard teachings of Moses, but presented new concepts. The true teachers in this age are the same. They will not just rehash the old, but present the new, for after all, God says, ‘I make all things new.’ (Rev 21:5)”

26. “The true teacher in contact with the Brotherhood is very humbled; he realizes that there are many far above him, and when in touch with these greater lives through the Oneness Principle, it seems absurd to announce himself as a great one.”

27. “No great teacher has expected to be a light to the world all by himself.”

28. “Many illusionary teachers want to oversimplify things and present one giant step to a point of understanding or some type of liberation. ‘Accept Jesus and be saved’ is a popular one. This is one giant step that is advocated and nothing more will be required for all eternity.”

29. “What I look for in any teacher, is how he defines his terms and then go with it. This is the only way to clearly understand the teacher.”

30. “The false teacher will seek to be fed by the sheep. The true teacher will seek to feed the sheep.”

31. “Subtlety and disregard for the will of the group does not help your credibility as a teacher.”

32. “You know a teacher is doing a reasonable job when he finds his students can get along fine without him.”

33. “The best any teacher can do is relate the truths he has received and wait for the seeds to grow in their proper places.”

34. “If a teacher has a truth to reveal, but finds that he is unable to communicate it in such a way that his vision is perceived correctly then the truth stays with the teacher and nothing is given out.”

35. “The natural man instinctively rejects the message of a true teacher.”

36. “The deterioration of teachings after the death of the teacher has been a major problem through the ages.”

37. “One of the problems with students is that when they go out of alignment with the soul they often think their teacher has gone astray while they believe they have now passed beyond their teacher.”

38. “There has been only a handful of teachers working through the Oneness Principle.”

39. “It is silly to see all student/teacher relationships as a beast. This would mean that since the Christ is a disciple of the Ancient of Days that Christ is subject to the beast and the Planetary Logos is under the beast of the Solar Logos.”

40. “Many religions use the title of Holiness or Holy in reference to their leaders. Many New Agers use the title Master when talking about a teacher, but there is one Master and that is the Christ within all of us. If a teacher does not speak to that center within us then we should ignore him.”

41. “The true student tests the teacher and makes sure that the teacher is one who is capable of leading him or her to greater knowledge.”

42. “Teachers of Light will teach many who are in the churches and this will cause the leadership of all churches to lose hold on its members over a period of time.”

43. “Often times when leaders are dense to impression, the teachers will work with the leaders assistants who will then advise their superiors.”

44. “The true student (or one who is really learning) does not see himself as on a ‘lower level.’ Instead, he sees himself as one who is progressing to a ‘higher level.'”

45. “No matter what we teach all will not be happy.”

46. “Teachers do not look for one who performs the appearance of work, but a student that one can truly depend on who will be a great asset to accomplishing the goal.”

47. “Isaiah tells us that those who are supposed to be the spiritual teachers of humanity will not fulfill their roll, but instead be lifted up in pride to the extent that their teachings may be compared to that of a drunken man.”

48. “The true teacher will dedicate his excess abundance not to self, but to the benefit of the whole in the way he sees best.”

49. “The Will of God is a concept that is very misunderstood even by many of the teachers of the planet.”

50. “All of us have within ourselves the capacity to recognize at least seven aspects of the Will of God and if we follow all of the Will of God that we understand then we will have the power to recognize teachers who are in harmony with that Will.”

51. “Many feel that if there is a student teacher relationship, it means that the student must experience the humiliation of being at a ‘lower level.’ Since this seems disgusting to many, they instead teach that there are no teachers and no leaders, but all are teachers and leaders and all are students and followers. Unfortunately, this is an illusionary concept that interrupts evolution as all illusion does.”

52. “School and learning can be painful but when the whole picture is seen no one would want to deny this to the students.”

53. “If you believe we need no teachers then you must believe that we need to eliminate all schools with their teachers and all books which were written to teach.”

54. “A matter of prime importance to each student is not the fact of a particular teacher’s personality but the measure of truth for which he stands.”

55. “The method of teaching through hints stimulates the power of the soul and intuition which empowers all who are willing to participate.”

56. “One who teaches through the reasoning of the mind is often perceived as an illusionary threat by one who has his decisions based in the emotions only.”

Return to Quote Index

Index for Older Archives in the Process of Updating

Index for Recent Posts

Easy Access to All the Writings

Log on to Freeread Here

For Free Book go HERE and other books HERE

JJ’s Amazon page HERE

Gather with JJ on Facebook HERE