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"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely," a quote from the historian John Dalberg-Acton. No, I am not talking about the U.S. Congress, but if the shoe fits… Rather I am pointing to an esoteric principle that I was introduced to years ago, and I ignore at my peril/ It has to do with how we are attracted to people and why. I wish I had understood this principle when I was younger because I would not have been taken in by what appeared as attraction with this or that supposed teacher or "guru."

In the abstract, the idea is that when it comes to finding and identifying life teachers, the power of attraction itself to someone, is a sign of a purely 'local' phenomenon (someone like ourselves), rather than to someone with knowledge that can actually help us. And this is as true in celestial objects like planets and galaxies as it is for those of us us down here walking around on Earth. In other words, this is about the influence of others on us and our life and how we can learn to tell if a teacher or life-guide will be workable or helpful.

Let's start with an astrological example. If we look at the Sun during the course of a year and describe the qualities of those who are born in the various Sun-Signs, we succeed in defining NOT the nature of the Sun itself, but only the nature of Earth in relation to the Sun, the nature of our birth sign. In other words, if I am a Sun-Sign Cancer it means when the Sun appears to be in Cancer, Earth is actually in Capricorn in relation to the Sun, its center. We all know this, but its implications might never have registered and been understood. Anyway, this illustrates an important axiom that has been of great personal value in my life, which I will share here, which is:

All inquiry into greater (higher) centers than where we are at the moment does not reveal the nature of that center (in itself), but rather reveals our relationship to that center; it always reveals something about us. In other words: higher centers serve to mirror or reflect our own condition and not their own. This makes sense because if it was not about us, it probably will not hold much interest. Think this through.

It is my experience that the function of higher centers (the way we tell we are dealing with one) is that they reveal to us not 'their' intrinsic nature, but our own. Personal or self-revelation is (and has always been) the sign of communication with greater centers or planes, "revelation" not of some far off distant entity, spirit, or "God," but always revelation of ourselves and the spirit in us – our revelation. When we touch into a higher center, we discover the higher nature of ourselves. After all, it is we who are trying to get enlightened.


In a discussion as to the qualities of the centers of the Galaxy and Super Galaxy, we can understand that any inquiry into the direction of our Milky Way Galaxy will serve to reveal the true nature of our own Sun, while inquiry into the Super Galaxy will serve to reveal the nature of our Galaxy, and so on up the line. Again, the idea presented here is that it is the very nature of higher centers to 'reflect' or mirror and for local centers (lower or similar energy states to our own) to attract and draw us to them. Higher centers reflect or show us ourselves.

This concept is a little subtle. I did not grasp it in a moment, so don't panic. Let it sink in gradually. I have found it very valuable in my life on a day-to-day basis when meeting people. The axiom I am trying to point out here as follows, so please have patience.

Axiom: The experience of physical attraction (traction = to draw across or towards) or gravity is primarily a 'local' phenomenon.

For instance: we directly respond to the attraction of what we call “gravity,” attraction to the center of the Earth. Our Earth responds (by gravity) to the center of the Sun, the Sun to the Galaxy, and so forth. Yet, as individuals, we are not aware of the pull of the Sun on the entire Earth, much less of the galaxy on the Sun, or again, my point is:

Attraction (to other centers) that exhibit what we call gravity (graveness, seriousness) is always a sign of a local phenomenon, the center next in line to us, perhaps someone slightly more experienced than we, but not far enough ahead to yet reflect us. A certain distance is required for reflection to occur. This is an important point, which I will try to explain.


It may perhaps make more sense in our day-to-day practical life if I put it this way: A sign of our communication with higher or "vaster" centers (“God,” Sprit, Total Awareness, or a true teacher) is never a physical gravity (graveness) or attraction (getting 'down' or heavy), but always an "enlightenment" or realization, a releasing and accepting of the nature of the particular terms (terminals or ends) of our own existence. In other words, compassion.

Knowledge of our own so-called inner or higher planes exhibits itself to us through a process of reflection or mirroring of our own self rather than through the presentation to us of something new from the outside -- somehow "other." Please think about this for a moment. Light comes from the inside, not the outside as we may have been taught to think.

Let me put it crudely and illustrate how we can encounter this principle on a day-to-day basis. When I was growing up, like a satellite, I was seemingly attracted and drawn into the sphere of all kinds of powerful people, often people older and more experienced than me, local power merchants, would-be “gurus,” etc. who ruled by their charisma, personal power, and attractiveness. I, who was naïve at the time, lived in a kind of terror of these power-merchants-of-fear and struggled to keep from being drawn into an orbit around them. Yet I was foolish enough to think that this perhaps was what teachers were supposed to look and act like; they attract us like moths to a flame.

Later, when I met my first real dharma teacher or life-guide, all of this changed and suddenly I could see that all of these phonies were not much different than I was, struggling to define and assert themselves. What my actual or "true' teacher showed me was not a powerful center around which I was supposed to orbit, but instead a kindness and interest in me that I had never before experienced.

In fact, my first teacher knew how to appreciate and care for me more than I knew how to care for myself. In his long-gone mirror or reflection I could actually see myself and I learned something about who I really was, not how powerful he was. This is key: he had the power to reflect and mirror me to myself, not just show how powerful he was. Of course, that is real power. As Shakespeare said:

"They that have power to hurt and will do none."

From that day forward I was never fooled by the would-be guru-types with their fierce looks, attracting demeanor, and demands. I knew that any real teacher would reflect me and help me to better know myself, not them. They had compassion. Such real teachers deserve our devotion and love. This is a key concept, one well worth absorbing.


What I am trying to point out is that higher centers mirror or reveal to us, reflect our own self, and do not themselves exhibit a greater intrinsic attractiveness or gravity than we (ourselves) already have. In other words, inquiry into higher centers (real teachers) always reveals to us our own essential sense of attractiveness or gravity, and not their own. This is how we know someone is our teacher, by their enlightening us or removing some of our obscurations. This principle has served me well in many ways.

In fact, it is the nature of centers, higher centers, to be “non”-material or non-physical by definition. Our inquiry into this realm of centers is limited only by our fear or reluctance to look and see our self in their mirror, and (as we know) seeing through the back of the mirror has always been a sign of Initiation.

To sum this up:

Greater (higher) centers mirror or reflect our own self and nature, revealing to us our essential identity as already a part of a larger whole, and enlightening us of (or from) our own particular "grave-ness” or gravity and the burden of an apparent loneliness or imagined separation from that whole.

This axiom works for cosmic centers, one to another, and to people centers we meet in our life journey. Heavy, serious, wanna-be gurus, would have us orbit around them. This phony "attraction" is a sign to avoid them. Our real teachers will always be enlightening us and what may we think we are seeing as them is really us. I will end with a personal story.

An important influence for both my wife and me came in the form of an African-American Unity minister from Detroit. We met Iotis Wilder just before the birth of our first child. She was to be our teacher in so many ways. Iotis was a woman in her fifties. I don't think there is an easy description for what she was or did. She was a very strong believer in what she called “Divine Love.”

I met Wilder as part of a radio show in which I was asked to interview another astrologer, and he had brought her along with him for god knows what reason, perhaps for support.

And I thought nothing out of the ordinary when I first met her until she began to retell an account of how she had removed a tumor from her own body. Ok, said I, and went on with my own thoughts. There were several of us listening. When she had finished her account, everyone gathered around were remarking at what a powerful story they had just heard. At this point I realized that, although I had felt the emotional power in what this woman had said, I could not remember one single word of it.

I had not been listening to her words at all. Instead I had been looking deep, very deep within her at her feelings or emotional state — her subconscious. And, as I gazed, I saw that she was so very expressive and so careful not to let the world know how deeply she had been hurt and had suffered.

My heart went out to this soul, for certainly did I understand the state of her being. I understood so very well indeed. I felt that I could perhaps help this person to become stronger so that she could bear her inner sufferings out into the world. It was clear that she had so much love inside her, if she could only realize that her ideas and the thoughts that she presented to others, that she felt so important to maintain, were not all that important.

The sheer immensity of her very being dwarfed anything her intellect could embellish. This is how I met one of my life teachers and need I tell you that it was many, many months before I could stand to realize that much of what I saw in her was part of my own self reflected in her long-gone mirror. She was able to reflect in its entirety my whole personal drama without a ripple of confusion and I saw inside myself how it was with me, although I thought I was seeing her and how it was with her. We worked together for many years. Margaret and I named our first-born child Iotis after her. "Iotis" is a Greek word that means both will and desire.

This is what I mean about higher centers and their attraction and reflection. I am coming to the end of this series because some of these esoteric concepts are very hard to grasp. I apologize that I cannot be more clear.