What all great spiritual teachers do

Yesterday, I questioned a “joke” I made the day before. A friend had pointed out that it was reminiscent of the things I used to do on Instagram — things that she thought I was trying to get away from. She was concerned that I might be backsliding.

If I didn’t respect her so much, I would have just blown it off. But I got all in my head about it.

Then, my main man Michael Korman came through with this comment:

“It's not grandiosity but it's more than a joke. It's a form of satirical grandiosity used by all great spiritual teachers, like when Jesus said "No one comes to the Father except through me", or when Osho called himself ‘Bhagwan.’”

He makes a damn good point — a couple good points, actually. 

It was more than a joke. I have a tendency to downplay my stuff like “ahh I was just joking. nbd.”

But fuck that. Satire is a far more accurate description of what I’m doing.

Here’s Oxford’s definition of satire:

“the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.”

🎯

He also — correctly — put me in the same category as “all great spiritual teachers.”

I mentioned that to a friend this morning, and after she unrolled her eyes — she asked me, point blank:

“ok what’s your spiritual message?”

I responded by cribbing her own words from a few weeks ago. She told me that she was trying to become a “more fully expressed version of herself.”

I like that. Not only is that what I’m trying to do for myself, it also happens to be what I enjoy most about the work I do with clients. Even and especially the people who came to me for ‘marketing advice.’

The most joy I get from the coaching/consulting work I do is watching the client transform, personally & professionally, into a more “fully expressed version of themselves.”

But, here’s the thing, I don’t want to be known that way. I don’t like be associated with “personal/self development” — or even worse, “spirituality.” I feel a little gross even talking about it here.

The expectations placed on those people are too great. They’re supposed to already have it figured out. They’re expected to be a more enlightened, perfect, pre-transformed person.

I couldn’t get away with the shit I do if I was billing myself as a ‘personal development’ guy.

I like the freedom to be a bit of a dick — to take risks — to fuck up.

So I’ll continue to use marketing, writing, list-building, etc as the vehicle to lead people towards the personal growth promised land — to becoming the fully-expressed version of themselves.

Get some.