iVillage

Let me put it crudely, as we might encounter this principle on a day-to-day basis. When I was growing up I was seemingly attracted and drawn into the sphere of all kinds of local power merchants, would-be “gurus” who ruled by their personal power and attractiveness. I, who knew nothing then, lived in terror of these powerful merchants of fear, and struggled to keep from being drawn into an orbit around them. I was foolish enough to think this was what teachers were supposed to look and act like.

Later, when I met my first real teacher, all of this changed, and I could see all of these phonies were no different that I was, struggling to define and assert themselves. What my teacher showed me was not a powerful center around which I was to orbit, but, instead, a kindness and interest in me that I had never before experienced. In fact, my teacher knew how to appreciate and care for me more than I know how to care for myself. In his long-gone reflection I saw myself, and learned something about who I was, not how powerful he was. He had the power to reflect me to myself.