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@Jeroen said:

True, but when you realise a guru was just a human, there is going to follow somewhat of a reassessment of their teachings. Yes, don’t throw out the baby with the bath water, but you need to identify what is baby and what is bath water.

I've never seen any guru/teacher as anything other than a human being warts and all...some more wise than others and how I interpret their wisdom depends on how beneficial their teachings were for my sense of peace and well being...

If after carefully analysing a teaching and it does not sit well with me, then this approach will not be adopted as part of my practice....

The guide I use is my experiential understanding (be it somewhat limited...however...so far so good) of the 4NTs and 8FP...

After listening to or reading the teaching, it's a case of 'Ehipassiko'...I see for myself...

One practitioner's meat is (perhaps) another practitioner's poison

With all the world's wonders, sometimes, a little corner of England, delights and suffices...

@Jeroen said:

@Shoshin1 said:
And when it comes to blindly following a Guru...I keep this in mind...

Even some of the so called bad ones have something good/beneficial to teach/share...

So don't throw the baby (beneficial teachings) out with the bath water (the guru's bad behaviour)

True, but when you realise a guru was just a human, there is going to follow somewhat of a reassessment of their teachings. Yes, don’t throw out the baby with the bath water, but you need to identify what is baby and what is bath water.

Well, as Stephen Batchelor said in a meeting between Western Dharma teachers and the Dalai Lama, "Why would we follow teachers who are much more flawed than we are?" The DL doesn't tell people to look for flawed teachers; to the contrary, he advocates thoroughly checking out the teacher, going to the teahouses to pick up the gossip (if there is any), "spying on" the teacher, to make sure they're trustworthy and set a good example. A good teacher walks his talk.

And frankly, in my observations, those who walk their talk are often the little-known ones, who quietly pursue their studies and their practice, not the ones whose biographies boast of a long lineage of reincarnate lamas. The ones who have reached a level of renown seem to be a bit spoiled by the attention, and seem to have a sense of entitlement to take liberties with their students.

Passing through the micro climate on the way to the beach..

It was quite muddy, so I had to be mindful of where and how I stepped...

No mud , no lotus...

That's nice to hear @Bunks...

No matter where one lives, (the countryside, the suburbs, inner city, close to mountains or the ocean) there's always something of interest/beauty close by (sunrise sunset, the moon, the buildings, the wildlife, nature etc etc)...if one is present...

The mind never stops confabulating, until you tell it you are no longer interested.

I like the jokes… but the exercise was meant as a serious spur to self-examination!

For me, it made me ask whether I had lived enough from the heart. I’ve always been quite into planning and strategizing, living from the mind, and have done very few things that were spontaneous. That means I’ve been very ‘sensible’ and non-impulsive, very safe, but also that I haven’t lived from the heart very much.

If you consider what really matters to you, the things that you’d say made your life worthwhile, they’re areas which speak to your passions when you’re young. When you’re a little older you lose that fire, and people often end up in a mid-life crisis.

@Shoshin1 said:
And when it comes to blindly following a Guru...I keep this in mind...

Even some of the so called bad ones have something good/beneficial to teach/share...

So don't throw the baby (beneficial teachings) out with the bath water (the guru's bad behaviour)

True, but when you realise a guru was just a human, there is going to follow somewhat of a reassessment of their teachings. Yes, don’t throw out the baby with the bath water, but you need to identify what is baby and what is bath water.