Bill Riddell

Gurus & Belief Filters

I am not a guru. My word is not gospel. I am not all wise and knowing.

My advice here should serve as a guide. Like all things you should read my recommendations with an open mind. If you like what I suggest, then try it. If it works for you, incorporate it into your life. Great.

If you don’t like what I say on a particular matter, then ignore it and move on with your life. I wont take it personally.

An expert or guru is something I am not. I am simply a fellow student of life sharing what I learn and expressing my opinions and beliefs at the present moment of writing. They may not be ‘right’, my views may change in the future, etc. I’m only human, just like you.

We all have an internal filter, it is capable of accepting messages in line with out own beliefs and rejecting messages that do not.

Exercise your internal filter. If it makes sense, use it. If not, get rid of it.

Beware people who present themselves as gurus.

If you get the ‘I am right, everyone else is wrong’ vibe from them then be wary.

“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, unless it agrees with your own common sense.” – Buddha

What really makes someone an expert or guru? What makes them a trusted source?

Quite simply all the is required is a following of people and/or a position of power to become an expert or guru. Both of which can be acquired quite easily. School teachers are gurus. They have a position of power, their job and their position in the classroom. Their class of students is their following and to students they are a trusted source.

The worst gurus get some stuff correct – even a broken clock is right twice a day. Most repackage the work of others and present it in a manner as their own teachings.

Learn from the gurus, listen to what they have to say, then process it through your own filters. If what they say is believable/interesting to you then by all means take it on board or investigate it further, if not disregard it.

There is a difference between having an open mind and absorbing every useless piece of ‘information’ that comes along.

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One interesting way of trying on new beliefs and improving yourself is Daily 15. Each day you will receive a new challenge to improve your life in some way that should take around 15 minutes. Try it and use your own internal filters.