Vishen LakhianiFounder of Mindvalley | NYT Bestselling Author | Transforming Lives Globally

True Spiritual Teachers: Badasses Making a Difference

8 Jan 2023 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:24

Vishen Lakhiani argues that spirituality is often misunderstood as passivity and instead highlights that true spiritual teachers take active, world-improving action. He cites historical figures (Mother Teresa, Paramahansa Yogananda, the Buddha, Jesus, Moses) as examples of "badass" spiritual leaders, defines the highest level of spirituality as "cosmocentrism" (feeling unity with the world and future generations), and frames "phase four" as moving beyond internal bliss toward improving the world.

Chapters

So many people fall under the false assumption that to be spiritual means to be passive. It means to sit in your meditation pillow, get really comfortable, go within, and be all, like, blissed out. But no, that's an incomplete picture of spirituality. The great spiritual teachers of the world all went out there and did shit to improve the world. Mother Teresa fed tens of millions of people. Paramahansa Yogananda left India, came to America to start the Yogic revolution. The Buddha instituted a social revolution to create equality in his kingdom. Jesus brought a freaking bullwhip to a temple. Moses took his people and fled Egypt in the midst of an army chasing them. All of these spiritual teachers were fucking badasses. Because to be spiritual means that you're not just concerned with what is going on in your internal state, you're concerned with what is going on in the world around you. And the highest level of spirituality is a quality called cosmocentrism, which means you feel so much unity with the entire world around you, as well as generations to come, that you cannot help but want to do something to improve the world. And that's what phase four is about. It's about getting you off your blissful, juicy internal states and getting you focused on improving the world for generations to come.