ark said:
It does hurt the teacher - if this is an authentic teacher. Why? Because it hurts the teaching.
On the other hand there may be a possibility that a teacher gets surrounded by idiots and is pretending not to see it - just to let other students to see the idiots by themselves. But idiots always introduce noise, and no one that I know about can really work when constantly surrounded by noise. Like the field will not bear its fruits without being weeded.
I think that this is true, but also, this depends on the mission of the teacher. In the sufi lexicon, the teacher is, by nature, the perfected man, and, by definition cannot be hurt. He/she is aimed at a particular segment of the population, who may, indeed, because of their programming, be 'idiots.' The sufis also particularly state that one must have the proper 'capacity' to be taught. (So idiocy, in this case, is not a permanent state.) They also teach against what they call 'accidental groupings' of people, as they state that the teaching happens with a particular type of grouping, containing particular types of people. (As I am obviously not a teacher, I can't tell you what this would be.) I think that this might be illustrated with (from what I understand) the C's telling Laura that the channeling should happen with more than one person present?
I certainly don't think that being surrounded by idiots, or noise could be a permanent condition. There are many examples in sufi literature about a teacher temporarily entertaining a 'noisy one' for the example of others in his teaching. Also there are examples of teachers who use the noise as a 'cover' to deter what they call 'unworthy' ones, i.e. those who are predisposed to believe the 'noise' but are not able to penetrate deeper into the truth of the situation. And there are many many examples of people being dismissed or otherwise deterred from the teaching because of their continued idiocy.
Also, just because some idiot claims that so and so is their teacher (or mentions that teacher's name on some twinkie website) don't necessarily make it so. The sufi claims that "the secret protects itself". Many people are predisposed to take other people's Work and lay claim to it, in some kind of misguided ego identification with other's perceived glory. (If they knew the real nature of the burden, they would run like hell!) This is not the teacher's fault, but the nature of the developed magnetic center's power of attraction.
Food for thought, and thanks for the stimulation of the discourse!
