Siddhārtha Gautama (Buddha) said if you meet the Buddha on the street, kill him. Why would he say such a thing? To dissuade people from thinking that the Buddha is a special figure and separate person. Instead, turn inside yourself to find Buddha. Why? Because the Buddha nature is within you.

Jesus said it was necessary for him to go away. Why? Because otherwise people would have equated his love, truth and wisdom with him as a special figure and separate person. Instead, turn inside yourself to find Jesus. Why? Because the Christ nature is within you.

Ramakrishna spoke of having experienced and ocean of consciousness in which all things arise and dissolve. He said one does not find this ocean by looking outside oneself into the universe. Instead, turn inside yourself to discover this ocean. Why? Because your true nature is this consciousness and you are a wave of that ocean.

Guanyin is known as the Mother of Compassion and she vowed to never rest until she had freed all sentient beings from their suffering. She carries indiscriminate and universal compassion for every human being, and holds a passion and resolve for the liberation of all. She said one does not acquire this compassion as a mystical impartation, but by looking deep within oneself. Why? Because your true nature is this infinite, universal and indiscriminate.

I searched for Socrates - the one who questions, the one who investigate all things curiously, deeply, critically and introspectively, the one who ordered his life according to virtue and love. I searched for Socrates but I could not find him. I only found this wisdom inside myself.

I searched for Dr. King - the one who would not claim freedom for himself as long as his fellow human beings languished in isolation, suffering and oppression, the one who fearlessly championed the cause of the victimized, marginalized, maltreated, and forgotten. I searched for Dr. King but I could not find him. I only found this calling inside myself.

People who don't understand the teaching will often worship and make a religion out of the teacher. But the great spiritual teachers are unified in asserting that the true guru is always within oneself. One cannot know truth by living vicariously through the teachings and experiences of the spiritual teacher, they must do their own investigation and have a direct experience of the truth themselves, and more importantly, as themselves.

Jim Palmer