"Fame is a trap in our spiritual path." Daskalos

During my health challenge, one of my tools for managing the enormity of my life transition has been to reconnect with my connection to God. What do I truly believe? What is faith to me, really? How is does faith correlate to healing? Is my disability truly a predestined arrangement for my spiritual growth and why?

With the death of my dearest friend Lou last week, came the plunge into the spiritual teachings of Daskalos. Lou and I have been infused in each others lives for twenty years. But never more so than the past five. With Lou's cancer and chemo, and my accident and surgeries, we exchanged patient-caretaker modes like girls exchange thoughts. It was a given. An unspoken absolute that no other sister could fill that place in our lives. Of holding the others head above the toilet. Changing bandages and wiping tears.

One of the ways we differed, was Lou would read to me about her spiritual journey. She had recently discovered Daskalos and her excitement was overflowing. She rocked in the chair beside my bed and read for an hour at a time from various books by Markides on this incredible philosophy mixture of Christianity and Indian spirituality. But in my haze of pain and medication, it was her voice that soothed me more than the words that seemed to blur together in the air before they landed on my cheek.

So now, it is my mission, to learn all she wanted me to hear. Before she passed, the one thing I did catch, was that the teachings of Daskalos absolutely prepared her for the afterlife. That was all I needed to hear.

Daskalos is not really his name. It is a commonly used term in Greece for schoolmaster or teacher. And when you hear of Strovolos in relation to him, this is the area he lived in in Cyprus. For instance, the book I am starting with is called The Magus of Strovolos by Kyriacos C. Markides. Magus means priest or teacher, of Strovolos.

Daskalos said, "Our mission in life is to be of service to our fellow man. The harvest is bountiful, but few are the harvesters." It was his hope that his teachings (he actually never took credit for his teachings but attributed them to Jesus's disciple John) would be used to create 'a beautiful world in which man could live in peace and harmony. The teachings are based on a combination of Christian beliefs and Indian philosophies. He saw so much savagery and injustice in the world and the collapse of morality.

The first discussion Markides had with Daskalos was about out-of-body experiences. Their first discussions also ventured into reincarnation. He learned that when Daskalos and his student went out-of-body, it was always to 'be of service' to mankind in one way or another.

There is no nationality, religion or race attached to the service intended by Daskalos in his teachings and service to others. But how does one experience out-of-body? Daskalos explains that we don't just have one body, but rather three bodies. (Now that's a deal.) We have our 'gross material body' which is our flesh and bone, a 'psychic body', which is the body of sentiments, and a 'noetic body' which expresses our mental state. A further explanation left my brain in knots. But suffice it to say, we have three consciousnesses (that's a lot of esses).

You still with me?

When one leaves his body, it leaves the 'gross material' body behind and ventures out with its 'psycho-noetic' body, which is why they can return to their physical being aware of where they had been and what they did when they were out-of-body.

The real kicker is, there is an energy force that connects all three of these bodies together. It is called the 'etheric double'. Somewhere in this is the energy that is affected and used that results in ritualistic healings. Some say it is energy absorbed by the body through our chakras, and is the energy scientists have yet to discover.

Out-of-body experiences, reincarnation, etc., are things people rarely spoke of in public until the last thirty years or so. With this spiritual awakening in the western world, minds are more open and largely less likely to judge these concepts right away. People are more curious than ever before, with an aching to discover new truths.

One of the most influential followers of Daskalos is/was (not sure if he's passed, will have to Google that one) Kyriacos Markides. He's a sociologist who returned to his homeland of Cyprus in the 1980's where Daskalos (in his sixties) lived in Strovolos and began to study his teachings to write a book. Markides knew the only way to truly learn and absorb this new spiritual reality would be to submerge himself completely as a disciple.

This is just the beginning of my studies of Daskalos and the writings of Markides. There is so much to his teachings, this was just a dipping of my toe into the waters. Wish me luck! And please if you'd like to follow me on this journey and comment, discussion is always fruitful.