Sell Cleverness, Buy Bewilderment: The Path of the True Teacher

They say, there are three types of teachers, roughly speaking. The first one is authoritarian — the teacher comes into the classroom and positions himself as a giant, looking down upon the students. He is big, and they are small. He is too big to be ignored.

The second one is the “authority destroyer” — the teacher comes into the classroom and lowers himself to the level of the students, often using baby-talk: “I am just like you and don’t know anything. Help me figure it out.” He is too little to be noticed.

The third type comes in with a mountain. He doesn’t draw attention to himself. He draws attention to the mountain. The mountain is so big and beautiful that he forgets about himself and talks about the mountain all the time. The students can’t help but notice the mountain. They see it in his eyes, in his walk, in his talk. The mountain is too big and beautiful to be ignored.

This teacher becomes an authority. An authority doesn’t push anything on the students. He’s not coercing them to learn either. He is a witness. A witness to the true Source. A witness to the Mountain. A true authority is someone who reveals something big and beautiful that makes life worth living.

Such people don’t teach; they show. They don’t elucidate; they amaze and confound. They don’t make things clear. They make things astounding. There is a distant etymological connection between the words “maze” and “amazement.” The word “maze” comes from Middle English “masen,” which means “to confound or confuse.”

To “amaze” someone means to put them in a maze. Make them bewildered, confounded, even foolish. The Old Norse “masa” means “to chatter like a fool.” A true authority is contagiously bewildered. They show something about the world that makes it more mysterious.

True authorities shine with a borrowed light. The light is not their own. It comes from the mountain they carry with them. They give us the only true enlightenment — the mystery of borrowed light. Encountering such people makes you realize that true knowledge is bewilderment, as Jalaluddin Rumi said,

“Sell cleverness and buy bewilderment.”

They guide you into a maze where you are constantly amazed. You realize you are a fool and don’t know anything. But you are infinitely happy to explore this maze and feel initiated into mysteries beyond comprehension. You discover the mountain too. You look up in total amazement and become… a witness.

“The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.” Jesus