The Master Is Never a Model of Civic Virtue

Karlfried Graf Durckheim

Karlfried Graf Durckheim (October 24, 1896 – December 28, 1988) was a German diplomat, psychotherapist, Zen-Master, and writer.

Karl Friedrich DurckheimRegarding a Master
from The Call for the Master: The Meaning of Spiritual Guidance on the Way to the Self:

If he has to, a master is ready to violate a community's code — but he never violates the law by which it really lives. Sometimes, however, he can obey this law only by turning the community's tidy systems upside-down. This is why he is never a model of civic virtue — never an example for the upright citizen to follow.

Regarding the disposition of a disciple
from The Way of Transformation:

The man, who, being really on the Way, falls upon hard times in the world will not, as a consequence, turn to that friend who offers him refuge and comfort and encourages his old self to survive. Rather, he will seek out someone who will faithfully and inexorably help him to risk himself, so that he may endure the suffering and pass courageously through it. Only to the extent that man exposes himself over and over again to annihilation, can that which is indestructible arise within him. In this lies the dignity of daring.


Quotations from and/or photographs of Avatar Adi Da Samraj used by permission of the copyright owner:
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