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Me and my guru
Madonna has one, Tony Blair has one, even the England football team have one. So how did the guru become the latest must-have accessory?
The Observer (England), Aug. 25, 2002
http://www.observer.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,780212,00.html
Polly Vernon
The guru industry is a growth market, fuelled by our increasingly rampant need to be advised and counselled, powered by the force of celebrity endorsement, encouraged by assorted contemporary malaises. Strictly speaking, guru means teacher, but in a contemporary context, it’s a flexi-word that denotes a vague notion of authority and higher knowledge, and, rather thrillingly, the potential to pass on that knowledge to a select few.
Market conditions for gurus are good. Consider the slow dwindling of the influence of traditional religious faith. The spiralling incidences of depression. The mindless affluence that has left us scrabbling about for direction and purpose. Relationship guru, health guru, style guru, management guru. Subject of silly summer flick, most casually referenced celeb lifestyle accessory, alleged object of a bitter custody battle between Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid. There’s no doubt about it, they’re the season’s must-have accessory.
The range of the modern guru’s influence is, accordingly, wide. There is the stream of sports psychology gurus who ministered to Sven Goran Erickson’s England. Lou Paget, self-styled blow-job guru, who instructs the housewives of middle America in deep-throat technique. Kumar Bhattacharyya, management guru, advisor to the Prime Minister. Kisen, yogi, whose principal achievement to date has been to rebuild Geri Halliwell’s body; and Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, who has instructed Madonna, Courtney Love and Michael Jackson, and who specialises in physically and spiritually detoxing the terminally drug-addled.
According to Guy Claxton, professor of psychology at Bristol University, who has written extensively on the psychology of spirituality: ‘It’s about the collapse of the old certainties. Communities, the wise old granny, the family doctor – they’re no longer there. And what you don’t get from your psychotherapist, your doctor, your priest, is a personal quality, some charisma. Increasingly, what people are looking for is not a professional skill, but someone who sees you . Who is wise about you .’
‘We’re all saying, “Give me something simple to live by. Money, or affairs, or my own personal growth and salvation.” With gurus, we’re saying, “Here’s me with my confused world. And there’s that person, who seems so clear and calm. I might get some of that if I hang out with them.”‘
What gives someone guru potential is trickier to identify. The charisma Claxton talks about is, let’s face it, an elusive quality, but modern guru figures do admit to certain shared personality traits – good voices, a calm aspect, a background that generally embraces motivational techniques and self-help teachings.
Take Fiona Harrold, a life coach who focuses on helping people work through professional issues, but finds the direction she offers invariably spills over into all aspects of her clients’ lives. She recently coached a female barrister through a glass ceiling, only to wind up offering her wardrobe and man-luring advice. Her star pupil, Lennox Morrisson (see below) talks about ‘the lovely resonance’ in her guru’s voice. ‘My dad was like a life coach to me,’ Harrold explains. ‘He was a self-improvement guru. He left school at 14 and sold Hoovers door-to-door. He was obsessed by the early self-improvement stuff that was coming over from America. He was awesome.’
The Barefoot Doctor, who insists he isn’t a guru, but who receives more than 300 advice-seeking e-mails a day (the subject matter of which varies from: ‘Is it OK to be in a sexless marriage?’ to ‘How do I cure my baby’s colic’), says his ability to heal is key to his spiritual and brand identity. ‘I started to study Aikido at 11,’ he says. ‘My teacher was a healer. He taught me how to channel energy through my hands. Plus I’ve got a nice voice. I’m nice to listen to. I’m also a good listener.’
Steve Jones, Kung Fu guru, who teaches that self-defence and enlightenment are part of the same package, believes he inherited healing and listening abilities from his father. ‘He was a doctor, a cardio-respirologist. He listened to people, he looked after them. He passed that on to me.’
Others are more suspicious about key guru characteristics. Psychiatrist Anthony Storr thinks that gurus and psychopaths share the same basic traits, that gurus tend to be loners, capable of attracting disciples but not of forming actual relationships, and that they have generally experienced profound psychological crises at some point in their lives.
Claxton concedes that guru figures can have dubious qualities. ‘It can be that your guru period is a phase of your own growth, part of your own journey, and something you grow out of. Sometimes, people discover they have that power, insight, and charisma before they can follow through all the way with teaching people. When a guru’s charisma and wisdom are outweighed by their ego and their desire for power, they are dangerous.’
Claxton suggests that the best way to distinguish between a bad guru and a good guru is to consider their followers. ‘If you’re drawn towards someone, look at them carefully, and see if you like the people around them,’ he says. ‘Do they seem exploited? Do they seem dependent. If not, and if you like what you see, then maybe you’ve found a good guru.’
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