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connected with that.
    Hope can be categorized into two types. Spiritual aspiration is one, and the hope of gaining power is another. As far as aspiration is concerned, the students need to relate with a spiritual friend, kalyanamitra in Sanskrit, gewe she-nyen in Tibetan. A spiritual friend is very important. You cannot start even at the beginning of the beginning without relating with a person who has gone through this particular journey and achieved results, enlightenment. It is necessary to have that kind of reference point, a lineage holder, a craftsman. You have to have information. You have to gather information about the handicraft—how the knowledge is passed down. You have to relate with somebody who knows how to make the dharma part of a visible world rather than letting it remain a myth. The spiritual friend, kalyanamitra, is a person who avoids a speculative attitude toward the teaching. He keeps it from being mythical. He brings it about in reality. He has done it, you can do it. It is possible and visible. It is obvious.
    Such a relationship could begin purely through the fame of a certain spiritual friend, or guru for that matter, a person who is reputed to have power over other people’s confusion. Confusion doesn’t exist when you meet a certain guru. You could follow such a person by faith, or else you could have a personal experience. You could experience that meeting such a person is very powerful. You could actually experience that in the presence of such a person, you experience your own basic sanity, a sense of solidness. A sense of reality actually takes place.
    So there are two choices. Either you could be the blind-faith type, who just believes and worships without logic. Or else you could be the type of person who doesn’t believe, who is extremely skeptical, highly opinionated, full of his own philosophies of all kinds. A person like that could still meet a spiritual friend on an eye-level basis and could explore how he is, why he is, and what level of spiritual operation he is performing. That doesn’t mean to suggest that to pass your examination the spiritual friend has to be levitating three inches above you or constantly emanating sparks of enlightenment in the form of fireworks. It is the personal relationship that is very important.
    Traditionally the guru is described as like the sun shining on the earth. Every aspect of this earth—every flower petal, every leaf, every blade of grass that grows—is related to the sun in accordance with the four seasons. Each flower on this earth has a personal relationship with the sun, although the sun does not particularly personally direct its attention with any bias, does not actually shine more on the rosebush than on the poppy or anything like that. The whole process depends on how much receptivity there is, how much openness.
    So personal openness is the important thing, rather than purely living on faith. Faith can be blind or intelligent. Open faith is intelligent, being willing to include one’s confusion and one’s understanding at the same time. Blind faith is purely going by facts and figures; thinking in terms of quick results; depending on fame, reputation, and so forth. It is like saying you should read this book because this book is a best-seller. Five million copies have been sold, therefore it must be good. It is possible that five million stupid people bought it and read it. But that’s the kind of reference point followed by blind faith.
    So in following the spiritual path it is very much necessary to have a personal relationship with a teacher, a kalyanamitra, gewe she-nyen . The spiritual teacher presents you with the star of Bethlehem. He takes you out of your cozy home. Maybe outside, it is brisk or even biting cold. He says, “Shall we put our coat on? Let’s just step out and take a look at what’s happening in the universe.”
    So it is a cold winter night and your spiritual friend decides to take you out on a walk.