Gurus

A while ago I was thinking about gurus. I was reading a book, which mentioned some ancient indian writing which defined three things that would show that soul has been blessed with the greatest luck in universe. Those three things were these:

1. That you have been born as a human and therefore you are capable to make conscious observation.
2. That you have born with a desire - or you have developed it later, to understand nature of universe.
3. That you have found living spiritual guru.

When I was reading this I very strongly disagreed with third point. I have always been against all kind of gurus & master & teachers. Truth, nature of everything and everyone, is something that can be seen only by "yourself" and there's nobody else that can transmit that realization to you. Great spiritual people like Buddha and Jesus did not realize their nature at feet of guru - realization came only after they had ceased to wander from guru to guru. I could only see gurus as hindrance to person's view. I had seen it from distance, when people start loving their guru, their teacher, their master - alive or dead. They want to be close to him/her, to enjoy the presence of that person, to get answers to their questions - to follow instead of walking their path by themselves.

Then I thought about my past and realized that maybe I had been too harsh with my attitude towards gurus and people who seek them. No, there wasn't ever really "guru" in my life but I realized that there were people from who I got some pointers that have lead me here where I am now. Some of these persons have been purely literal (for example those seven spiritual characters that I named while ago) but there have also been people in flesh and blood that have either taught me something directly or made me realize things by their actions . I'll list some of them here.

1.Quint - that's not his real name but that's what he used in an online game I used to play a lot long time ago. He was a wise dutch guy who had some contact with buddhism and spirituality in general. He was not a religious type - he always said that he had his own religion. I was quite confused at that time and he introduced me to thoughts of Richard Bach. It's pointless to think "what if" scenarios but sometimes I really wonder what kind of my life would have been if I had not ever chatted with him.
2. Beccis - nick name of his. That's a guy who I met at the chessclub in my hometown. We used go to bars to play chess together. He was very different person compared to people I had met before. He had been homeless for some time in his life & he was very carefree and spontaneous. Watching his life encouraged me to live the way I wanted instead of living how we're "supposed" to live.
3. Both of my ex girlfriends. Experiences with both of them taught me more than any other source. Experiences with first girlfriend led me into real wakeup call to spirituality - she probably does not know that she really saved me from myself. With my second girlfriend there were other types of very valuable lessons for me.
4. A girl whose name I cannot remember anymore. She was someone I exchanged few emails with when I was suffering a lot. She mentioned book of Anthony de Mello which made me start to see sense in things that seemed so insane before that.
5. Audra. She was a lithuanian girl who was also there when I was facing the pain. She taught me about enjoying the moment, not regretting anything. Actually we both taught each other at that time even though only later on we both realized it.
6. Dean. At one point of my life I was reading zen newsgroups every day. And from somewhere there I found posts from Dean, an australian guy, and found out that he is supposed to be an "enlightened". I exchanged some emails with him and asked him questions that were bothering me at that time. I got replies that helped me on the way. Non-duality was one of the main things that Dean helped me to realize.

Of course there have been more people than these who have directly or indirectly helped me on my path. There's this zen story which I can agree with:

Word spread across the countryside about the wise Holy Man who lived in a small house atop the mountain. A man from the village decided to make the long and difficult journey to visit him. When he arrived at the house, he saw an old servant inside who greeted him at the door. "I would like to see the wise Holy Man," he said to the servant. The servant smiled and led him inside. As they walked through the house, the man from the village looked eagerly around the house, anticipating his encounter with the Holy Man. Before he knew it, he had been led to the back door and escorted outside. He stopped and turned to the servant, "But I want to see the Holy Man!" "You already have," said the old man. "Everyone you may meet in life, even if they appear plain and insignificant... see each of them as a wise Holy Man. If you do this, then whatever problem you brought here today will be solved."