The greatest teachers don't create followers. They create free people. For a long time I believed that the more spiritually advanced someone appeared, the more I should trust them. What I learned instead is that awakening is not the surrender of discernment. It's the awakening TO it. A true teacher doesn't ask you to replace your relationship with God with a relationship to them. They don't become your inner voice. They help you hear your own more clearly. The moment someone cannot be questioned, growth stops. The moment you stop questioning yourself, growth stops too. Some of the hardest lessons become the holiest ones because they return you to the only Teacher who never manipulates, never controls, and never asks you to abandon your own knowing. The Holy Spirit does not compete for your attention. Truth doesn't need to. This morning was the first gathering of The Erra Collective. I told everyone something I hope always remains true here: If I ever become more important than your relationship with God, your own discernment, or your direct knowing, I hope you'll listen to that inner voice. That nudge. Because this community was never meant to create dependence. It was always meant to remind you of what has been within you all along. The teacher points. Love is the destination. And God has been speaking to you long before either of us arrived.