Learning is Remembering: The Outer, Inner, and Secret Teachers
August 10, 2026 | 4 CommentsAudio only version is here
Meditation begins at 23:38
Hello Wonderful Open Heart Project,
How do you find a teacher?
It’s a question I hear often, and the answer is more nuanced than you might think.
Every true teacher appears in three ways. There is the outer teacher, the person who offers the teachings. There is the inner teacher, the part of you that recognizes something as true. And there is the secret teacher, the way life itself seems to show you something that cannot be explained, only noticed.
In this week’s video, I share about these three teachers through a story from a retreat, an unexpected lesson about joy, and a piece of music.
I hope you’ll listen, and if you do, I have one small suggestion. Near the end of the episode, I invite you to play the same song three times. The first time, listen for the meaning of the words. The second time, listen only to the sound. The third time, notice what happens to the space around you as you listen.
I’d love to know what you find.
With love,
Susan
PS: I reference the text of the Heart Sutra in this video. Here’s the version I use.
categorized in: dharma, open heart project
4 Comments
Dear Susan,
I am thinking about you a lot because of something you said a few weeks ago about going to be with your mother. I’m sure that you have had lots loving support and I just wanted you to know that I have also sat with my mother as she passed. I wish you well, I wish you strength, and I know that love surrounds you both.
Eroca
That talk on the three teachers was really nice. Chet Baker is one of my old favorites, tho I was not really familiar with today’s song. One of his that I love is, “Let’s Get Lost”. Many thanks. Robert
I love that you included music in this session like you do with your Spotify podcasts. The way you tie the Inner, Outer, and Secret Teachers with the meaning of the lyrics, the sound or the vocals and the way it changes how you experience your environment works for me, (brings me Joy!) Thank you for that!
I really enjoyed this talk, thank you. I love how you wove in music. Music is such a beautiful teacher.