Recently, I have been accused of being an elitist and that I don’t evidence myself with enough humility and humbleness. I do understand and accept the need to maintain an open society for professionals and amateurs in all disciplines and I am all in favor of this, despite the internet being a forum for anyone with an appearance of authority to say whatever they think feasible on Facebook, Twitter, and all the other social media links … all this while denigrating the work of others, acknowledged masters or not. Regardless of what you may think, the overwhelming majority of people would still be walking around uttering, “duh,” if it had not been for the output through the gut-wrenching introspection of elitist masters. Still, many people with high-ranking and imposing credentials continue to lead and confuse sincere seekers by foisting incorrect paradigms on an unsuspecting public. People who really want to know and study the arts are being led astray. And why is this done? So that the vain can proclaim themselves as authorities while in truth they are creating more difficulty.
There is a significant difference between hardcore teachers and philosophers, many of whom I personally know and respect, as well as novices who are sincere in their desire to truly learn something. Then there is the plethora of rank and title mongers who don’t have a clue as to the truth of the matters they profess and can only utilize their talents to paraphrase and plagiarize the work of others to impress the unsuspecting. They don’t have (and more than likely never will have) an original idea, and so they keep trying to reinvent themselves in an attempt to convince themselves and others of what they think they are rather than acknowledging the reality of who they are. They simply cannot come to terms with the tragedy of their own inconsequence.
There are many who understand and devote themselves to the various disciplines, staying quiet in the background while many others do not. Unfortunately, there is not a governing agency that can issue “licenses.” There are countless “organizations” that toss around all kinds of achievement certificates, hall of fame memberships, awards for “Karate Mom of the Year,” etc. Then there is the incessant prattle of “being honored to be associated with,” along with the advent of social networking that pathetically leads everyone to think they are experts in everything.
I am well aware that what I am postulating herein leaves me wide open to the very same criticisms that I am levying on others though my teachings have withstood the test of time, and I am truly unconcerned with the denigrating thoughts and comments of others. I answer only to myself.
Ah, the misguided notions of freedom, liberty, and equality that that presupposes. More and more misleading information is posted nanosecond by nanosecond, uploading incredible amounts of inane wisdom 101 pablum on an unsuspecting, yet earnestly seeking public. Follow that with the naive notion that everyone is equal. Everyone is NOT equal; that’s just the way of the world. A one world society of equals can never work. Why? Because someone will still have to herd the sheep into the pens and slaughterhouses unless we all become a race of Wellesian Eloi.
If not for elitists, mankind would not have fire, electricity, the wheel or the printing press, all leading up to safety matches, light bulbs, cars and computers. The elite protect society from the morass of indifference and mediocrity by their originality and for this they pay the price, indeed; but, without the elite we would still be living in caves. It is offensive morally, intellectually and spiritually to be inundated by the pedestrian mentalities who presume to understand what it is that makes evolution functional, all evidenced by the debasing attempts to dumb down society. Those who assume power and status cheapen the efforts of those who eminently do lead society to higher levels of consciousness and humanity and who maintain a stance of being apolitcal.
I don’t have to be humble to anything other than the Creative Power of the Universe. Humble opinions are for people who are not convinced that they know what they are talking about and walk around feigning false humility to garner others of their station as comrades.
Yes, I’m an elitist and a proud card-carrying one at that!
©Hanshi Stephen F. Kaufman
HANSHI WISDOM PRESS 
Call it serendipity or what have you, but I just now came across an article at Phys.org that addresses, in part, this subject. Let me quote … “Since the time of Einstein, he says, no one has really come up with anything that would mark them as a giant in the field, to be looked up to hundreds, if not thousands of years from now. Worse perhaps, he details how the way modern science is conducted is only adding to the problem. Rather than fostering lone wolves pondering the universe in isolation, the new paradigm has researchers working together as teams, efficiently going about their way, marching towards incremental increases in knowledge. That doesn’t leave much room for true insight, which is of course, a necessary ingredient for genius level discoveries.”
http://phys.org/news/2013-01-expert-psychologist-era-genius-scientists.html