Joe and Guin Miller


Here’s an excerpt from Pir Shabda’s review of “The Great Song: the Life and Teachings of Joe Miller”

Joe and Guin Miller

Joe Miller is one of the great “homemade” American Mystics of this century. He was recognized as an enlightened being by many spiritual authorities and revered as a mentor by many young seekers. He and his wife Guin, best known for taking hundreds of people on their weekly walks through San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, were true torch bearers of Love. They were hard to miss on the walk, two white-haired elders wearing T-shirts that read: “No Religion higher than Truth, no Power greater than Love” (Note: Joe and Guin were members of the Theosophical Society whose motto is: "There is no religion higher than truth").

Joe's message comes through the pages loud and clear: “Don't bother just listening to the words, but try to get the feel of what I'm putting out! Realization cant be taught, it can only be caught”. He would roar at his audience: “There are three things one needs for the spiritual path – common sense, a sense of humor, and more common sense!”

Joe Miller: b. Jan 20, 1904 – d. Aug 19, 1992
Guin Miller: b. Apr 19, 1904 – d. Nov 4, 1992

A few quotations from Joe

Joe and Guin

"You can get more stinking from thinking than drinking but to feel is for real."

"Truth cann't be bought or sold!"

"Don’t bother just listening to the words, but try to get the feel of what I’m putting out! Realization can’t be taught, it can only be caught.”

“Just be. But just be who and what you really are, in depth. Not what someone else tells you to be, or what you think you should be. Be. When you first wake-up in the morning, who are you then? When you say “I,” you put your hand to your heart, don’t you? Well, that’s headquarters, not in your head. Your head is just an outpost. You’ve got to get out of your cottonpicking mind! Go deeper.”

“I know I’m Nothing, no-thing, no-thing, not me, not me. I’m just a wild-assed spark of the Infinite functioning in the Finite! This is the magic that each of us has within us.”

"Take a gentle in-drawn breath into the heart, and feel unselish love pouring out."

Teachings from Joe and Guin

Joe Miller

The Great Liberation

Every year, during Lent, Joe would read the "Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation" at 6:30 am while Guin would read the "Diamond Sutra" at 6:30 pm. Unfortunately, I do not have a recording of Guin; however, I do have a recording of Joe reading the Great Lib and making a commentary on it.

For much more information about Joe and Guin