De Ruiter Builds Temple To His Ego
File under: Gurubusting, Satscams and The Siddhi or PR
Today brings news of Canadian New Age™ guru John De Ruiter's new temple, a grand structure which appears to accurately portray his grand ego. Having his multiple girlfriends on hand to dedicate his new "conference center" completes the picture of a runaway grandiosity that knows no checks, simply because he has surrounded himself with dunderheaded sycophants. Really, it's all in this simple statement he made to the reporter once:
"I just know that it will get big," he said.But will "it" be big enough to contain his ever-inflating self-regard? We doubt it. Such is the mechanism of a big-time guru's success. Take one slick conman who says he's God – one who just might believe it himself – add thousands of desperate morons who are willing to believe in his divinity, and you've got all the makings of a grade-A cult.
Once again, we are ready to jump into the industrial-sized recycling bin behind the local microbrewery, as the only way we'll ever feel clean again is to take a bath in thousands of bottles worth of broken glass shards.
Labels: Backroom Gurudom, Satscams, The Siddhi of PR
posted by guruphiliac @ 1:15 PM
9 Comments:
the only way we'll ever feel clean again is to take a bath in thousands of bottles worth of broken glass shards.
..............
True poetry, Jody.
Excellent post Jody. It so happens I'm just reading David Carse's book Perfect Brilliant Stillness at the moment (a truly awesome doorstop of non-dual writing, which I highly recommend), and had just read a few passages where he was berating this very sort of thing.
Thanks, folks.
I'm going to make a bold and sweeping generalization: Any spiritual teacher who holds themselves up as special, or allows others to see them as special, is a false teacher. They may be self-realized, they may have a sincere motive at heart for teaching and they may be gentle souls. What they are not are good examples of nondual understanding. If there is any one thing that can be emotionally and intellectually derived from the experiential understanding of nondual truth, it's that at the core of our being, nobody is a single bit different in character and quality than anyone else.
On other words, who a realized person and a seemingly not realized person really are... is the same. The revelation of this truth does not add anything to a life except that understanding. No magic powers are acquired, no special divinity is accrued. We are already what our gurus are, only we might not directly know it as such yet. Our gurus have nothing on us as far as divinity is concerned. Whenever a guru claims special divinity, run away as fast as you can if nondual truth is what you seek. If you're just looking for a space-daddy to make it all ok, then stay in delusion, because that's where your space-daddy wants you to stay.
The unfortunate truth is that self-realization and pathological narcissism are not mutually exclusive, which is why we have to deal with all of the self-proclaimed avatards in the world.
Jody: "who a realized person and a seemingly not realized person really are... is the same."
I remember sitting with two friends, and it seemed to me that we were one thing looking at many things, which was the one thing. Absolutely matter-of-fact. I'm not saying that we are one, it's just that sometimes it seems so to me.
Making yourself or others special might be the One focussing on a particular body/mind. But that can't be because the One is focussing on many bodies/minds all over the universe simultaneously.
Who knows? We can never know for sure.
We might be the One looking through many eyes/bodies/minds. Then a particular body/mind says it's God, and another body/mind might agree and another body/mind might criticise, but nothing is changed in reality.
Or maybe it is.
Martin Gifford.
Making yourself or others special might be the One focussing on a particular body/mind. But that can't be because the One is focussing on many bodies/minds all over the universe simultaneously.
If you asked me, the One does absolutely nothing but be the One. Everything else going on is completely beside the point of it being One. It doesn't focus or not focus, it just stands in its being and is. Everything else is just a projection of attribution.
jody said... because that's where your space-daddy wants you to stay.
I remember reading in Hare Krishna books and maybe from Ramakrishna that gods don't want us to wake up to the non dual truth because then the story would be over. I have heard my Guru say many times that the One God is always in Mahasamadhi and has no awareness of anything but That. Everything but That is projection of mind.
the One God is always in Mahasamadhi and has no awareness of anything but That.
So when a space-daddy says they are God and want you to do this or that, spit in their face and walk right out, because they are lying right through their teeth at you.
Maybe.
The one thing about gurus "getting big" is that they should get big for their success in helping others realise reality. Otherwise they are just getting worshipped which helps no one.
A successful "guru" should produce lots of realised people, so it should spread out in a network.
If no one else is getting realised, then does the guru deserve a palace?
If others are getting realised, then shouldn't everyone be moving on?
Don't ashrams imply that enlightenment is very hard to get, and the focus of the ashram is a failure, albeit a special one?
The issue should be that the seeker either gets it or not. If they get it, they should move on. If they don't get it, they should move on.
A successful "guru" should produce lots of realised people, so it should spread out in a network.
How many of Ramana Maharishi's disciples "got it"? Maybe one or two?
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