Worthy Of The Wall
File under: Gurubusting and Notable Quotables
Eric Paroissien is a longtime gurubuster among the eTopic/Yahoo Groups mailing lists. Today he broke it down for us regarding the glamorization of spiritual "truths" over the essential truths they poorly imitate:
Modern spirituality produces epiphany-based psychologies; we are collectively responsible for our propagation of spirituality which pivotal meme is: "it is a happening, a wondrous happening that revolutionizes what was before, suddenly ... it is there, like a sun after centuries of darkness, dazzling and obvious."How true. That book was the most damaging thing to happen to spiritual understanding in the West since Alice Bailey decided to make up a bunch of crap about ascended masters so she could be the toast of the parlor rooms of her day... stupid bitch.
We have been serving that cold stale soup to beginners for centuries now, we are responsible for turning the younger ones into frozen numb guards with eyes only alive expecting the miraculous as sole possible happening in a human life; revolutionaries whose drive is a half-sleepy expectation instead of a burning intensity to jeopardize everything that one has at one go.
So no wonder a historic, synthetic, cold look on what is called liberation bears no interest, it would show all masters hesitant, stuttering and incoherent.
Relying on one's intensity alone, out of any meme, messages or religion, without any help or any meaning or direction to the concept "intensity" itself, is an unwelcoming effort and dull prospect for one's life; it does not look gorgeous, does not make an exciting topic in forums or at parties, does not make the character in the story glow.
Books like Yogananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi" did not help.
Labels: Gurubusting, Notable Quotables
posted by guruphiliac @ 9:54 AM
11 Comments:
Speaking of Yogananda, I heard that he is not really dead. He is in some state produced from Kriya Yoga and is going to come out of it soon and prove to the world that he was not dead. Wait and see.
I like Alice Bailey and her book "Glamour." I also like Blavatstky, Mary Baker Eddy, and Ramtha. You probably have problems with these other great beings too,huh?
Are you saying that Yoganandas Autiobiogorphy of a Yogi is not all truth, is made up? I am fascinated by this and it gots me thinking. I always assumed everything in it was the truth. I tho0ught Yogandanda was a fully Self-realized being. All of this occluding nonsense in it though? I have to re-think all of this. Can you share more about Yogananda and what you think is not so reliable or truthful or occluding in his famous book.
Anonymous said...
>>I like Alice Bailey and her book "Glamour." I also like Blavatsky, Mary Baker Eddy, and Ramtha. You probably have problems with these other great beings too,huh?<<
No problem over here. I admore Mahasiddha Helen Gurley Brown, myself.
I did read Yogananda's book many years ago. I don't recall being terribly impressed by it. But there were other books of the same ilk -- Carlo's Castenda's magical stories, Ram Dass' tales of India and MaharajJi, etc -- that did hit me hard when I first started exploring meditation and the big questions.
It was difficult for me to put disciplined energy into a meditation and inquiry practice. There was the physical pain of learning to sit, and of adapting to a lifestyle different from my upbringing. There was the mental/emotional difficulty of trying something that went against the wishes and understanding of family, friends, and culture.
I think maybe one reason I persevered through initial difficulties is that I believed what the authors were telling me: that the Real truth was something hidden and special, that finding it would make me wise and holy and superior to who I was and to everyone else. And I'd dwell in the land of the Lotus Eaters forever.
Of course I now look at that as mistaken. Why not see Truth in this ordinary moment? Who needs holiness, specialness, or superiority? Still, doing years of hard practice has been interesting, and has had its effect, and I don't know if anything would have given me the energy to do so if not the delusions I got from Casteneda etc.
I'm sometimes amazed at a few young people I've met who can understand and practice a meditative discipline with clarity from the get-go. Lots of people don't seem to be able to do so, and it wasn't the case for me. For us, maybe the nonsense peddled by Yogananda and company did have its usefulness.
Stuart
http://home.comcast.net/~sresnick2/socalled.htm
stuart, i generally agree. when i got started with this gig I was reading in Robert Anton Wilson in Prometheus Rising and Cosmic Trigger about how if I just said mantra, practiced pranayama, and said the Bornless Invocation three times I'd get abducted by aliens and have the ability to access the "neurogenetic matrix" and become an Eigth-Circuit hidden master or something.
Well, unlike Mr. Wilson I missed out on the '60s so taking 1000+ acid trips to shorten the cycle is a little out of the question. but without a cheerleader talking about the amazing things that will happen, well, i don't know if'd have started. At this point i am pretty much sick of any of this hogwash about "enlightenment"--Jody, as someone with some actual dharma, here has dissected the hell out of the pabulum here and elsewhere.
On the other hand, I'm not big on "Why not see Truth in this ordinary moment?" because "enlightenment" strictly speaking takes work--otherwise you are just Chicken-souping-for-the-soul--and I myself haven't reached enlightenment. I am, however, just a little bit older and realize that a siddhi fireworks show, or, for that matter, impeccable emotional and moral control, has very little to do with enlightenment, though both can speed up the process.
">>It was difficult for me to put disciplined energy into a meditation and inquiry practice. There was the physical pain of learning to sit, and of adapting to a lifestyle different from my upbringing. There was the mental/emotional difficulty of trying something that went against the wishes and understanding of family, friends, and culture."<<<
It's so interesting that "spiritual practice" frequently becomes a process of layering more conditioning on top of the accumulated conditioning we are already drowning in...Kind of like having a BLT to digest and then putting a huge ghee-soaked chapati on top.
anonymous
anonymous said...Kind of like having a BLT to digest and then putting a huge ghee-soaked chapati on top...
..............
My dear sir or madam, I do hope and pray you are not directing criticism at the nobel BLT or the equally nobel chapati!
> I'm not big on "Why not see
> Truth in this ordinary moment?"
> because "enlightenment" strictly
> speaking takes work
Strictly speaking, "enlightenment" is an idea made by thinking. If you hold ideas like that, then of course you make work for yourself. When I wrote of seeing Truth in this ordinary moment, that means throwing away those ideas.
> I myself haven't reached
> enlightenment.
Holding this idea, "I haven't reached enlightenment," may indeed be less distasteful than holding the idea "I have reached enlightenment." But it all begs the question: Why make the idea at all?
Stuart
http://home.comcast.net/~sresnick2/socalled.htm
@stuart:
I am generally looking at the Theraveda maps and have some influence from Ken Wilber, and I don't gauge my development as being at highest stage possible--I have read and heard accounts by people who are not gurus and not seeking followings regarding these processes and generally believe that if they can attain to them with the benefit that they claim then it is a worthwile endeavor to try and reach some nondual experience.
"Strictly speaking, 'enlightenment' is an idea made by thinking. If you hold ideas like that, then of course you make work for yourself. When I wrote of seeing Truth in this ordinary moment, that means throwing away those ideas."
I agree with the first part and that's why I generally shy away from the term, especially the "work for myself" part, though I'm not positive I understand the second portion on "Truth in the ordinary moment." Of course the ordinary moment is part part of the Truth b/c it occurs under the auspices of the truth but the cacophony isn't the whole song and I generally don't believe it's the only part of the song we can access, but at this point i am in danger of booking a flight to Sadhu Island.
Actually The Autobiography saved my life, and since then Yogananda presented himself to me so I could share some his enduring love.
Hope he reveals himself to your and give you some of that eternal love!
best wishes and love
Arturo, London, UK
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