SPIRITUAL MATERIALISM FALLEN GURUS

& THE PERPLEXED SEEKER # 4

(Apologies if the colors are distracting - Google or the tricksters sometimes have their own way. Tried to change it but couldn't)

So, finding the "way" is a balance between the light and dark polarities of what's inside of us, 

faced with the challenges that life brings, 

as well as whats outside of us on the dark side of the veil between the worlds. 

What we do with them - succumb or prevail?

The Higher Self, Good Inclinations, Spacious (Christ or Buddha) Mind and our spirit guides of the light help us subordinate our; Shadow (Evil Inclination,) Ego, Monkey or Narrow Mind and the tricksters or dark spirit forces to a higher good. 

Spiritual practice is critical in helping us make good decisions.

These obstacles are always present and we are continually being challenged by Free Will and Choice, now, ever increasingly with the allure of rapidly advancing technology.

We should ask ourselves if we can attend to needs and not wants.

Samsara is the ever present challenge of a life bound to a sensory body and its evanescent pleasures which cause the ongoing cycle of death and rebirth. How committed are we to finding our way to a Causal vibration or having to come back again to the Astral realm and reincarnate ?

Krishnamurti said; 

Discernment is choice-less 

especially when we become fully aware of the consequences of our Karma.

"It is very dangerous to go into eternity with possibilities which one has himself prevented from becoming realities..." Kiekegaard

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We have talked before about the Four Basic Archetypes 

HEALER

TEACHER

WARRIOR-LEADER-ADULT

VISIONARY

If we go clockwise around the Native American Medicine Wheel  we can create our own wheel to suit. I should add that the Four Directions are nature bound and belong to everyone - Isaiah the prophet had a vision about the six directions millennia ago.

This is my concept, based loosely, with respect, on Lakota tradition with help from Angeles Arrien when it comes to the archetypes. I have also introduced a chakra and used the elements that coincide with that chakra and the increasing vibration we should attain as we travel from child to adolescent to adult and to visionary; i.e.

 from earth (the child) 

to water (the adolescent) 

to fire (the adult or leader or warrior) 

 to air and ether (the visionary.) 

All four upper chakras are more part of the Visionary direction. Ether would relate to the 7th chakra in the East and the highest vibration (? the "true" wisdom teacher and not the fallen guru.)

The seasons and colors are retained though where you put them is arbitrary and even varies from tribe to tribe.

I have omitted power animals. 

 I wanted to focus on the shadow side of each direction in relationship to its age group, its chakra (or chakras in the case of the Visionary) and their archetypes and how these may affect us later in life. 

The child needs a loving attentive parent or caregiver. 

The adolescent needs a wise elder/s to guide them skillfully to the adult in the north. 

The adult will need good roll models to help them in the warrior phase of their lives 

and the visionary will need wisdom teachers with integrity.

The Wounded Child and Healer Archetype of the South

The South is colored red because it represents summer in the northern hemisphere. The first chakra is our survival chakra and a secure upbringing is critical in childhood. Again with apologies for not being a psychologist, I think that Attachment theory is where problems could begin, in the severely wounded child of the south. 

The Ancestors

and if we cannot embrace our own child more completely how damaging can that be since the child is in "survival" 1st chakra mode.

"Attachment theory states that a strong emotional and physical attachment to at least one primary caregiver is critical to personal development."

 Secure children feel "seen, secure, soothed and safe" and that their caregivers always have their backs. Therefore they will also feel free to explore their environments safely. 
The "Insecure Avoidant" child resulting from an inattentive neglected childhood may result in low self-esteem which possibly leads to psychopathology if unattended. They are classically devoid of emotion, detached, independent and only live in a physical reality. Unless recognized and healed this can follow them through all of the four directions. 

The "Insecure Ambivalent or Resistant" child who has a fickle ambivalent parent or attendant may learn not to be able to rely on  attention. This child may become needy and fears to explore the environment. S/he may withdraw from relationships and intimacy because she cannot trust any attention they receive as being reliable. They may also be needful of validation and admiration. 

More subtle and common, however, is the 
"Wounded Child of the South" 
who never received 
Unconditional Love. 

Although the wounded child of the south can manifest in any archetype later in life, the wound needs to be acknowledged to be healed. Hence the implication of the Healer Archetype being in the south may also be that the wounded child of the south needs or will need a healer to be healed. Sometimes that wound if attended and healed facilitates them becoming a healer later in life.

These children usually have attentive, even overly attentive parents who have achievement rather than wholeness as their goal. e.g. The child who comes home with excellent grades and gets constant accolades and "love" because of their efforts. This can be burdensome to their happiness.

They will often tend to be attached to;

Perfection rather than excellence.

Knowledge rather than wisdom and have "the need to know."

Are more interested in intensity and another's persona rather than love.

Since the parents are often performance oriented, some children - if they fail - could develop a victim mentality especially if they have a sibling who receives more "love" because of greater competence.

Some who are empathetic and heart felt, if they become healers,    may absorb too much of their client's hurtful burdens. They may even blame themselves for the client's shadow projecting undeserved criticism on them for things that the client themselves should own.
(The wounded child of the south who understands his own wounds and heals them may also become a healer because she has the compassion and later develops the skills to help others.) 

The Shadow of the Teacher Archetype of the West

It's not so much that the wounded adolescent becomes a teacher but rather s/he needs a skilled teacher/s or elder/s to guide them to the north. If the teacher has a lot of wisdom s/he may even be able to guide the adolescent through the North (the Adult) to the East (the Visionary) and to their ultimate destiny.

This Shadow side may be;

Attached to outcome and control.

All knowing rather than open to ideas.

Detached from the student.

Judgmental rather than discerning.

Critical rather than supportive.

Curriculum rather than learning based.

Emotional and reactive rather than passionate. 

Often a disciplinarian who is punitive rather than corrective while being encouraging.

It doesn't help that our educational system stresses results rather than learning and many teachers would like to be different but cannot. Finland supposedly has the best, most effective eduction system and their principles are somewhat alarming to us in the U.SA. The children do not get homework and so have more time to play. They are not tested because testing is thought to be valid for only one type of learning. They learn to think and explore and love learning, not be burdened by it. Finland's main premise is in having happy children by allowing them to be children. There may be a good case for effective home schooling.
I am reminded of Roger Federer the brilliant tennis player who was instructed by his overattentive, ambitious father from a very young age and admitted to hating tennis.

These four basic archetypes were present in indigenous communities when life was hard but more simple. These communities usually also had rites of passage to help the youth through the West which is often the dark night of the soul (therefore black in color.) The season is fall - the time for "hibernation," introspection and going inward. Hormones are raging (second chakra) and emotions are hard to handle. The adolescent often is confused as to who he is and where she may be going. 
The basic principle of the rite of passage was for the elders to take the adolescent away from the parents  - in the case of a girl, at menarche, to be guided by the crones but not the mother - in the case of a son, the elders but not the father. Rites of passage sadly have fallen by the wayside in modern societies but are being reintroduced, unfortunately only rarely. These rites were arduous and their intension was to help groom the adolescent into a responsible adult.
Sadly with a 50% divorce rate, a single parent upbringing and no meaningful rite of passage, the primal urges of the adolescent may  be unfulfilled. We need to take steps to fill the gap in some way with an embodied rite of passage or some form of initiation.

Next week we will discuss the Adult and Visionary archetypes.

SPIRITUAL MATERIALISM FALLEN GURUS

& THE PERPLEXED SEEKER # 3


A few more words on Spiritual Materialism - the use of spiritual practice to enhance ego (either consciously or subconsciously,) 
instead of subordinating ego to the higher Self. Trungpa wrote that ego was not necessary, (when he had a huge ego) and the Ancestors (and Jung) teach that together with Narrow Mind and our Shadow they are essential for our survival.

However, we do need to subordinate them to Spacious (Big) Mind, our higher Self and our Good Inclination..

The ego can be a slippery as a snake or as tricky as a chameleon who changes colors to disguise itself as per Kabir.

We are all vulnerable to spiritual materialism because of the elusive nature of ego and monkey mind as well as the fact that tricksters can play on our weaknesses.

If we look at the various shades of Spiritual Materialism we can see it culminates in the psycho-pathology of Spiritual Narcissism - a feeling of superiority that one is deserving of love, respect, total loyalty and obedience. This narcissism may manifest as autocracy, superiority, arrogance, self absorption/admiration, exploitive-ness and entitlement. It may also lead to those deadly sins of the enlightened guru, healer, shaman, teacher, priest or sage which usually revolve around money, power/persona, sex, control and intimidation. These possibly also may have arisen out of poor self-esteem and self-worth. 

If we follow the advice of ancient wisdom it is unlikely we will get caught by the trappings of spiritual narcissism. 

We are all, however, vulnerable to spiritual materialism and the best we can do is be aware of it so that it does not become what the Buddha called 

"Desirous Attachment."

When we look at the Zen Buddhist description of enlightenment from centuries ago - originally represented in picture form - as "Taming the Bull" (or  ox,) we can see there are 10 steps. Those who fall victim to spiritual materialism have usually only explored the first few steps before ego-aggrandizement may step in - especially Glimpsing ...

Clearly this is the Buddhist path which may not fit for most of us especially the figure below of the last few steps. However, it seems that something goes or went wrong somewhere along this path, especially to the extent of spiritual narcissism. It is likely that many of these fallen gurus mastered most of these parameters before they became polluted and "fell."

The Ancestors teach the following

 and

At the end of the day you cannot say the devil or the guru or anyone else made me do it.

The Ancestors also teach;

Take the truth from where it comes.

And even...

but when 

Truth becomes ego holding to its own image

It's time to take what you have learned and move on so as not to become polluted or compromised. 

The Ancestors add;

Be careful of what you taste and where you immerse.

Take what you need, leave the rest and move on with gratitude for what has been gained. 

If possible read the book rather than expose yourself to any more toxicity. I found Osho's books to be much more palatable than the person who wrote them. But still beware because...

People lie!

This is similar to the Buddhist saying; 

"when you find the Buddha on the path - kill him."

In other words each teacher can only show you what they know. Once you know that, you will add what you know & transcend those teachings. Use the teachings to help you find your own truths. Then let go of the teachings & “kill” the Buddha or the Tao. Not before.

Krishmurti taught the same thing and was even more radical that the only way is through yourself. He flatly refused to have devotees though they nevertheless surrounded him or tried to.

The Dalai Lama recommends we keep our religion and use Buddhism (as I do yoga and other things) as tools. You do not have to "Believe" or be attached to them. Other philosophies helps us see what is truly valuable in our religion. We can adopt those and leave the rest.

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FALLEN GURUS, SPIRITUAL MATERIALISM
& PERPLEXED SEEKERS #2

Why do gurus, sages, priests, leaders, teachers, healers et al fall and fail ?

Not being a psychologist I apologize if this is a leap of faith but Attachment Theory may have something to do with it. Attachment theory states that 
a strong emotional and physical attachment to at least one primary caregiver is critical to personal development as well as successful social and emotional development. 
A child with a strong attachment to a parent or one care giver knows that they have "back-up" so to speak and become Secure.  Those who do not can become Insecure Avoidant or Insecure Ambivalent. 
Insecure Avoidant are very independent and do not seek comfort when distressed. Here the caregiver is insensitive and inattentive to their needs.
Insecure Ambivalent or Resistant have an ambivalent attitude to the attachment figure who is ambivalent and inconsistent in their attention to the child. These children tend to be clingy but will often reject the care giver when they engage. They fail to develop security with the parent or care giver and have difficulty moving away to explore novel surroundings. When distressed they are difficult to comfort and there is an inconsistency in their responses.

I humbly submit that the Insecure Avoidant type who had an inattentive or difficult upbringing may have something to do with the Fallen Guru complex whose representatives tend to lack compassion and be arrogant, detached and narcissistic. This may also be true for other folks who get into positions of power.

These below, however, are the more obvious mechanisms:

EGO 

& its pathological expression

NARCISSISM 

The Ancestors

The Ancestors

POWER - AN EXPRESSION OF EGO

Power corrupts and complete power corrupts completely.

TEMPTATION 

especially in the face of prior

SEXUAL REPRESSION

What you resist will persist
What you destroy destroys you
What you defeat defeats you
What you sanctify sanctifies you

The Ancestors 

And especially if associated with celibacy as in the church,

 and sexually repressed gurus confronted with adoring and compelling Western women. The abuse by the Catholic church also has to do celibacy and with arrogance resulting from an edict from a prior pope that priests were morally superior. This still seems to be the case because most still escape any form of appropriate justice.

OVERWHELMING OPPOSITION BY DARK FORCES

An enlightened, aware being is a reproach and challenge to the dark forces or tricksters on the other side of the veil between the worlds.

The ultimate dark villain from the other side -  the archetypal likes of a "Darth Veda" would be offended and incensed by a "Light Bearer." In the case of the Buddha the diabolical agent was Mara. These gurus may start off being self-realized but can get corrupted, polluted or even possessed. 

The more powerful the guru, the more are skilled tricksters appointed to conquer them.

On this side of the veil the reproach takes the form of envy which can manifest as;

 the "evil eye and the evil tongue" or witchcraft (not wicca or white witchcraft) and sorcery which arise from an evil inclination abetted by dark spirits acting on their behalf. 

One of the ten commandments is

do not covet your neighbor or anything that belongs to your neighbor !

Self-realized beings and gifted musicians because of their profound influence are the greatest magnet to the forces of darkness. Robert Johnson, Jimmy Hendricks and even now possibly Lady Gaga may have been polluted (or even possessed) by Satanic forces. Lady Gaga is reported to be in the process of redeeming herself. 

(Satan before he fell out of heaven was supposedly the most beautiful angel and a superb musician.)

 Once influenced the result is unimagined success at the expense of health and longevity. When one watches videos of Hendricks playing a guitar with his teeth as well as other antics on stage it seems that he must have been possessed. Frequently one notices that the vibration of their music changed from those early days when there may have been some purity as opposed to when they became musical gods. Sex, drugs and rock and roll was Hendricks mantra. No doubt there are other examples of the same as well as outside of the musical profession.

The Catholic church fortunately still endorses exorcism especially the current pope. Exorcists have noticed that someone possessed who appears frail may have superhuman strength and may need four strong men to hold her down. They also have noted that the possessed one often gets sickly and does not live long. Some are impossible to cleanse. 

Oprah's movie, Beloved, which depicted the reality of the dark form of spiritual possession was an important one but got little acclaim. 

Rest assured this cannot happen unless there is soul loss due to overwhelming temptations or severe forms of abuse where the victim's defense aura and ego are shattered.

One cannot discount that this may also occur to some extent in the fallen guru complex and in other situations or that at least they are polluted and have been "turned" to the dark side.

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FALLEN GURUS, SPIRITUAL MATERIALISM
& PERPLEXED SEEKERS

Below is a quote from Osho better known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Osho's teachings were profound but his actions defy his teachings. He certainly understood vulnerability and hence he could pray on people with feelings of incompleteness, emptiness and inferiority looking for answers that they felt he could provide. 

For anyone who has Netflix it may interest you to download the series "Wild Country" to see how a diabolical genius could and can manipulate throngs of wealthy, intelligent, successful people so easily. This he did most eloquently until the whole ashram became totally corrupted and unravelled. The series is biased somewhat in Osho's favor since they defer to his lawyer for a lot of the explanations. He represents one of the most successful (while it lasted) and diabolical gurus of our time.

Osho (and yes, I do have all the answers...)

There are many fallen gurus and also priests, preachers, teachers and healers etc. especially in the United States which seems to a be rich hunting ground for those with deep knowledge and no scruples. However, it is possible and likely they began with some high ideals and a sense of morality but the temptations and other factors we will describe were too great. 
Some include: Bikram Choudhury, founder of Bikram Yoga.
John Friend, founder of AnusaraYoga. “If you can’t publically own it do not do it!” (he is on a path of reconciliation and repentance.) Amrit Desai (from the Kripalu institute.) Rodney Yee. Dr. Kausthub Desikachar. Swami Muktananda. Swami Satchidananda. Swami Rama. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Sathya Sai Baba. John of God. Da Free John (Adi Da). L. Ron Hubbard.

 Another, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche first coined the term Spiritual Materialism and wrote a book on it. He used the term to describe the grasping after material accomplishment within the context of spiritual pursuit. He elaborated on how spiritual seekers in search of spirituality 
allow it to become ego building and emphasized that ego development is counter to spiritual progress.

Conventionally, it is also used to describe commercial efforts which are spiritually based but at the same time ego based (in order to present oneself as a more realized or holy person) - or profit based. 
It differs from "Spiritual Narcissism"where the guru, teacher (or seeker) feels he/she is deserving of love and respect because of their spiritual sophistication.

Trungpa emphasized that spiritual materialism instead of bringing long term happiness brought only short term entertainment followed by long term suffering. He preached that ego was not necessary and in the long run caused suffering. There is no doubt that being bound to ego is a cause of suffering but the Ancestors would disagree that it is not necessary as would Jung. It's better that we subordinate ego to the higher self than try to get rid of it (Jung felt this was impossible, especially for the Western mind.)

 Trungpa in fact had a huge ego and took the self appointed, lofty title Rinpoche which means precious one. He was an alcoholic who died of drug abuse and also slept with his devotees some of whom were married. His student, Osel Trendzin, who followed in his footsteps, was worse.  
There are many others, including those above, who embraced one or all of the following; acquisitiveness, wealth, fame, power, sexual manipulation and intimidation of their followers. 

These words of Aurobindo are true but 
they also apply to the dark side of the seer and are used to his advantage. 

"The true guru will never humiliate you,
nor will he estrange you from yourself.
He will constantly bring you back to the fact 

of your inherent perfection
& encourage you to seek within.
He knows you need nothing, not even him, 

& is never tired of reminding you.
But the self-appointed guru is more concerned 

with himself than with his disciples. N. Maharaj

This shadow side does not differ from that of a sorcerer or witch who has mastered the dark arts. It is even more onerous because he is presenting himself as a messenger of enlightened beings in direct contact with the Divine. The karmic price will be far more severe.

These principles can apply just as well to some therapists, priests, preachers, healers and teachers alike. The Ancestors warn...

and

Many were flawed but brilliant teachers.

The Ancestors also teach that;

Information is not to be equated with knowledge

Knowledge is not to be equated with understanding

Understanding is not to be equated with wisdom...

Moreover ...

...Wisdom is not to be equated with virtue 

And

Virtue is not to be equated with holiness.

These "enlightened and self-realized" ones may have had information, knowledge and understanding but they lacked true wisdom and certainly virtue and holiness. Worse still they presented themselves as such.

The Ancestors

But what if the motivation behind helping the student is manipulation, control, sex, power and wealth and their transformation process is polluted?

Especially in the case of Osho sexual promiscuity was used as an excuse for releasing attachments and fears around the act and "freeing oneself." This of course made "enlightenment" more compelling. There was even favoritism and sexual pimping by selected devotees on behalf of the guru. Osho was known to consort with a different devotee at regular intervals but ... except for this altruistic act the guru was celibate. The guru was beyond deception so this was legitimate.

Self abuse by the guru including sex, alcohol and drugs was also accepted since the body would soon be released when he departed to the enlightened realms - the body or "vehicle" held no power over him. 
Opulence on behalf of the guru was also accepted since the guru was unattached and things meant nothing to him. There were also often hidden bank accounts.
 Rather than non attached, however, the guru was detached, arrogant and actually incapable of love.

The Ancestors

Intimidation became necessary for control and even weaponization  on the pretext that there were unenlightened outsiders who wanted to derail the ashram.  

Surrender had to be complete because how could one know enlightenment without trusting the guru implicitly. The devotees had to forget all they thought they ever knew. The guru was channeling information from enlightened beings and was beyond reproach. The deeper the surrender the greater the emotional investment and the harder it became for even the more skeptical to separate. After all it was better to be there than not to be there - they had community, security and sex whenever they wanted it. Those in denial accepted abuse as a necessary and essential lesson for their transformation.

Seeing the gurus face in a dream only confirmed they were on the right path in spite of the fact that the mind can construct any image.

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08_Karma.mp3