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The False Guru Test
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The False Guru Test

Andrew P04/2006 The Falst Guru test seems to have struck a cord here in the West because of the outrageous abuses and exploitation by gurus, many self-proclaimed and completely misguided.
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AKE THE FALSE GURU TEST. If seven or more of the following describes your guru or spiritual teacher, then unfortunately he or she may not be be as enlightened or good for your soul as you would like to believe: 1. States his or her own enlightenment: The wisest masters tend not to state their own enlightenment or perfection for they know that it is both unhelpful to themselves and to their students. The false teachers often make this claim because they have little else on offer to attract followers. 2. Is unable to take criticism: False teachers strongly dislike either personal criticism or criticism of their teaching; they do not take kindly to ordinary unenlightened individuals questioning them. They or their organisations will even undertake multi-million dollar law suits to stop ex-members from spilling the beans. 3. Acts omnipotently with no accountability: Some spiritual communities are run like concentration camps, with guru and his chosen ones acting like Gestapo officers. Unjust or outrageous behaviour by the guru is passed off as what is needed to help the followers grow (how kind). These are the dangerous gurus who have often severely damaged their students. A real master respects your will even if he or she understands that your particular decisions may not be in your interest, and he or she will act accountably to an ethical code of conduct. 4. Focuses on enlightenment itself rather than teaching the path leading to it: It is amazing how much false gurus have to say about enlightenment. They argue their points in the same way that the scholars in the middle ages argued how many angels could sit on the head of a pin. Any fool can talk about the end goal because what is said is irrefutable to most of your listeners. What is skillful is guiding those listeners to having awakening within themselves. The real teacher focuses on the path and strictly avoids any talk on enlightenment. 5. Does not practice what is preached: Contrary to spiritual myth, you don't reach a point of realization whereby you can then start acting mindlessly. If a teacher preaches love and forgiveness, then he should act that way, at least most of the time, showing suitable regret for any lapses). If he teaches meditation, he should meditate. If he insists that his followers live in austere conditions, so should he. 6. Takes the credit for a particular meditative or healing technique: The fact is that meditation and guided visualisation
Please note that this test is only a rough guide, and it was written without any particular guru or teacher in mind any likeness is purely coincidental. Andrew P usually writes in the areas of consciousness, ontology, epistemology, realitymaps, science and natural health. His website is: www.nakedminds.com.
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The False Guru Test
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work. Anyone doing them will experience major changes, benefits and realizations. The false guru will try to own or trademark particular methods and techniques so that she has something unique to attract followers. And she will hijack the effects of meditation as the guru's blessing rather than each individuals natural potential. Often the students or followers are forbidden from divulging the techniques to maintain a sort of intellectual property right, usually under the guise of needing the technique to be taught correctly. 7. Specifically gives satsang or darshan when it is not part of his culture: Darshan is when the disciples or students of a master line up and to pass their master, who is usually seated, with either a bow or traditionally kissing their feet (yes it does happen). In the East, this is part of their culture and a normal thing to do to show respect and reverence (even children will kiss the feet of their fathers). However, here in the West, such copycat behaviour is a strong indication that the guru is acting a role. Satsang, on the other hand, means literally "the company of the Truth". In a deeper sense it is an affirmation of the Guru-Disciple relationship in Eastern traditions. But some Western gurus will use this terminology because they are playing a role. 8. Lives in total opulence: There is nothing wrong with living in luxury or being wealthy. But when that luxury turns to unnecessary opulence using funds that were not explicity donated for that purpose then you are probably dealing with a false guru. Money is collected from followers usually in the form of donations, and those donations are given as an act of love, appreciation and to help spread the influence of the master. However, a genuine master is more likely to use such wealth to lessen the suffering in this world, not to buy another yacht, private jet or Rolls Royce. 9. Encourages or permits adoration from his followers: Avoid any group that focuses on the "master" themselves rather than the teachings or spiritual practices. This will be a hindrance to your self-realisation for your focus will be drawn outside of yourself, and usually indicates that there is not a lot more on offer than guru worship. 10. Presents himself or herself overly fashionably and glamorously: Beware of masters who present glamour photographs of themselves and dress overly fashionably (whilst proclaiming that they have no ego and leading egodeath retreats). Yes it does happen! 11. Demands love and devotion from their students: Keep clear of any master who demands love and devotion. One very well known Western guru stated, "Anyone who loves me is guaranteed enlightenment"! Real love and devotion is earned over time when we begin to really know the whole person and not their public image. 12. Speaks with an Indian accent or vernacular when he is in fact a Westerner: Not sure how much this happens now but there are some high profile Western gurus who have (or had) Indian accents, mannerisms and vernacular. Unless they have
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genuinely spent considerable time in other cultures, they are probably playing out a role. 13. Runs expensive miracle workshops and courses: You are unlikely to reach enlightenment after a few weekend workshops with cheesy titles. In our society of "must have now", we want to be able to purchase spiritual development with minimal fuss. Also, avoid meaningless accreditation it is often used merely to encourage followers to do more courses. 14. Takes sexual advantage of his or her followers: This happens much more than many believe. It is not being prudish to include this one because when a follower falls under the spell of a guru he or she is likely to do anything for the Chosen One. It is only afterwards that it may dawn on the follower that his or her openness has been used and abused. This can be very psychologically scarring. 15. Flatters you and treats you as very special: Sure we are all special in some ways, but this is one of the things that a false guru may do to hook a potential follower or to get a current follower to do a particular task. Nothing can be more intoxicating to the ego than to be selected by the master or leader (or any high profile person). A real master will stand back and allow you to make your decision whether to accept his or her teachings without trying to influence the process. 16. Talks bollocks: It is surprising what a person will listen to when he or she is devoted to the speaker. It is always a good idea to get hold of a written transcript of what has been said and really read the message. Then tell an open-minded friend who is not a follower what their opinion is purely on the strength of the words. You will soon find out whether there is any real substance to the teacher's message, or whether you are merely being drawn in by the charisma of the messenger. 17. Overly relies on slick presentation: Slick presentation can often mask poor content, and so it is important for you to look past the lovely music and video shows at the actual message. The slicker the presentation, the harder it is to see what exactly the teaching is. 18. Gives him or herself outrageous titles: Not satisfied by being "merely" an enlightened being, many false gurus give themselves titles (or allow their followers to do so) to indicate that they are literally God-Incarnate, the reincarnation of the Buddha or Christ, or THE chosen one. Some continually change their names, to keep pace with their burgeoning egos. 19. Runs abundance workshops: A guru or master is there to help us find an authentic life. This is nothing to do with becoming more successful at work or making more money, although this may or may not follow from being more authentic. There is nothing wrong with abundance weekends, but if we mistake spirituality for increased business success, then we are guilty of spiritual materialism and we find ourselves deeper in the illusion. (The Japanese say that the Gods laugh at those who pray for money.)
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20. Is not interested in you personally: If a teacher or guru does not have time to interact with you personally, then you may as well read his teaching from a book, because merely being in his presence doesn't help you find realization inside you. You may model some of his spiritual characteristics, but that often only places you deeper in illusion. 21. Allows his followers to set up a hierarchy of access: A guru must be accessible. If he is not, or if he allows his followers to block your access, then he is playing the role of a king and not a spiritual guide. A guru is only useful to the process of awakening if you can directly interact with him. With the false guru, it is often the case of the more you donate the greater your access. 22. Makes false claims of lineage: Many mistakenly believe that realisation can only happen under the guidance of a realized master. In this belief system, gurus are only authentic when they come from a line or lineage of realized gurus. Desperate not to be left out, some gurus claim a false lineage of enlightened masters to bolster their authority to teach. Another pseudo form of "lineage" is to recount a miracle that once happened to them (maybe they cured themselves of some disease or God spoke to them personally) which infers that they are "chosen" and therefore have the authority to set themselves up as teachers and gurus. 23. Presents themselves as non-profit whilst raking in the millions: Often, the false prophet will present her teachings for free, whilst strongly encouraging her devotees to make large donations. In this way she can appear above money considerations, whilst maintaining her greed and opulence. 24. Collects a large band of angry ex-followers: This is an indication that something is seriously wrong. If she has used kindness and love in her interactions with her students, and has discouraged them from projecting denied spiritual characteristics onto the guru (rather than encouraging their integration into the self), then it is extremely unlikely that there would be more than a few disheartened ex's. Many might drift away and feel they have wasted their time, but they are only likely to have the great anger if they have put their teacher on a pedestal, given him their power, and later realized that he was never worthy of such adoration. Contrary to what some believe, it is actually the teacher's responsibility to strongly discourage students from putting them on pedestals, for this is counterproductive to finding realisation inside. 25. Uses pseudo-technology: Many false prophets and organisations base themselves around pseudo-technology in the effort to appear scientific special meters, communication devices (do you really expect the aliens to use a mobile?) and energy clearing instruments and pendants that involve crystals and copper wire. Once again, this is to distract the unwary from the poor quality of the actual teaching. 26. Acts like a complete paranoid mad person: If your Precious One acts like a complete paranoid schizophrenic or psychotic then he or she probably is. Run! Remember that there is no such thing as "crazy wisdom"wisdom is the art of being
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balanced. However charismatic they may be, and sane between moments of madness, you WILL be damaged by them.
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13-Feb-13
Why You Shouldn't Do What the Gurus Do - Get Clients Now! E-Letter
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WHY YOU SHOULDN'T DO WHAT THE GURUS DO C.J. Hayden, MCC

It's only natural to emulate successful people. You'd like to copy their success, so it seems it would make sense to copy their approach to sales and marketing. But modeling your marketing after the gurus in your field may not get you where they are. Subscribe to the freeGet Clients Now! E-Letter
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Simply put, the present situation of these successful people may be entirely different from your own. They typically have plenty of money to spend, staff to help, a large in-house mailing list, widespread name recognition, a suite of products and services to offer, and many years of completed work to draw from. If you don't have all this in your business, trying to copy their marketing and sales approach may be a recipe for failure rather than success. Here are five ways that doing what the gurus do can lead you astray. 1. Relying on email and website traffic alone to promote your business. With a high-traffic website and a large email list, a guru may need nothing more than to make an offer on his website and send some emails to his list to land plenty of new clients. But if your website gets few visitors and your mailing list is small, you'll need to find other ways to attract and reach out to prospects. Personal networking, phone calls, public speaking, or other high-contact activities will need to be part of your marketing mix. Email and web copy alone aren't going to do the trick. 2. Counting on your reputation and personal charisma to convince people to do business with you. When new prospects make contact with a guru, they're usually already familiar with her work. They arrive pre-disposed to do business, and rarely ask about her background or even question her rates. She, in turn, expects most prospects to turn into clients, and speaks to them with confidence and authority. She spends little, if any, time persuading them she's the right person for the job. When new prospects make contact with you, regardless of who initiates the conversation, they may know very little about you. You will need to build their trust in your ability to help, provide
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evidence that you have the skills and experience they need, and convince them you are worth the price you are asking. A winning personality may not be enough to land the sale, especially when your prospects must justify their buying decisions to a boss or a spouse. 3. Promoting your own free workshops or teleclasses instead of guest speaking for others. Gurus frequently offer no-charge workshops or teleclasses to convert prospects to paying clients. With a large email list, it costs almost nothing to promote these. Most of the people who attend will be those already on the guru's list. Trying to do this without an existing prospect list will almost always fail. You'll have to expend far too much effort just to attract an adequate number of participants. And they'll still be only prospects; you'll still have to convince them to spend money with you. A much more effective strategy for an entrepreneur without a substantial prospect list is to offer yourself as a speaker to professional meetings, conferences, and teleclass series sponsored by others. That way, the sponsor promotes the program and provides the audience, and you get a host of new prospects to sell to without all the effort. 4. Spending unbudgeted amounts on promotional opportunities. You'll often see gurus as paid sponsors for events or initiatives, advertising on websites or in publications, or exhibiting at trade shows or conferences. They can afford this relatively expensive type of promotion because their higher income allows a higher advertising budget, and because they have multiple products and services to sell. And, what you may not know is that gurus often receive benefits like these at no cost in return for speaking or promoting the event or publication to their list. When someone offers you a paid promotional opportunity like this, do the math before saying yes. Divide the cost of participating by the number of new prospects you expect to attract as a result. Is that cost per person a reasonable amount for you to pay? Remember, too, that these will only be prospects, not clients. You'll still need to convince them to buy before you can earn back what you spent. 5. Maintaining multiple websites, ezines, blogs, or social networking identities with different themes. Gurus have paid staff, multiple products and services to sell (and earn income from), and a large body of existing work to repurpose for ezine articles, blog posts, etc. If you have one part-time assistant or none at all, a short list of products and services to offer, and must create most of your material from scratch, you will be hard-pressed to manage just ONE website, plus ONE ezine, plus ONE blog, plus ONE Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn identity, even with all on the same theme.
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The typical guru became a guru because he established a name for himself doing one recognizable thing. Only after building a successful business and reputation did he have the resources available to branch out to multiple brands and market niches simultaneously. If he tried to do this before becoming successful, you probably never heard about those ventures, because they didn't survive. The essential message underlying all these examples is this. Copying what successful people do after they have already achieved success will not necessarily help you become successful in the first place. Their present situation is not yours. If you want to become a guru yourself, you may need to copy what the gurus did before they ever achieved guruhood.
Copyright 2010, C.J. Hayden Read more free articles by C.J. Hayden or subscribe to the GET CLIENTS NOW! E-Letter. Editors, publishers & webmasters: You may reprint these articles free of charge if you follow our reprint guidelines.
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The Myth of the Totally Enlightened Guru - John Horgan
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John Horgan
Biography Writings Appearances
The Myth of the Totally Enlightened Guru

In the mid-1970s, I spent a year living in Philadelphia, and while there I took classes in Kundalini yoga. The classes convened at a house, or ashram, inhabited by male and female Kundalini devotees, all of them Americans. They all wore the traditional white linen clothing and turbans of Sikhs. The lanky, bearded head of the house taught the weekly classes, which consisted of tendon- and spine-twisting postures, stomach crunches, repetition of the mantra "sat nam," and dizzying breathing exercises, including a form of hyperventilation called "breath of fire." This form of yoga was introduced to the U.S. by an Indian adept named Yogi Bhajan, who was said by my Kundalini teacher to be completely enlightened. When Yogi Bhajan came to Philadelphia and gave a talk at the university I was attending, I went to see him. Swathed in white robes, he was a bearish, bearded, jolly man, Santa Claus as swami. I cannot recall what Yogi Bhajan said, but I remember being entranced. He exuded an intelligence and self-assurance that seemed superhuman. He had a mischievous smile that hinted, "I know." Before the talk, I had been tense and exhausted from studying for final exams. Listening to Yogi Bhajan speak, I became strangely elated, and a headache that had nagged me all day vanished. At the time, I attributed my lift in mood to being in the presence of a fully enlightened being. I mention this episode only to show that for at least one evening decades ago I believed in the myth of the totally enlightened guru. By total enlightenment, I mean not the flashes of insight that occur during drug trips or meditation, which last scarcely longer than an orgasm. Nor do I mean the down-graded quasienlightenment that Ken Wilber and others speak of, which confers a certain degree of detachment from the vicissitudes of existence but leaves our needy, neurotic selves otherwise unchanged. No, I mean full-blown enlightenment, the kind that Buddha supposedly achieved. Supreme wisdom and grace and serenity, total self-transcendence, liberation from mundane reality and morality. Not just a glimpse of heaven but permanent habitation of it. This is the enlightenment that gurus such as Yogi Bhajan supposedly attained and that they promised to devotees. The totally enlightened guru is in a sense another mystical technology. Through devotion to the guru--which Hindus call guru yoga--we too may vault beyond this vale of tears to the promised land of nirvana. Over the past twenty years, the myth of the totally enlightened guru has taken a beating, as one avatar after another has been accused of depraved and even criminal behavior. Given the scandalous behavior of so many self-proclaimed enlightened masters, one can understand why Huston Smith insists that no mere mortal can achieve total enlightenment, and why Ken Wilber contends that all gurus"no exceptions, none"--have feet of clay. But the myth of the totally enlightened being has proven to be extraordinarily persistent. Susan Blackmore and James Austin, as hard-nosed and skeptical as they are, believe in total enlightenment, and I still feel the myths allure myself now and then. In the summer of 1996, I was perusing a newsstand in Grand Central Station when I noticed a glossy magazine titled What Is Enlightenment? The subtitle read: "Dedicated to the discovery of what enlightenment is and what it really means." According to its masthead, the magazine was published twice a year by Moksha, an organization founded by a spiritual teacher named Andrew Cohen. This particular issue, headlined "Is the Guru Dead?", addressed the growing tendency of spiritual seekers and teachers to reject the notion of the totally enlightened guru. The magazine explored this topic in an article by George Feuerstein on crazy wisdom, as well as in interviews with a Benedictine monk, a Russian Orthodox patriarch, a rabbi, and other spiritual teachers. The issue also featured a vigorous defense of the myth of the totally enlightened guru by Andrew Cohen, the magazines publisher. Just because some gurus fail us, Cohen said, we should not conclude that all gurus are flawedor that absolute enlightenment is an unachievable ideal. "If such a goal is unattainable," Cohen wrote, that would mean "there really is no way out of the human predicament." Reading between the lines, it was obvious that Cohen believed himself to be totally enlightened. Curious about Cohen, I did some research and found that his history teems with conflicts and contradictions. Born in 1955, he was a self-described neurotic adolescent raised in New York City by unhappily married parents. His mother left the family when he was eleven, and for four years the boy lived with his father. After his father died in 1970 of a brain tumor, Cohen moved in with his mother. Shortly thereafter, when Andrew was sixteen, he was talking to his mother late one night when he was suddenly overcome with sensations of love, awe, and wonder. He "knew without any doubt that there was no such thing as death and that life itself had no beginning and no end," he recalled in his book Autobiography of an Awakening. Having read The Varieties of Religious Experience and other books, Cohen
Selected Works
Books The End of War McSweeney's Books, 2012. Rational Mysticism: Dispatches from the Border Between Science and Spirituality Houghton Mifflin, January 2003. The End of Science: Facing the Limits of Science in the Twilight of the Scientific Age Broadway Books, 1996 The Undiscovered Mind: How the Brain Defies Replication, Medication, and Explanation Free Press, 1999 Where Was God on September 11? A Scientist Asks a Ground-Zero Pastor. With Reverend Frank Geer. Edited and with an Introduction by Robert Hutchinson. Brown Trout, 2002. Royalties go to Help the Afghan Children Inc. Misc. Writings To Err Is Progress Review of The Beginning of Infinity, by David Deutsch, Wall Street Journal, July 20, 2011 Little Bits Go a Long Way Review of The Information by James Gleick, Wall Street Journal, March 1, 2011 The acid test for doing the right thing. Review of "The Moral Landscape" by Sam Harris, Globe and Mail, Oct. 8, 2010. A Murky Critique of Darwin Review of "What Darwin Got Wrong," by Jerry Fodor and Massimo PiattelliPalmarini, Philadelphia Inquirer, June 27, 2010 So Many Links, So Little Time Review of "The Shallows," by Nicholas Carr, Wall Street Journal, June 4, 2010. Does Peace Have a Chance? Article in Slate, Aug. 4, 2009 The Shape of Things to Come Review of "Year Million," Wall Street Journal, June 13, 2008 The Consciousness Conundrum Neuroscientific critique of the Singularity, IEEE Spectrum Magazine, June 2008. War: What Is It Good For? Article in Discover Magazine, April 2008 Toward a Unified Theory of Einstein's Life Review of biographies of Einstein by Walter Isaacson and Jurgen Neffe, Chronicle of Higher Education, May 4, 2007. Spirit Tech: How to Wire Your Brain for Religious Ecstasy A report on "mystical technologies" for inducing religious experiences, Slate, April 26, 2007. Francis Collins: The Scientist As Believer Q&A with Francis Collins, Director of the Human Genome Project, National Geographic, February 2007.
Andrew Cohen
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concluded that he had had a glimpse of mystical reality. For several years Cohen practiced drumming and fantasized about becoming a professional jazz drummer, but in his early twenties he decided that he could only achieve fulfillment through permanent mystical awakening: enlightenment. He studied under several spiritual teachers, but each time he ended up disillusioned. Cohen was traveling in India in 1986 when he encountered a guru named Poonjaji. Just after they met Poonjaji told Cohen, "You dont have to make any effort to be free," and Cohen instantly was free. "I saw clearly that I never could have been other than Free and that any idea or concept of bondage had always been and could only ever be completely illusory," Cohen recalled in his book. Poonjaji assured Cohen that he was now totally enlightenedas much so as Poonjajis own teacher, the legendary guru Ramana Maharshi--and urged him to help others achieve that state. However, as Cohen attracted a following, Poonjaji complained to others that Cohen was a delusional egomaniac. When he discovered what Poonjaji was saying behind his back, Cohen sadly realized that his former guru was not totally enlightened, as Cohen had believed. Cohen declared that not only Poonjaji but virtually all other gurus are flawed; none are really as enlightened as they claimed to be. True enlightenment, Cohen determined, requires a purity of thought and behavior that vanishingly few mortals have attained. In his teachings, Cohen made it clear that he had reached this pinnacle of perfection. Others could reach it, too, but only through complete self-abnegation. One of Cohens first devotees was his mother, Luna Tarlo, a writer. After Cohen wrote her to announce his "liberation," Tarlo left New York and joined her son in India. She was initially overjoyed that she had become "the mother of God," but she and her son eventually had a falling out. Tarlo wrote a scathing history of her sons ascent to guruhood and her disenchantment with him. Published in 1997, The Mother of God compares Cohen to cult leaders such as Jim Jones and David Koresh, who led their followers to horrible deaths. Tarlos concern is understandable. Cohen has a spectacular case of the "Im enlightened, and youre not" syndrome. But Cohen is no ordinary narcissistic guru. What sets him apart from other self-appointed deitiesand what made him intriguing to me--is his willingness to explore some of the difficult questions raised by mystical teachings, including his own. His chief vehicle for this intellectual exercise is What Is Enlightenment? The journal is clearly Cohens. Each issue contains articles by him and advertisements for his books, videos, and retreats. Photographs show Cohen striking the classic guru poses, laughing blithely or gazing heroically into space. But the magazine also features articles by and about a wide range of spiritual teachers, some with views that diverge from or even directly contradict Cohens. Each issue wrestles with a different topic: the tension between science and mysticism, the westernization of eastern religions, the commercialization of spirituality, the relationship between sexual and spiritual liberation. The journals speculative, questioning tone contrasts sharply with the air of certainty projected by Cohen in his writing and in his public talks. I first saw Cohen in the flesh on a blustery Sunday in early spring, when he gave a talk in a penthouse atop Manhattan's posh St. Moritz Hotel. The lavishly chandeliered room was packed with 150 or so people. They looked affluent and Bohemian, the types you would expect at a lecture on Beat poetry or hypertext novels at the New York Public Library. There were a few excessively attractive young men and women-models, I guessed. At the upper end of the age scale was a petite, white-haired lady--70 years old, at least, and still seeking a savior. Five minutes after Cohen was scheduled to appear, he strode briskly into the penthouse and took a seat on a platform at the front of the room. He was shorter and slighter than I expected, with dark hair and moustache. He wore western clothes: dark slacks and a dark vest over a beige, short-sleeved shirt. He asked everyone to join him in meditation, and the room fell silent for several minutes; the only sounds were the howling of the wind and the scritching of my pen. Even with his eyes closed, Cohens face was knotted with concentration, as if he were multiplying large numbers in his head. "Hello," Cohen said, opening his eyes. "Hello," the audience replied as one. With an eerily deadpan expression, Cohen began talking about how attachment to our individuality prevents us from knowing our true, timeless selves. To illustrate how self-absorption blocks true vision, he held his book an inch from his face, blocking our view of him. Liberation comes when we abandon our pathetic little egos, he said, slamming the book down. Our sexuality, Cohen emphasized, may be the biggest trap of all. Caricaturing male sexuality, Cohen clenched his fists and growled, "Im a man." Switching to a simpering, high-pitched voice, he said, "Im a woman," while laying one hand on his cheek, pursing his lips, and batting his eyelids. "Those are the major categories," Cohen added drily, getting a big laugh from the audience. Gays and lesbians, he emphasized, may be even more invested in their sexuality than heterosexuals. Cohens demeanor was more remarkable than his message. He punctuated his mocking riffs about human vanity with an abrupt, barking laugh--"Ha!"--followed immediately by "Sorry!" His eyes often seemed glazed, or focused on an invisible object a few feet in front of him. Occasionally his eyelids fluttered and his eyes rolled back into his head, so that only the whites showed. The first time this happened, I glanced around to see how others were reacting, but no one seemed surprised. At other times, Cohen zeroed in on one member of the audience, his dark eyes gleaming with demonic intensity.
The God Experiments Article on scientific explanations of religious experiences, Discover, December 2006. The Final Frontier Tenth-anniversay update of The End of Science for Discover, October 2006. Rent-a-Genius Review of The Jasons: The Secret History of Science's Postwar Elite, by Ann Finkbeiner, New York Times Book Review, April 16, 2006. The Templeton Foundation: A Skeptic's Take Essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education, April 7, 2006. Einstein Has Left the Building Essay in the New York Times Book Review, January 1, 2006. Political Science Review of The Republican War on Science by Chris Mooney. New York Times Book Review, December 18, 2005 The Forgotten Era of Brain Chips Profile of Jose Delgado, a pioneer of brain implants, Scientific American, October 2005. In Defense of Common Sense An essay inspired by the Centennial of Einstein's revolutionary papers on relativity and quantum mechanics. New York Times, August 12, 2005 Can a Single Brain Cell Think? Researchers have found evidence for the controversial "grandmother-cell" theory. Discover, June 2005. Brain Chips and Other Dreams of the Cyber-Evangelists An essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education, June 3, 2005 Do Our Genes Influence Behavior? An essay published in the Chronicle of Higher Education, November 26, 2004. Keeping the Faith in My Doubt An essay published in the New York Times, December 12, 2004 The Myth of Mind Control: Will Anyone Ever Decode the Human Brain? Cover story for Discover Magazine, October 2004. Why I Can't Embrace Buddhism A critique of Buddhism, published online by Slate (slate.msn.com) February 12, 2003. Peyote on the Brain Published in Discover Magazine, February 2003. A profile of the Harvard psychiatrist John Halpern and his five-year study of peyote use by members of the Native American Church. More Than Good Intentions: Holding Fast to Faith in Free Will An essay published in the New York Times, December 31, 2002. A Holiday Made for Believing An essay published on the oped page of the New York Times Christmas Day, 2002. Selected Articles, 1986-Present A list of articles written for Scientific American and other publications. Outtakes from Rational Mysticism (published here only) Why I Gave Up On Zen An account of Horgan's efforts to achieve satori in a Zen class. The Psychedelic Sorcerer
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I was recording these observations in my notebook when Cohen stopped speaking. I looked up and found him, and everyone else, staring at me. "You dont have to take notes," he said blandly. My face flushing, I put my pen and notebook away. Afterward, Cohen seemed to keep his eye on me. When he spoke contemptuously about "men," he looked my way. I felt as though I was on probation. Cohen took questions after his talk. A woman in the front row wearing a knitted cap said she appreciated what Cohen had said about sex roles. Her womanhood was complicating her struggle with cancer. When chemotherapy made her hair fall out, she felt so self-conscious and unfeminine. She couldnt help but think that it wouldnt be so bad for a man. No one notices a bald man, but a bald woman... Cohen commanded her to take off her cap. She did. Dark peach fuzz covered her skull. You dont look so bad, Cohen said, and actually, she didnt. I had feared that the woman would be mortified by being forced to expose herself, but she radiated relief. A burly, hairless man on the opposite side of the room announced that he had thought about getting hair plugs to counteract his baldness but had decided instead to shave all his hair off. And it was amazing! He loved the feel of the wind on his skull when he rode on his motorcycle! The older he got, the more he did what he wanted to do rather than what others wanted him to do. And he was learning to embrace uncertainty. He was a CEO, head of his own company, and everyone expected him to have all the answers. But lately, when people asked him for advice, he often answered, "I dont know," and it was great! Exhilarating! He felt more and more energy. He was no longer a zombie, he was Zorba! As Zorba kept telling us about the fabulousness of his life, the tension in the room grew. Everyone watched Cohen watch Zorba. Cohen remained stone-faced throughout Zorbas monologue. When Zorba paused to let us appreciate one of his witticisms, Cohen said abruptly, "Next question," and looked around the room. Immediately he was back in charge. He was the totally enlightened guru here, not this bald blow-hard. Two days after I heard Cohen speak in New York, he agreed to meet me at a compound in western Massachusetts that serves as his headquarters. The interview took place in a spacious, high-ceilinged room containing a long wooden table on which someone had placed a pitcher of water and two glasses. The rooms only decorations were a vase stuffed with flowers and a photograph of Cohen. After we sat at the table, Cohen asked me to remind him why I wanted to speak to him. As I responded, I was acutely aware of Cohen watching me, and suddenly I thought he was reading my mind. My heart raced, and my breathing became labored. Fortunately, this moment of bizarre panic passed, and I managed to tell Cohen that I was writing a book about mysticism. I wanted to explore whether mystical experienceand especially the state known as enlightenment--can give us a knowledge that we cannot get through science or any other means; Cohens magazine gave me the impression that he is interested in issues like this. Cohen nodded. His primary interest is the relationship "between mystical experience and human life and how to live," he said. "Because quite often spiritual seekers tend to get vague about the relationship between mystical experience and"he paused"what that means about life and how to live." As he continued speaking, Cohen seemed to drift in and out of focus. His eyes never rolled completely back into his head, as they had in his talk at the St. Moritz Hotel. But they glazed over at times, as if he was distracted by some inner vision, then locked onto mine with an unsettling directness. He kept his hands busy, chopping the air, pounding the table, even touching my hand now and then. Some of his riffs had an incantatory effect. He spoke rapidly in a low, soft voice, often reiterating a single idea with slight variations. Occasionally he labored to find the right word. I found this trait disarming; rather than serving up prepackaged riffs, Cohen seemed to be thinking aloud, putting effort into his responses. I also caught myself wondering: Would a truly enlightened person ever be at a loss for words? I decided to get my big question out of the way early, although it came out not as a question but as a statement: You are an enlightened person... "Well, I, I..." Cohen, to my gratification, seemed taken aback, but he quickly composed himself. "My policy is not to answer questions like that. I'd like for other people to make up their own minds." He paused. "You saw me teach the other night. Wasn't the implication rather direct?" Yes, it was, I replied. Enlightenment "is possible. It is real. And if you give enough of your heart and attention to that understanding, to that experience, then you are going to be able to realize it and manifest it yourself. Wasn't that the implication?" Yes, it was. "I wasn't holding back, was I?" No, you weren't. "I'm pretty bold."
A profile of the German anthropologist and authority on shamanism Christian Ratsch. The Anti-Gurus A profile of Diana Alstad and Joel Kramer, authors of The Guru Papers. A Modern Catholic Mystic A profile of the Benedictine monk Brother David Steindl-Rast. Beyond Belief A profile of the British Buddhist Stephen Batchelor. The Myth of the Totally Enlightened Guru A profile of the guru Andrew Cohen, founder of What Is Enlightenment?, with digressions on Yogi Bhajan and Amrit Desai.
Quick Links
Follow John Horgan on Twitter. Horgan discusses The End of War on The Diane Rehm Show, syndicated NPR program. Horgan discusses The End of War with Brian Lehrer on WNYC Radio. Horgan discusses The End of War on Reddit. Horgan defends his end-ofscience argument on The Edge. Authors Guild E-mail John Horgan
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You are pretty bold, I agreed. "I've gotten in a lot of trouble for being bold." Actually, in certain respects, Cohen was quite modest. He did not claim to have psychic powersor even an interest in paranormal phenomena. He found reincarnation plausible, but he had no personal recollection of past lives. Nor had enlightenment given him answers to deep metaphysical questions. Quite the contrary. "I live in a strange state," he explained, "where the only thing that I'm sure of is that I don't know." He gave me his dry smile. "But for some strange reason, that seems to give me a kind of confidence that's very unusual." Enlightenment does not solve the mystery of existence, he said; it illuminates the mystery. Awakening consists of knowing less and less and ultimately knowing nothing at all, arriving at a place of perfect stillness and peace. But because the self still desperately wants to know itself, this state of not-knowing co-exists with "an energetic, passionate, awakened curiosity," which is "part and parcel of the movement of creation itself." Ideally, Cohen said, you remain poised between these two states of not-knowing and wanting-to-know. The question that fascinates Cohen above all others is how nothing gave rise to something. "There was nothing. Then, for a reason that nobody really knows, out of nothing came something." He said nothing and something in a sing-song, Mr. Rogers-ish voice, as if speaking to a toddler. Cohen did not claim to know the answer to this question. "My personal opinion is there is never going to be an answer to that question." I asked if enlightenment reveals any divine intelligence or plan according to which the universe unfolds. "What that plan really is ultimately begins to depend on you," Cohen replied with a wide-eyed grin. When you become enlightened, you "begin to play a part in who and what God is and what his plan is for this moment," he said. "There is no God that is separate from that realization, that is separate from you." Cohen derided the notionpromulgated by New Agers and traditional believers alike--that everything that happens to us has been divinely ordained or at the very least happens for a reason. "The narcissism in that kind of thinking is so blatant, I mean, it's almost laughable." Pain and suffering often occur in a random fashion, Cohen assured me. He and his Indian-born wife, Alka, were crossing a street in New York City a few years earlier when they were hit by a car and almost killed. "I was going, Why did this happen? And I realized that it didn't happen for any particular reason. It just happened." Yet Cohens belief in his own specialness kept coming to the fore. Those who are enlightened, he said, by definition can do no wrong. They "are no longer acting out of ignorance, in ways that are causing suffering to other people." They display "an unusual and rare consistency" in "their words, in their deeds, in their relationship to life." Over and over he emphasized how few have reached his level of spirituality. Mystical experiences alone, he said, do not lead to enlightenment; Cohen has known thousands of people who have had "very powerful spiritual experiences" without truly transcending their egos. Cohen recalled meeting only two fully enlightened people, both Indians: a guru named Aija, who was once committed by his family to a mental hospital and spent years wandering through India naked; and a woman named Vimala Thakar. None of Cohens students have become liberated. To be sure, he said, many have had brief awakenings; some had insights so strong that they wanted to become teachers in their own right. But Cohen helped them to see that their desire to leave Andrew and become independent teachers stemmed from pridefulness. I could not let this pass. I pointed out that Cohen himself has said that he became fully liberated only after dissolving his relationship with his guru, Poonjaji. Shouldnt he help his students achieve independence from him? Cohen shook his head. He reminded me that Poonjaji was imperfect; if you find a truly enlightened, perfect teacher, there is no reason to leave him. "Let's say the Buddha was alive today. Let's say someone that great, that enlightened, that pure, that perfect, with such a great teaching, was still alive. I mean, could someone be too attached to someone like that?" Yes, I replied. I did not see how you could be truly liberated while remaining dependent upon another human, even one as great as the Buddha. But one cannot be too dependent upon a truly enlightened person, Cohen said, exasperated. "The more attached you get to a person like that, the more free, literally, you become." Cohen derided the importance that people in general, and westerners in particular, give to independence. He had begun slapping the table to emphasize points. "Look," he said forcefully. "Anybody"Slap!"who wants to be free is going to have to bend his knee." The mind "must surrender!" Slap! "However that happens, it doesn't really matter, as long as it happens." Liberation cannot occur until the ego, the "root of all evil," is obliterated. Enlightenment "is all about being nobody. It's going from something to nothing, someone to no one." Even some very powerful teachers still manifest egotistical pride, and a need to be revered by their followers. "You can be a powerfully realized being and be an egomaniac! You can be a super-egomaniac!" Achieving total self-transcendence is extraordinarily difficult, Cohen said. "You have to leave the world and everyone in it behind forever and never return again.
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Okay? To be an independent teacher"Slap!"in the way that I am, means you...stand...alone." Cohen has no friends in the usual sense, and even his relationship with his wife is to some extent impersonal. There is "no kind of personal relationship or personal affection I have for anybody that is going to interfere with my interest in the truth." If his personal desires ever interfere with his commitment to truth, "then everything would fall apart!" Cohen erupted into high-pitched, staccato laughter. Living on the mountaintop may have made Cohen cold. For a self-professed Bodhisattva, he was awfully contemptuous of human frailty. He bragged to me about how he had scolded a schizophrenic student for blaming his problems on his mental illness instead of taking responsibility for himself. Cohen frowns on psychotherapy, which he believes coddles the ego. Those who combine spiritual practice with psychotherapy often have "a softness about them, and a humility, a sensitivity," Cohen said. "But the fire of liberation"Slap!"won't be coming out of their eyes!" As a result of all Cohens slapping, my glass of water had slid to the edge of the table and was about to topple onto my lap. I slid it back to the center of the table. One of my favorite issues of Cohens journal What Is Enlightenment is titled "The Self Masters: Are They Enlightened?" It considers the differences between eastern-style gurus like Cohen and western "self masters" such as Anthony Robbins and Jack LaLanne, who preach the power of positive thinking to make us healthy and wealthy. The issue features a comical dialogue between the fitness mogul LaLanne and Cohen. Cohen keeps trying to get LaLanne to talk about the need for submission to a higher power, and LaLanne keeps reiterating that his success stems from his belief in himself. Forget all this spirituality hooey, LaLanne declares. What people need is a better diet, more exercise, and plain old positive thinking! By the end of the interview, Cohen has been reduced to a nerdy New Ager standing in awe before the force of nature that is Jack LaLanne. In an introduction to the interview, Cohen dismisses LaLannes philosophy as "one-dimensional," but he also expresses admiration for the exercise guru: "How many of us can claim to know the peace of mind and purity of heart of one such as Jack LaLanne?" I suspect that Cohen sees LaLanne as a kindred spirit. For all his talk about our need for submission, Cohen has forged his own guruhood out of sheer willpower and faith in himself. If Cohen believes, unwaveringly, that he is the equivalent of Christ and Buddha and other Bodhisattvas, then his belief will bemust be! fulfilled. Cohen describes enlightenment as a form of not-knowing. And yet his guruhood, his entire life, revolves around his belief inhis knowledge of--his own unsurpassed perfection. To borrow a phrase, Cohen is a super-egomanic. His casual contempt for us ordinary, egotistical humans is frightening, as is his belief that, as an enlightened being who has transcended good and evil, he can do no harm. Cohen may not be a monster, as his mother claims, but he has the capacity to become one. If Cohen settled for being human instead of perfect, hed probably be a better teacher, and a better man. After Cohen and I had spoken for several hours, we ate a vegetarian lunch with two of his male students. Both had an interest in science; they had helped put together an issue of What Is Enlightenment? devoted to science. Aware that I write about science, the two disciples asked my opinion of various fields, theories, theorists. Delighted by their deference, I pontificated about superstring theory, artificial intelligence, and other scientific arcana. Meanwhile, part of me was aware of Cohen at my side, quietly watching me. I had a sudden vision of how I must have appeared through his eyes: vain, self-absorbed, smug in my paltry knowledge. I silently gave thanks that I was not in thrall to this guru. As soon as this lunch was over I would walk away from him, free to be my flawed, foolish self. Postscript: The Kripalu Affair Several months after my meeting with Andrew Cohen, my misgivings about the myth of total enlightenment were inforced by a visit to Kripalu, a yoga center just down the street from Cohens compound in Lenox, Massachusetts. One of Kripalus most popular teachers is Michael Carroll, a whippet-thin man in his early 40s with short dark hair who is also known as Yoganand. In the late 1970s, when he was a college student in South Carolina, he fell under the spell of an up-and-coming Indian-born guru named Amrit Desai. Carroll dropped out of college and followed Desai from South Carolina to Massachusetts, where Desai established the Kripalu center. In the late 1980s, with Desais encouragement, Carroll became a monk, with no responsibilities except the pursuit of total enlightenment. Desai gave Carroll a new name: Yoganand. He shaved his head, wore a robe, and meditated at least ten hours a day. His weight dropped to 108 pounds. Carroll practiced Brahmacharya, a yogic discipline that prohibits sexual intercourse and masturbation and discourages even casual interaction with members of the opposite sex. Although Desai was married and had three children, he had told the community that he and his wife now practiced Brahmacharya. Beginning in 1986, however, rumors circulated at Kripalu that Desai had committed adultery with one and possibly more female devotees. Desai publicly denied the charges. He also privately insisted on his innocence to Carroll, and Carroll believed him. Carroll
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and the rest of the Kripalu community were therefore devastated in 1994 when their guru finally confessed to several affairs and resigned. Carroll described this period as a kind of reverse awakening. He realized that he had devoted his entire adult life to a man who, far from being an enlightened saint, was a liar and philanderer. Approaching middle age, Carroll had never had a regular job; except for a brief relationship in college, he had never been involved with a woman. Renouncing his monkhood, he let his hair grow, exchanged his robes for western clothes, began dating. Together with other former devotees of Desai, he helped to recreate Kripalu as a guru-less yoga school. Carroll had many powerful mystical visions during his years as a monk. Now the meaning of those experiences had changed for him. Before he had seen them as steps taking him toward enlightenment. Now, he no longer believed in enlightenment, at least if it is defined as spiritual perfection. Nor did he believe in God, an afterlife, reincarnation, or any absolute truth. How could he be certain of anything, after what had happened to him? Carroll saw the future as a great mystery now. He had no idea where it would lead. He had traded his pursuit of enlightenment for worldly ambitions. He wanted to be a successful yoga teacher, and to help make Kripalu a successful center. He wanted to make money, so that he could buy things for himself and his girlfriend. He was thinking of writing a book. He still could not forgive the guru he had once worshipped; he called Desai a "pervert" and "liar." But to my mind, Carroll was fortunate that his guru was a lying philanderer, and exposed as such. If Amrit Desai had not been so imperfect, Carroll might still be living the life of a monk, meditating for more than ten hours a day in pursuit of enlightenment, sealed off from the messy, painful, baffling world.
How to create a cult in five easy steps
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PLAY ON PEOPLE'S NEED TO BELIEVE TO CREATE A CULT LIKE FOLLOWING JUDGMENT People have an overwhelming desire to believe in something. Become the focal point of such desire by offering them a cause, a new faith to follow. Keep your words vague but full of promise; emphasize enthusiasm over ra- tionality and clear thinking. Give your new disciples rituals to perform, ask them to make sacrifices on your behalf. In the absence of organized religion and grand causes, your new belief system will bring you untold power: THE SCIENCE OF CHARLATANISM, OR HOW TO CREATE A CULT IN FIVE, EASY STEPS In searching, as you must, for the methods that will gain you the most power for the least effort, you will find the creation of a cultlike following one of the most effective. Having a large following opens up all sorts of possibilities for deception; not only will your followers worship you, they will defend you from your enemies and will voluntarily take on the work of enticing others to join your fledgling cult. This kind of power will lift you to another realm: You will no longer have to struggle or use subterfuge to enforce your will. You are adored and can do no wrong. You might think it a gargantuan task to create such a following, but in fact it is fairly simple. As humans, we have a desperate need to believe in something, anything. This makes us eminently gullible: We simply cannot endure long periods of doubt, or of the emptiness that comes from a lack of something to believe in. Dangle in front of us some new cause, elixir, getrich-quick scheme, or the latest technological trend or art movement and we leap from the water as one to take the bait. Look at history: The chronicles of the new trends and cults that have made a mass following for themselves could fill a library. After a few centuries. a few decades. a few years. a few months, they generally look ridiculous, but at the time they seem so attractive, so transcendental, so divine. Always in a rush to believe in something, we will manufacture saints and faiths out of nothing. Do not let this gullibility go to waste: Make yourself the object of worship. Make people form a cult around you. The great European charlatans of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries mastered the art of cultmaking. They lived, as we do now, in a time of transformation: Organized religion was on the wane, science on the rise. People were desperate to rally around a new cause or faith. The charlatans had begun by peddling health elixirs and alchemic shortcuts to wealth. Moving quickly from town to town, they originally focused on small groups-until, by accident, they stumbled on a truth of human nature: The larger the group they gathered
http://www.lermanet.com/deprogramming/five-steps-to-create-a-cult.htm
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around themselves, the easier it was to deceive.The charlatan would station himself on a high wooden platform (hence the term "mountebank") and crowds would swarm around him. In a group setting, people were more emotional, less able to reason. Had the charlatan spoken to them individually, they might have found him ridiculous, but lost in a crowd they got caught up in a communal mood of rapt attention. It became impossible for them to find the distance to be skeptical. Any deficiencies in the charlatan's ideas were hidden by the zeal of the mass. Passion and enthusiasm swept through the crowd like a contagion, and they reacted violently to anyone who dared to spread a seed of doubt. Both consciously studying this dynamic over decades of experiment and spontaneously adapting to these situations as they happened, the charlatans perfected the science of attracting and holding a crowd, molding the crowd into followers and the followers into a cult. The gimmicks of the charlatans may seem quaint today, but there are thousands of charlatans among us still, using the same tried-and-true methods their predecessors refined centuries ago, only changing the names of their elixirs and modernizing the look of their cults. We find these latterday charlatans in all arenas of life-business, fashion, politics, art. Many of them, perhaps, are following in the charlatan tradition without having any knowledge of its history, but you can be more systematic and deliberate. Simply follow the five steps of cultmaking that our charlatan ancestors perfected over the years. Step I: Keep It Vague; Keep It Simple. To create a cult you must first attract attention. This you should do not through actions, which are too clear and readable, but through words, which are hazy and deceptive. Your initial speeches, conversations, and interviews must include two elements: on the one hand the promise of something great and transformative, and on the other a total vagueness. This combination will stimulate all kinds of hazy dreams in your listeners, who will make their own connections and see what they want to see. To make your vagueness attractive, use words of great resonance but cloudy meaning, words full of heat and enthusiasm. Fancy titles for simple things are helpful, as are the use of numbers and the creation of new words for vague concepts. All of these create the impression of specialized knowledge, giving you a veneer of profundity. By the same token, try to make the subject of your cult new and fresh, so that few will understand it. Done right, the combination of vague promises, cloudy but alluring concepts, and fiery enthusiasm will stir people's souls and a group will form around you. Talk too vaguely and you have no credibility. But it is more dangerous to be specific. If you explain in detail the benefits people will gain by following your cult, you will be expected to satisfy them. As a corollary to its vagueness your appeal should also be simple. Most people's problems have complex causes: deep-rooted neurosis, interconnected social factors, roots that go way back in time and are exceed ingly hard to unravel. Few, however, have the patience to deal with this:most people want to hear that a simple solution will cure their problems.
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The ability to offer this kind of solution will give you great power and build you a following. Instead of the complicated explanations of real life, return to the primitive solutions of our ancestors, to good old country remedies, to mysterious panaceas. Step 2: Emphasize the Visual and the Sensual over the Intellectual. Once people have begun to gather around you, two dangers will present themselves: boredom and skepticism. Boredom will make people go elsewhere; skepticism will allow them the distance to think rationally about whatever it is you are offering, blowing away the mist you have artfully created and revealing your ideas for what they are. You need to amuse the bored, then, and ward off the cynics. The best way to do this is through theater, or other devices of its kind. Surround yourself with luxury, dazzle your followers with visual splendor, fill their eyes with spectacle. Not only will this keep them from seeing the ridiculousness of your ideas, the holes in your belief system, it will also attract more attention, more followers. Appeal to all the senses: Use incense for scent, soothing music for hearing, colorful charts and graphs for the eye. You might even tickle the mind, perhaps by using new technological gadgets to give your cult a pseudo-scientific veneer-as long as you do not make anyone really think. Use the exotic-distant cultures, strange customs-to create theatrical effects, and to make the most banal ordinary affairs seem signs of something extraordinary. Step 3: Borrow the Forms of Organized Religion to Structure the Group. Your cultlike following is growing; it is time to organize it. Find a way both elevating and comforting. Organized religions have long held unquestioned authority for large numbers of people, and continue to do so in our supposedly secular age. And even if the religion itself has faded some, its forms still resonate with power. The lofty and holy associations of organized religion can be endlesslv exploited. (Does not apply to a certain online group) Create rituals for your followers: organize organize them into a hierarchy, ranking then in grades of sanctity, and giving them names and tides that resound with religious overtones; ask them for sacrifices that will fill your coffers and increase your power. To emphasize your gathering's quasi-religious nature, talk and act like a prophet. You are not a dictator, after all; you are a priest, a guru, a sage, a shaman, or any other word that hides your real power in the mist of religion. Step 4: Disguise Your Source of Income. Your group has grown, and you have structured it in a churchlike form. Your coffers are beginning to fill with your followers' money. Yet you must never be seen as hungry for money and the power it brings. It is at this moment that you must disguise the source of your income. Your followers want to believe that if they follow you all sorts of good things will fall into their lap. By surrounding yourself with luxury you become living proof of the soundness of your belief system. Never reveal that your wealth actually comes from your followers' pockets; instead, make it seem to come from the truth of your methods. Followers will copy your each and every move in the belief that it will bring them the same results, and their imitative enthusiasm will blind them to the charlatan nature of your wealth. Step 5: Set Up an Us-Versus-Them Dynamic. The group is now large and thriving, a magnet attracting more and more particles. If you are not careful, though, inertia will set in, and time
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and boredom will demagnetize the group. To keep your followers united, you must now do what all religions and belief systems have done: create an us-versus-them dynamic. First, make sure your followers believe they are part of an exclusive club unified by a bond of common goals. Then to stregthen this bond, manufactre the notion of a devious enemy out to ruin you. There is a force of nonbelievers that will do anything to stop you. Any outsider who tries to reveal the charlatan nature of your belief system can now be described as member of this devious force. If you have no enemies, invent one. Given a straw man to react against your, your followers will tighten and cohere. They have your cause to believe in and infidels to destroy. REVERSAL One reason to create a following is that a group is often easier to deceive than an individual, and turns over to you that much more power. This comes, however, with a danger: If at any moment the group sees through you, you will find yourself facing not one deceived soul but an angry crowd that will tear you to pieces as avidly as it once followed you. The charlatans constantly faced this danger, and were always ready to move out of town as it inevitably became clear that their elixirs did not work and their ideas were sham. Too slow and they paid with their lives. In playing with the crowd, you are playing with fire, and must constantly keep an eye out for any sparks of doubt, any enemies who will turn the crowd against you. When you play with the emotions of a crowd, you have to know how to adapt, attuning yourself instantaneously to all of the moods and desires that a group will produce. Use spies, be on top of everything, and keep your bags packed. For this reason you may often prefer to deal with people one by one. Isolating them from their normal milieu can have the same effect as putting them in a group-it makes them more prone to suggestion and intimida tion. Choose the right sucker and if he eventually sees through you he may prove easier to escape than a crowd. END http://arnielerma.lermanet.com Arnaldo Lerma Lermanet.com Exposing the CON WE COME BACK FOR OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY to get them out alive I'd prefer to die speaking my mind than live fearing to speake If the Borg were to breed with the Ferengi you'd get Scientology! 29 November 1995 - Memorandum Opinion Judge Leonie Brinkema "the Court is now convinced that the primary motivation of RTC in suing Lerma, DGS and The Post is to stifle criticism of Scientology in general and to harass its critics. "
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The internet is the Liberty Tree http://theunfunnytruth.ytmnd.com http://www.lermanet.com/idacamburn/cultsandkids.htm http://www.lermanet.com/faqs.html#psychiatry http://www.lermanet.com/exit/hubbard-the-hypnotist4.htm http://www.lermanet.com/scientology-and-occult/
"Scientologists believe that most human problems can be traced to lingering spirits of an extraterrestrial people massacred by their ruler, Xenu, over 75 million years ago. These spirits attach themselves by "clusters" to individuals in the contemporary world, causing spiritual harm and negatively influencing the lives of their hosts" [Judge Leonie Brinkema 4 Oct 96 Memorandum Opinion] What do we get from getting people out of scientology? We create an individual who has become a Houdini of all mind traps.. folks who won't be fooled again. People who can DE-program, People who can spring mental traps.. We create, by freeing someone of scientology, a being who has the ability to break the strongest slave chains of all. Those forged of lies. (c) Arnaldo Lerma
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities Voltaire (1694 - 1778)
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13-Feb-13
Untitled 40 Ways to Leave Your (Divine) Lover
While we've been reminiscing about the long, strange fall from grace that Siddha Yoga has suffered these past ten years, a parallel process may have begun over in Amritananda Mayi land. As reported in Guruphiliac, the longtime personal assistant of the hugging saint (as Amritananda is affectionately known) fled her 20-year gig and her Guru's ashram under cover of darkness. After many years spent hiding and in silence, Gail Tredwell found her way to the exAmma Yahoo chat board, joined the site and "came out" to the community a year or so ago with an open letter that details 40 reasons why she left. She is currently writing a book about her experiences. I've excerpted her letter below, which can be read in its entirety on the French website Le Blog Des Infidles. The blog owner has also posted an interview with Gayatri, or Gail, there (in English). And any of you who may miss the "the Guru is an omniscient being who is beyond being judged by the standards of normal human behavior" line of bunk, there is a very long and belabored and nine-kinds-of-crazy example posted by an unhinged individual by the likely name of Ram Das in the comments section of the same blog. Lastly, and because no yogic path scandal would be complete without a major magazine expos! here is a link to the Rolling Stone article on Amma, which also covers Tredwell's defection. ----------------------------------To explain for those who don't know who I am/was. I was Amma's personal attendant for 20 years. I arrived in Jan. 1980 when she was Sudhamani living with her parents and left in Nov. 1999. I was nicknamed 'Amma's shadow' because I was constantly by her side and lived in her quarters. I can speak fluent Malayalam so language was never a barrier to understand what was going on. It would not be an exaggeration to say I know her better than anyone in the world.
A few days after I escaped, when I was still in hiding, feeling hunted I sat at my laptop and wrote down the reasons why I chose to leave. I wrote them as a reminder in case I ever forgot. After writing it 12 years ago I read it again for the first time just now. I have not edited it...thought I should leave it in it's raw state. Hopefully, this will answer some of your questions. Reasons why I left the Ashram 1. Loss of faith 2. Not happy for years 3. No harmony amongst seniors 4. No manners from the seniors 5. Too much politics between the seniors 6. No love between the seniors 7. I felt extremely unloved 8. And unsupported 9. And untrusted Page 1
Untitled 10. Absolutely worn out on every level 11. Too much stress 12. Routine too gruelling 13. Never any concern given for physical well being nor emotions which are alsoa very important part of spirituality 14. Partiality shown between the men and women, east and west, rich and poor 15. Swamis arrogance, back stabbing, cruelty, hatred, power struggles. 16. Amma's obvious favouritism towards them 17. Giving too much money and gold to her family members and at the same timedenied Suneeti private hospitalisation. 18. Too many secret things going on. 19. Too much scheming, plotting, planning and suspicion 20. No sweet spiritual feeling of love or compassion from amma behind the scenesonly anger, gossip, criticism, revenge, suspicion, business, violence or secretmeetings with the swamis. 21. Terrorism - in a subtle sense not with guns or anything. 22. Violence (mental, emotional, psychological and physical. 23. Horrible yelling and shrieking like a demon 24. Constant accusing me of being a good for nothing and always angry at mewhich always would make my guts cringe and constantly putting me down. 25. Not allowed to feel happy, if you do you should be guilty 26. Guilt if you rest, laugh, take care of your body 27. Money, money, money that is the main aim and you are good if you try andmake as much as you can for the ashram even if you squeeze. Amma used to praisepeople for this 28. Lying, cheating 29. Copying from other writers and books then using amma's name on them andcalling it her teachings. Also none of the speeches which were made at U.N. orChicago were her own, they were Swamijis from some books or possibly his headthat I don't know. 30. Having to tell untrue miracles in talks, she herself would make them up forus. 31. Worn out from heat and crowds and the culture of India, also the jail likelifestyle in the Indian ashram 32. Suppressed and oppress and even hit and abused constantly by the swamis. 33. Too many institutions and projects but not enough capable people to runthem, therefore endless problems which would then fall on my head. 34. Never been understood, or acknowledges for any participation which I had inthe ashram. Never been considered in any major decisions to be made even if itwas which girls should get yellow. Even that swamiji would try and decide,until I would put my foot down. 35. Not enough protection given to girls sent to branches. Just go! Whether theyhave a place to stay or not no problem, whether they are by themselves in a hugeschool overnight, no problem. 36. No questions allowed. Just shut your mouth or you will be considered fortreason, betrayal and a cheat, you are unloyal to amma and the ashram. 37. Scandalous the way the flats have been built, so much money charged, nomaintenance even though the people pay the same. D block has been built rightin the face of A and B. The buildings were not even finished properly withcracks everywhere and sloppy cement everywhere. Plumbing stinks and leaks allover the steps. Try and maintain and keep clean the existing ones beforestarting more skyscrapers. 38. The residents i.e. Indian are not fed properly. They are also overworked.Even amma would criticize that some girls were drinking milk, she would tell tosell all the fruit and not to give the residents. I would still give it now andthen. They all look so anemic. 39. Amma's obvious revenge and hatred towards anybody who has left the ashram. Getting even with Page 2
Untitled them, not allowing them to move on or get a job `let themsuffer for a while' her famous quote. Where is understanding and forgiveness,compassion that she teaches so strongly about. Okay, yes she doesn't want toencourage anybody to leave but is keeping them in the ashram by fear of thefuture or the consequences healthy. 40. Only Hinduism is any good, narrow minded attitude of the swamis againstChristianity. Only your guru is any good. I understand that my list of reasons was vague....like I said it was written years ago when I was in a state of trauma. Without going into too much detail I will try to clarify some of your questions. Many of the topics have been covered in detail in my book and will give a clear and rounded understanding with specific details and examples. Yours sincerely, Gail a.k.a. Gayatri
Posted by SeekHer at 2:44 PM
12 comments:
Anonymous said... OMG yes. I devoured that Rolling Stone Amma article when it came out last August. And you thought your own (former) path was off-the-charts bad? The RS story on Amma almost reads like an Onion spoof of SY. Be sure to check out the cabbage patch Amma dolls at her website gift shop. Holy Mother of God! January 10, 2013 at 2:58 PM SeekHer said... my fave dose of Amma crazy comes in Ram Das comments when he writes: "To any who have not met Amma, I heartily recommend that you come and see for yourself what Amma does, day in a day out: hugging thousands of people often for 14 or more hours without a break, listening to their sorrows, giving loving advice, and tirelessly sacrificing her body to give comfort and solace to the masses. At the end of each program her clothes are completely stained by their sweat. This is not real love? " I think I just threw up a little. January 10, 2013 at 3:17 PM Anonymous said... Having been hugged by Amma, Ram Das has this backwards. I was stained her HER sweat. January 10, 2013 at 3:29 PM Page 3
Untitled Anonymous said... How cinematic! This scene is far more entertaining than any in Eat, Pray, Love: "People are coming to her with everything from coconuts to candy bars to handmade crafts, and for those who forgot to bring something, a table is set up at the start of the line where gifts for Amma are for sale: bouquets of flowers ranging from $5 to $20, a Toblerone bar for $5. (One staff member, I notice, has the job of collecting the bouquets in a basket and then running them back to the table, where they are resold throughout the day.) Before my hug, a plump guy in his forties with greasy brown hair shows up with a package of pecan cookies for Amma. She opens it with the zeal of a small child, and as she places a cookie in her mouth, two of her staff members rush in, cupping their hands under her mouth to ensure she doesn't dribble any crumbs into the hair of the man, whose face is now buried in her chest. As Amma holds him, she hands what is now a Blessed Cookie out into the crowd, and I watch as it is broken into minuscule pieces crumbs, really which are savored by those surrounding her." http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-hugging-saint-20120816#ixzz2HbsBBWDl January 10, 2013 at 4:23 PM Anonymous said... >>" (One staff member, I notice, has the job of collecting the bouquets in a basket and then running them back to the table, where they are resold throughout the day.) ><<
errrrr...this used to be one of my sevas at the Temple in Fallsburg...once (towards the end of my tenure), I marked a coconut just for fun...it showed up five times in the darshan basket (before it was turned into "prasad")...someone sure had a HUGE "ego"..smile. Coconuts..the gifts that just keep on giving..and giving...and giving.
OS January 10, 2013 at 4:57 PM SeekHer said... Anon 2:58 As OS has pointed out---lots of what the Amma Rolling Stone story covered went on in front of and behind the scenes in SY as well. People forget what it was like before G stopped giving darshan---the endless lines that went on for hours, the mountains of useless gifts (before word was quietly spread that it was more selfless to give checks, oh and don't bother earmarking what project or purpose you were giving it for, the Guru already knows...) My fave personal darshan gift story is this. One day I was walking down the street and saw an Asian girl selling little rosewood and glass pagodas on the sidewalk. Each one was filled with a different hand-carved cork tableau worked in dazzlingly intricate detail. I asked her about them and she said her grandfather learned the craft in China and they were one-of-a-kind and all painstakingly handmade by him. My eye alighted on a large, very expensive one that depicted a bridge flowing over a stream with trees and rocks and tiny flowers--and two lovers, one standing on either end. I bought it on the spot. G was about to leave Fallsburg for India and when I went up in darshan for the final Labor Day program of the summer I left it at her feet, with a note saying that the pagoda symbolized there will always be a Page 4
Untitled bridge between us no matter how far apart we are-- or some such treacle. The next week I walked into a dollar store and saw hundreds of the same pagoda stacked against the wall, selling for a few bucks each. Made in China alright, probably by slave labor. The gift turned out to be as much of a sham as the relationship it was meant to celebrate. Somehow, that seems perfect. January 10, 2013 at 5:32 PM SeekHer said... On a more serious note re: the Gayatri 40. Amazing how similar it is to SY life in the ashram among long time full time slavites. The constant unrelenting crushing pressure every day, day after day, do, do, do, do, do more and do it all again. How does this crazy making continual massive change serve anyone's spiritual progress? Paths that are supposed to be about turning people within end up being about making the outer drama absolutely hellish. The best evidence that it was all about money all along, and control. January 10, 2013 at 6:12 PM Anonymous said... On a comparative note, I will say this: At least GM let us stand and WALK down the darshan line. Ammachi has her darshan visitors sit crosslegged on the floor for hours. They have stay seated and "scoot their butts" across the floor as the line slowly, slowly advances. Thins those way long darhan lines with GM that lasted hours were long? Not so, compared to those going up to Ammachi. January 10, 2013 at 7:24 PM Anonymous said... I love, really love the Amma dolls...bet SY is kicking themselves for not coming up with this brilliant marketing ploy. Perfect expression of the dependence in the guru relationship...need a hug, hug your overpriced guru doll! January 10, 2013 at 9:10 PM SeekHer said... Hey all: Doing some long delayed spring cleaning in deleting old spam messages from earlier posts. Don't think this should affect unmoderated commenting, but if you have any problems give a shout. Email address is ritualsofdisenchantment@gmail.com
January 11, 2013 at 2:00 PM Anonymous said... Message is up on SY site: Mantra Japa January 13, 2013 at 8:03 PM Anonymous said... Whydo the MCs always pronounce Gurumayi's name in the most affected possible way? Just listened to the sound bite. Page 5
Untitled January 13, 2013 at 10:06 PM
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