Thursday, June 10, 2010

Advaita Space Cadets

There is some great stuff in this Advita game but nearly all who is see playing it have a level of BS they are hiding in. Its used as a way of staying small and meek, which i find boring. I call them Advaita Space Cadets.

Here is one great example

There is No "Authority" For This: Charles Hayes

I love him and where he is coming from but he spaces out at about 4 mins in, really he plays a typical avoidance game. Avoiding his passion by disowning his selfhood. He is obviously passionate and calls it 'just what is happening', sure, its is 'whats happening' duh; but, dropping ownership and authorship is not sexy and not powerful. Its a great way of being a doormat and learning how to stay as one. Is that really a good thing.. well i guess it is if that what you want to be.

Yes all is empty and I is pure emptiness.. but I is.. and 'I' have excited intent, denial of which is just denial of myself. This self denial is not true emptiness, its simply a non acceptance of who we are. Don't buy the bullshit, its shame of self empowerment. You are empty, but the more of you you are the more you have all the power to move and express whatever is true without having to tone it down for anyone in words or any other games.

Here is another great example with Wayne Liquorman on power

Happiness in abdication is the message and sure you can be free in that. But I don't believe a word of it. If it is your truth to be totally abdicated, then i would say yes I believe you. But I certainly have more passion and excitement for life than that.

So for me these Advaita guys are lost and playing it very safe, they draw meaning in no meaning of self. Meaning in no meaning is the egoic trap of the Advaita word game. But to pretend no identity is an attachment none the less. Avoidance of anything is in fact the opposite of being unattached to it.

The notable exception for me is mooji, he seems present, humorously articulate and very alive in the moment. check out 'No Special Effects Needed'

At the end of the day the modern Advaita point simply becomes an attention seeking, having denied themselves, the 'teachers' have to keep talking about it to get the self validation from others.

OK they have discovered some basic facts about consciousness and experience, but to me the modern Advaita presentation is an escape, a complaint, and simple self denial, a 'spacing out' of life. I don't see fulfilment in that, its a stage and a valid place of experience, sure.

I am grateful for the offering as its a reflection of who I don't want to be. And I am glad there is so much more.

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I am making a list of the advaita 'space cadets' below as i find them.

Life as it "IS", Jeff Foster

Here Jeff is on about the failure of seeking. In this talk he does not do so much of the typical adviata abdication speak but goes on with another common advaita theme around 'seeking'. He seems like a nice chap but to me is simply talking about being an adult and accepting life for what it is. If dad had told him 'your ok son' maybe he would not have had to be doing all this seeking in the first place. What is a bit sad is that he calls is a 'failure' to seek. Well if you 'grew up' after the journey of looking, what's so bad about that ? He has a good space out at 7:15 talking about the 'threat of hopelessness' i recon he could have actually gone into something interesting about his own personal fears there but, he stays out of being present and keeps in his story.


Introduction to The Teaching Part 1 - Wayne Liquorman

Around 2:12 Wayne says 'Consciousness is not an object and the only thing we can possibly know is something.' Again abdication of responsibility. Consciousness, sure is not an object, but can and does experience in the world we live in. The experience is real even if the object is not. And this real experience of the object can and is known even though is not an object. So he is talking nonsense again. He then goes on to make it all about the mystical and at at 3:25 after talking about mystical union he seems to enter a delusional state and spaces out before he jumps back and says 'so this is what we are about'

1 comment:

Anna said...

I love this! I read this yesterday - a piece about Gurdjieff's ideas, which says the self is not to be denied, we need to revel in existence as much as transcendental qualities of being:
"We understand the ordinary pursuits of our lives responding to desires to be educated, well thought of, useful, admired, superior, wealthy or spiritual, as examples of Holy Denyings. We try to meet these denyings with our conscious efforts in our search which we call Holy Affirming. Both are of equal substance and importance."

http://www.gurdjieff-internet.com/article_details.php?ID=263&W=4