Pushing past resistance

[Nilo]

[soaring crane]

[TzuJanLi]

Greetings..

 

Hi Soaring Crane: I'll second that evaluation.. especially regarding "The Secret"..

 

Be well..

[gendao]

I've grown to be a bit wary of "Western pop" New Age gurus. Many seem to overcommercialize ancient traditions that they are underqualified to conduct and pass down. Whereas in indigenous cultures, there's more codified training to accomplish before one is deemed a qualified "guide" or "master."

 

Things usually still work out ok, but with a lack of experience and decreased safety factors...risk gets "imperceptibly" increased along the outer boundaries of these experiences. Hence, harmful effects aren't really seen until they start pushing things too hard or incremental damage builds up over an extended period of time (like with smoking)...

To see how long one can stay in the sweat is never the point of any sweatlodge. Besides causing 3 deaths, this total bastardization of an authentic and powerful Amerindian ritual is totally disgusting to me and makes my blood boil. I'm thinking of writing the Arizona D.A. to give him ideas as to how to make his case for making the stiffest criminal penalties stick to Ray--by using authentic Amerindian medicine men as expert witnesses and presenting to a jury how far this puke departed from safe and correct Amerindian practices.

 

Sifu Terence Dunn

I think from this standpoint, the post-colonialist fantasy where a clueless outsider can infiltrate a minority native tribe and master their ways in just a matter of weeks...can be an arrogant and even dangerous one. And underlying this fantasy is also a postmodern "deficit-spending" mentality of instant gratification and "something for nothing" (see "The Secret"). Which may often lead one to take risky "shortcuts" or "overspend" and (often unknowingly) run up various forms of debt (that must be paid back later).

 

Anyhow, I think it's fine to dabble in the New Age fads (like snacks)...but ideally your foundational main course will consist of a more sustaining, time-tested fare.

Edited February 5, 2010 by vortex

[elmer]

"The self-help superstar who teaches people about financial and spiritual wealth uses free seminars to recruit followers to more expensive events."

 

Isn't it misleading, yet provocatively marketable, to be a guru that promises not only spiritual, but financial wealth? Not that the two are mutually exclusive, but one can easily see how the attachment to financial wealth might negatively influence one's spiritual "wealth"...

[Guest paul walter]

Of course he/we will probably have to wait for the afterlife before a verdict of guilty can be passed for his murdering of peoples' souls as well. I don't think it's right to say the New Agers are in any way connected to ancient traditions. It's like saying McDonalds are in the same tradition of the chef Escoffier simply because they both are involved in the cooking of foodstuffs. All in all, it's safer to get a water-proof copy of the TTC and read it in the bath. Paul

Edited February 6, 2010 by paul walter

[Birch]

I should probably check the archives but I'm thinking, wouldn't a thread about "The Secret" be a good one to start? If you look at the predecessors of this text/movie/industry.

 

I believe Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" was one of them at least that did mention the sublimation or circulation of sexual energy.

 

Edit: I should also mention that the disaster caused by this man was also caused by our (and maybe I should just speak for myself) desire to seek happiness, health and prosperity in a society where such things are apparently freely available already. Seriously. WTF?

Edited February 6, 2010 by Kate