kdag Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> allalong,
>
> I understand your concern. I would definitely
> NOT lump The Dalai Lama in with the
> charlatans. He is a legitimate religious leader.
> I don't know as much about Thich Nhat Hanh, but i
> believe that he is also legit.
Oops. I meant no disrespect to Buddhists. I don't know why I lumped The Dalai Lama or Thich Nhat Hanh in there. I think I'm just being careful of spiritual types of messages. My apologies if I offended anyone. That was a mistake. I know so little about this, and I am just looking to understand who the true gurus are. Thank you for pointing this out.
>
> It is my understanding that the books by Don
> Miguel Ruiz draw from the Toltec tradition. I have
> no reason to think of him as a cult leader, but
> maybe others have more information than me.
From what I've read and heard, he isn't cultish either. I should not have included him or TNH either.
>
> I have been "New Age" since the 70's. At that
> time, it was just a bunch of people exploring
> spirituality, energy, psychic phenomena, etc.
> They developed their personal philosophies
> according to what they intuited/ believed. It was
> not organized.
That is interesting to hear. Too bad we can't get back to the way things were back then.
>
> Between then and now, certain people saw a
> potential for profit, started referring to it as
> "New Age," and tried to impose a structure on it,
> with themselves at the top. Bits and pieces of
> old, traditional religions, unfamiliar to the
> West, also got swept up into the whole mess.
The history of how this happened is good to know. It's too bad a bunch of charlatans had to go and try to make a profit out of this.
> My advice would be to look at the behavior
> of the people involved. Are they making crazy
> promises about "empowerment" while delivering just
> the opposite? The beliefs are irrelevant. Look
> at the beliefs of most of the Western world. They
> would seem crazy to some. Yet, our culture is
> largely based on those beliefs.
This is all helpful to read. I've since realized one of the groups I referred to as a soft cult wasn't a cult at all. It just had a few people in it who used the teachings in somewhat harmful ways, but that's not how the person running the group meant it to be.
What you wrote here sort of reminds me of the teachings of the book "The Secret" that one of my yoga friends had recommended to me a while back. I just don't believe in that sort of thing.
-------------------------------------------------------
> allalong,
>
> I understand your concern. I would definitely
> NOT lump The Dalai Lama in with the
> charlatans. He is a legitimate religious leader.
> I don't know as much about Thich Nhat Hanh, but i
> believe that he is also legit.
Oops. I meant no disrespect to Buddhists. I don't know why I lumped The Dalai Lama or Thich Nhat Hanh in there. I think I'm just being careful of spiritual types of messages. My apologies if I offended anyone. That was a mistake. I know so little about this, and I am just looking to understand who the true gurus are. Thank you for pointing this out.
>
> It is my understanding that the books by Don
> Miguel Ruiz draw from the Toltec tradition. I have
> no reason to think of him as a cult leader, but
> maybe others have more information than me.
From what I've read and heard, he isn't cultish either. I should not have included him or TNH either.
>
> I have been "New Age" since the 70's. At that
> time, it was just a bunch of people exploring
> spirituality, energy, psychic phenomena, etc.
> They developed their personal philosophies
> according to what they intuited/ believed. It was
> not organized.
That is interesting to hear. Too bad we can't get back to the way things were back then.
>
> Between then and now, certain people saw a
> potential for profit, started referring to it as
> "New Age," and tried to impose a structure on it,
> with themselves at the top. Bits and pieces of
> old, traditional religions, unfamiliar to the
> West, also got swept up into the whole mess.
The history of how this happened is good to know. It's too bad a bunch of charlatans had to go and try to make a profit out of this.
> My advice would be to look at the behavior
> of the people involved. Are they making crazy
> promises about "empowerment" while delivering just
> the opposite? The beliefs are irrelevant. Look
> at the beliefs of most of the Western world. They
> would seem crazy to some. Yet, our culture is
> largely based on those beliefs.
This is all helpful to read. I've since realized one of the groups I referred to as a soft cult wasn't a cult at all. It just had a few people in it who used the teachings in somewhat harmful ways, but that's not how the person running the group meant it to be.
What you wrote here sort of reminds me of the teachings of the book "The Secret" that one of my yoga friends had recommended to me a while back. I just don't believe in that sort of thing.