tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331174529704013132.post3901656459319569480..comments2024-01-28T09:01:10.832+01:00Comments on pitfalls of spirituality: Us & them: humanity united, humanity divided? And what about proselytization? (pitfall 11)franka waaldijkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09469775707351652635noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331174529704013132.post-10645001183868727132022-07-22T17:03:20.860+02:002022-07-22T17:03:20.860+02:00Great readiing your blog postGreat readiing your blog postChicopee Draperyhttps://www.curtains-drapes.com/us/massachusetts-curtains/chicopee-drapery.shtmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331174529704013132.post-25367481789942683532008-08-19T00:47:00.000+02:002008-08-19T00:47:00.000+02:00thank you don for the link, it will help others fi...thank you don for the link, it will help others find this blog a lot better i'm sure.<BR/><BR/>personally, like i said, i prefer to discuss these pitfalls from a more general perspective than sahaj marg.<BR/><BR/>but i agree that having participated in sahaj marg can leave one with a negative feeling, since there are so many contradictions, misleading informations, power struggles, money schemes...<BR/><BR/>then again, any large organization has this to some extent. i was first personally disappointed that this spiritual organization is not exempt from these pitfalls. but now in retrospect i think it a graver thing that the movement denies being plagued by these issues. <BR/><BR/>be truthful...is an adagio which i have seen severely violated by the `masters' and their inner circle on several occasions. some of these occasions are even well documented. chari wrote a thing on initiation in one of his diaries, saying something to the extent that his father (also an initiated abhyasi) should have never let on to others that there was such a thing as initiation for a small group of chosen. to this day i still have no idea what this initiation was about, i have asked `senior' members and got absolutely nowhere.<BR/><BR/>although i don't believe in Absolute Truth, i do believe in personal truthfulness - perhaps it is sometimes better to spare someone's feelings, but in the long run one should not conceal real issues.<BR/><BR/>&&&&&<BR/><BR/>but it is enough i think, to remain positive and simply point out certain inconsistencies. <BR/><BR/>i don't wish to become entangled in too much negative energy, let people choose what they want to choose. <BR/><BR/>if they do not threaten too much other peoples' peace of mind (and human rights of course), that is. <BR/><BR/>&&&&&<BR/><BR/>for me, i hope to provide some counterweight, perhaps also since for years i was very positive about sahaj marg, and promoted it to many people. <BR/><BR/>i hoped things regarding the above pitfalls would change for the better, but at some point could no longer fool myself: they were changing for the worse (to me at least).<BR/><BR/>so now it is also my duty, i believe, to offer some of my insights to other people entangled in similar situations. i know i was glad to find some critical blogs on sahaj marg, seeing that others experienced similar difficulties.<BR/><BR/>of course, it was not any definite motivation for me, but i think many people can start doubting themselves if they participate in some spiritual movement for a long time. it helps to see and know about other critical (ex)followers.franka waaldijkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09469775707351652635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331174529704013132.post-29920855074938379012008-08-12T19:30:00.000+02:002008-08-12T19:30:00.000+02:00Hi Frank...Thanks for the candid reply...Looking f...Hi Frank...<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the candid reply...<BR/><BR/>Looking forward to more of your analysis... I will add your blog to my links (I get 40-50 hits per day according to my "site meter), as in some parts, your analysis will touch on SRCM.<BR/><BR/>My blog was originally about RELIGION and Religious groups in general, but it soon changed early on as this group (SRCM) touched my life...negatively.<BR/><BR/>Don...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331174529704013132.post-57206286159541374412008-08-12T12:15:00.000+02:002008-08-12T12:15:00.000+02:00i see that the link to chari's speech is cut short...i see that the link to chari's speech is cut short, i must post the url in two parts:<BR/><BR/>http://www.srcm.org/literature/recent.speeches/<BR/>060120_Malaysia.jspfranka waaldijkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09469775707351652635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331174529704013132.post-61734480531892841032008-08-12T12:10:00.000+02:002008-08-12T12:10:00.000+02:00thanx don for your interest and comments.i will tr...thanx don for your interest and comments.<BR/><BR/>i will try to write some more now that my short holiday break is over.<BR/><BR/>this is not a blog about sahaj marg, and that is a very conscious decision. i do not want to focus my attention on sahaj marg, i do not consider sahaj marg to be worse than many other spiritual movements and religions. better, i think, to remain positive and looking for improvement & helping, than to spend my time on criticizing just one of many similar spiritual movements.<BR/><BR/>but of course, i'm intimately familiar with sahaj marg, and in the comments i will probably tempted from time to time to write something about it. but i think i will not do this for lengthy exchanges, otherwise the blog will suffer...<BR/><BR/>that said, i would like to comment on this (i will come back to it from a more general perspective on the blog):<BR/><BR/>i haven't read chari's latest book, but it will not be a grand change of direction from the many books and speeches that i am well familiar with.<BR/><BR/>i found (on your blog i think) a reference to a speech of chari's that did flabbergast me: where he states in length that he will not perform homosexual marriages since homosexuality is unnatural and against the intention of God. you can find the speech here: http://www.srcm.org/literature/recent.speeches/060120_Malaysia.jsp<BR/><BR/>well.<BR/><BR/>so much for a loving guru who loves all and doesn't judge... but considers himself capable enough to proclaim harsh judgement on a very fundamental aspect of people's lives. does he know that such judgments have been proven to cause serious mental health problems for homosexuals? if he knows, it makes the judgment all the more incredible. if he doesn't know, well then what kind of a guru is he, that he cannot even imagine such a simple thing for himself?<BR/><BR/>thereby he apparently doesn't know the least thing about homosexuality as a natural phenomenon. <BR/><BR/>about 2-7% of any given population is homosexual. there are very natural reasons for this, and homosexuality is seen in many animal populations as well. for which i cite wikipedia below:<BR/><BR/><B>Homosexual behavior in animals</B><BR/><BR/><I>Homosexual sexual behavior occurs in the animal kingdom, especially in social species, particularly in marine birds and mammals, monkeys, and the great apes. Homosexual behavior has been observed among 1,500 species, and in 500 of those it is well documented.[130][131]. This discovery constitutes a major argument against those calling into question the biological legitimacy or naturalness of homosexuality, or those regarding it as a meditated social decision. For example, male penguin couples have been documented to mate for life, build nests together, and to use a stone as a surrogate egg in nesting and brooding. In a well-publicized story from 2004, the Central Park Zoo in the United States replaced one male couple's stone with a fertile egg, which the couple then raised as their own offspring.[132]<BR/><BR/>The genetic basis of animal homosexuality has been studied in the fly Drosophila melanogaster.[133] Here, multiple genes have been identified that can cause homosexual courtship and mating.[134] These genes are thought to control behavior through pheromones as well as altering the structure of the animal's brains.[135][136] These studies have also investigated the influence of environment on the likelihood of flies displaying homosexual behavior.[137][138]<BR/><BR/>Georgetown University professor Janet Mann has specifically theorized that homosexual behavior, at least in dolphins, is an evolutionary advantage that minimizes intraspecies aggression, especially among males.[139] Studies indicating prenatal homosexuality in certain animal species have had social and political implications surrounding the gay rights debate.[140]<BR/></I><BR/><BR/>####<BR/><BR/>chari's speech itself also goes on about intolerance...<BR/><BR/>i'm glad i no longer have to reconcile such blatant contradictions, i'm glad i no longer promote any method/guru which/who is intolerant to homosexuality.<BR/><BR/>i'm glad to be where heart & mind go together, in a positive and loving way.franka waaldijkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09469775707351652635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5331174529704013132.post-58334398809905752012008-08-04T13:12:00.000+02:002008-08-04T13:12:00.000+02:00Hi Frank...Heard of your blog on Michael's blog. ...Hi Frank...<BR/><BR/>Heard of your blog on Michael's blog. <BR/><BR/>Enjoyed your thoughts and your approach. Looking forward to reading more.<BR/><BR/>You are not alone. WE, the united "them" outside the divided Religious set, will become the Majority and the Religious and sectarian dividers, although still the majority, will one day be the minority. We will be UNITED and thus "spiritual" in our tolerance of all "truths". Truths also have a life and are not "eternal". If the Universe, in its constant motion, changes eternally, so does "TRUTH".<BR/><BR/>Hanging onto and reliving the experiences and mistakes of the past along with the rigid and divisive religious dogmas enshrined by Religions and sects, is what has caused homo sapiens to waste much time, and effort, and much of the planets resources in wars and the building of temples for millenia. It is time for a paradigm shift. Spirituality UNITES... That means "no group", as a group indicates a "division" and a "them/us" <BR/><BR/>The organizational paradigm for sprituality (imho) would be a spiral. The current religious organizational paradigm is the (angular) pyramid for the male (sky) dominated religion/spiritual groups, and the (arc) circle for the female (earth) dominated religions/spiritual movements. Both of these paradigms have a "inside" and an "outside". The "spiritual" spiral being an open structure in two dimensions and also in three dimension, does not enclose and anyone can enter and leave the spiral easily without pressure from the structure or its members, and without fear of breaking the "perimeter" by leaving it. (then bad-mouthing the group or the structure). There is thus no absolute "them/us" with the paradigm of the spiral as one can be a Christian spiritual person one minute and a Muslin spiritual person the next. There are no walls or doors keeping the faithful "US" inside the MISSION and the "THEM" outside. <BR/><BR/>Just my thoughts...<BR/><BR/>We, the bloggers, are not the "enemies of Spirituality" as Chari of SRCM and Sahaj Marg calls us in his latest book ... And we will speak out when some self-titled "Master" from some self-named "spiritual" group displays his apparent lack of spirituality by dividing the spiritual seekers, when according to their own criteria, and the words of the Founder, "spirituality" should unite. In reality SRCM and Sahaj Marg divides our world yet again, in the name of the ONE. <BR/><BR/>Dividers do not represent the ONE!<BR/><BR/>4d-donAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com