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Stripping the Gurus

J

juniorcat

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Jun 14, 2011
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147
http://www.strippingthegurus.com

There is a PDF of this.

' This book, then, concerns the alleged sins which have been concealed behind the polished façades of too many of our world’s “saintly and sagely” spiritual leaders and their associated communities, with a marked focus on North America over the past century.
Why, though, would anyone write such a book as this? Why not just “focus on the good,” and work on one’s own self transformation instead?

First of all, one hopes to save others from the sorrow inherent in throwing their lives away in following these figures. Even the most elementary bodhisattva vow, for the liberation of others from suffering, would leave one with no moral choice but to do one’s part in that. Likewise, even the most basic understanding as to the nature of “idiot compassion” would preclude one from ignoring these reported problems just to be “nice” or avoid offending others.

As a former follower of Carlos Castaneda eloquently put it, in relating the depressing and disillusioning story of her experiences with him, amid her own “haunting dreams of suicide” '

I don't know what to believe 8(
 
Charlatans, all of them!

In all seriousness though, i've found a lot of teachers will simply reflect yourself back onto you.. because really, who honestly truly 'listens' to themselves. I would say the purpose of any genuine teacher would be to show people they are in fact everything they think they are not. Everything should always be taken with a grain of salt regardless, and if your unsure then listen to yourself because your probably right to be unsure, after-all it's about you experiencing your Self.. no one else can do it for you except you.
 
Hehe I'm kind of skeptical of anybody who claims to be a guru. Teaching doesn't really require any official title; I've learned most from the humblest of people. Or maybe some gurus are just trying to teach not to take them so seriously. Who knows...can't really judge everything by how it appears.
 
I agree with Legerity: most people with true wisdom to impart, most people with footsteps worth following in, are humble and unpretentious. If they have a following or a fanclub, it's not because they've ever sought one.

Communities bound by a common spirituality can, and for many reasons probably should, have recognized leaders. But if the community is stable and its spiritual vision healthy, then its leader is unlikely to be seen as, or see himself as, a guru. He's merely an organizer, planner, and representative, as well as a vessel for the group's collective knowledge. He's certainly no better or holier than any other member of the community. He simply possesses the best leadership qualities.

When it comes to philosophy and spirituality, remember to always embrace the message, not the messenger. A wise message will remain a wise message no matter whom it comes from. People are fallible, however, and will necessarily say and do many wise and unwise things in their lives. Some of these "stripped gurus" have said things that I find inspiring and very much agree with, no matter if they themselves couldn't live by those words.
 
Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."

If we are thinking in terms of stratas.. who is greatest in the community etc there will always
be Gurus. Perhaps the goal is to leave the realm of cause and effect and relativity and see the guru in road sweeper and the road sweeper in the Guru. To serve gracefully and receive
honour humbly.
If you have been fooled by a ' guru' you have given him/her that power. I think Buddha
described Nirvana as ' seeing things as they really are' Enlightenment perhaps then would involve seeing the Guru as ordinary and as extraordinary as the waitress who serves your coffee.

If we are made in Gods image and likeness, as the bible states, then we are both servant
and King. Reduced to nothing or lifted to the Godhead.
 
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MyDoorsAreOpen said:
A wise message will remain a wise message no matter whom it comes from.
Click to expand...

what if the medium is the message

would a song remain a good song no matter whom it comes from
would good oral sex remain good no matter whom it comes from
wasnt jesus as much the medium as the message

what about a word like nigger being use by a black men to describe one of his friend as oppose to how a racist would use it
wouldn't that completely turn the message around because youve changed the messenger

the point of those gurus might be more about the messenger than the message
their follower are probably more interested in being venerated like their guru and thats what they love about their guru, its because they are good at getting people to venerate them and their follower love their guru because it makes them able to transpose themself into the guru and receive that adoration thru him, and that might be the message in itself
 
^ Wow, never considered it like that. Touchè.

(Lengthier reply to come. Mrs. Doors is in the hospital.)
 
Legerity said:
Hehe I'm kind of skeptical of anybody who claims to be a guru. Teaching doesn't really require any official title; I've learned most from the humblest of people. Or maybe some gurus are just trying to teach not to take them so seriously. Who knows...can't really judge everything by how it appears.
Click to expand...

When in doubt, check the Guru Rating Service
http://www3.telus.net/public/sarlo/Ratings.htm

Quite fascinating really. There are hundreds and hundreds of 'gurus' listed here.
 
As someone else has already said, the Truth is where ever you are. However someone who can show you some shortcuts or tips for avoiding the dangerous patches in the forest is very useful, as is someone who can facilitate a direct experience without need of words or silly games. Unfortunately those kind of true teachers are FAR and few between.. the two that come to mind are Ramana Maharshi and Richard Rose.

Trying to find a Guru in the East is a minefield.. there are many who know how to manipulate your mind and open you up to things you really don't want to be exposed to! If you want the Truth.. I mean really want it, there are a few simple things you need do: Conserve your energy (sexual energy), Introspection/Meditation, and make it your primary objective in life. A Guru can not help you skip past physical adjustment anyway.
 
I read the whole book a while back and ya there is some shit about some of these guys but TBH my love for these people isn't tarnished. These people are HUMAN.... yup they are HUMAN. Im sorry but if I ever became a guru, id still smoke pot, fuck women, spout crazy shit and love my friends. Id love life, and id be eccentric id be me, id let life be..... just because you awake from this dream and open your heart doesnt mean your not human. I know for a fact just from my heart Neem karoli baba was the real deal because ive seen how transformed thousands of people were from meeting him. I know Ram Dass is an amazing man, because ive followed him for a long time. I love these people they gave me insight into life, into my heart, into my beingness, and they are flawed but they also are so beautiful. Love
 
The thing that you need to beware of, in my opinion, is the fact that the people doing the stripping of the Gurus are trying to portray themselves as gurus of their own kind. The only difference, is they are doing nothing but negating other people's work, adding nothing new for all that self-righteousness because people are going to think for themselves no matter what. It's not like they need this book to realize that they need to take things with all kinds of grains of sand. A credit card is required for this brand of skepticism just the same as anything else. Just another person crying foul play as if the world wasn't made up of cynics anyway.

I'd rather hear out the advice of someone who thinks they are doing something instructional rather than someone who's trying to attack a whole league of wise-men. Implied in their work, of course,(despite pleas to the contrary) is the idea that they are wiser than all these wise-men. Wiser than thou is a common attitude among men. The fact that he doesn't even see the irony of what he's doing, and how that webpage just looks like any other cheap, bad, book being peddled on the internet, is enough to put me off from ever buying it, or even reading a single word on that page. lol
 
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^ The author of this book, IIRC, is pretty embittered by his experiences with a couple of these gurus. He's got a bit of a chip on his shoulder, and possibly quite justifiably given his experiences. That's not to say he isn't entitled to write as he sees fit. But it's something worth keeping in mind if you read him.
 
lol, I didn't even read the synopsis before coming to my conclusions. I just saw the format of the page, the fact that it asked for money, and, having its core message of skepticism already in mind from reading the OP, decided it probably wouldn't be the best use of my reading time. Of course the author is justified to feel any way he wants, and bitterness is certainly something that's hard to argue with anyone who has EVER lived on this planet. Who among us doesn't have a reason to be bitter? And real misery certainly loves company. I'm not saying he shouldn't have written this, or even that he's wrong at all (on which I obviously have no basis to judge), I'm just saying that I personally am turned off by his motives, and can't see how it'd be of any use to me whatsoever to read.

The Buddha himself already told me about being skeptical of everything until it proves its mettle, and that bit of advice happened to prove its mettle long ago so I'm all set ;)
Actually, I think my 5th grade teacher might've been the first person to formally introduce me to the idea of testing a hypothesis, and I didn't get into mystical madness until well after that. Technically she is The Buddha, so yeah...lol

Is it a good read, though?
 
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