There is a phenomenon one tends to see on the Internet in the so-called spiritual chat groups. That phenomenon can be called by many names. So far I have been referring to it by its generic name, Whining. But in this little essay, I'm going to get a little more specific.
Have you ever noticed that the people who take up the "anti-cult" banner and wave it fiercely all over the Internet tend to use the EXACT SAME TACTICS AS THE GURUS THEY'RE AGAINST? They make unsupported statements and expect everyone to believe them, just because they said them. They claim to have special, secret know- ledge that they just can't reveal to us just yet, but which makes all of their claims OK. When someone doesn't *buy* their act, and calls them on it, they tend to fly into a rage and do everything they can to undermine the critic's reputation. In other words, these anti-guru crusaders act remarkably like gurus. And they don't realize it. Like the gurus they rant about, these individuals are primarily after one thing more than anything else -- attention. They want people to *focus* on them, to consider them "authorities," more "knowledgeable" than other people. They want to be seen as *wise*, as if the things they are saying are better and more evolved than the things the people they're preaching to are saying. They want to be seen as more "advanced" or further down the evolutionary road than those poor folks they're trying to enlighten about the "real" nature of the world and How It All Works. Sound familiar? And the funny thing, from my point of view, is that the two anti-guru gurus who have set up shop at FFL lately have a public act that is the opposite of what is really going on. They like to think of themselves as having progressed further in their quest for knowledge than the other people here on FFL, the ones they're so ready and willing to preach to. But as I see it, with a very few exceptions among the posting population of FFL, the anti-guru gurus are the ones "lagging behind." Both of them are stuck in mindsets that most of the rest of us worked through and dispensed with 30 years ago. Or 20 years ago, or 10. Bottom line is that most of us on this forum really *have* been there done that with the angry Whiner mentality. We went through it for a short time when we were first coming to grips with our own illusions about our respective spiritual paths, and we were probably *just* as whiny back then as Bronte and Angela are now. But WE GOT OVER IT, man. 30, 20, or 10 years ago. And now when some newbie rolls into town running the same act that we now find laughable in our own pasts, all we can do is laugh at them, too. When are people going to learn? You don't convert anyone to the anti-guru stance by ACTING LIKE A GURU. You don't make a case for how intellectual you are by ACTING LIKE AN IDIOT. Both Bronte and Angela are *potentially* bright people, who might actually have something to say if they could ever get past this whiny shit. But they don't seem to be in the market *for* getting past the whiny shit. Instead, they have chosen to roll around in it like a pig rolling in mud. They have chosen to rail against the things that offend them using the EXACT tactics as the people they are railing against. And then they're surprised and hurt when we laugh at them? Get over it, babes. If you do, there will be some interesting people here for you to talk to. Not preach to, talk to. There's a difference.
