Enjoyed this piece. For me, it's a light-hearted way to shake me up a little and be more aware to endeavor to hear my own heart.
I like the first comment on the blog: Submitted by Visitor (not verified) on April 26, 2013 - 1:42pm. "and then freedom, or awakening becomes the 'cult' ... we never escape ..." Ha! ************ --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer" <rick@...> wrote: > > From: Integral Spiritual Practice > [mailto:integralpractice@...] > Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 12:01 PM > To: rick@... > Subject: Are you in a cult? > > > > > > > > > > > > Dear Rick, > > Are you in a cult? > > Here's the short answer: "You bet." And, worse, it's most likely an > invisible cult! > > Okay, you're probably not a member of "a new religious movement or other > group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre by the > larger society". > > But you're almost certainly a member in good standing of the Public Cult of > the World, whose beliefs and practices are bizarre and abnormal by any > objective healthy standard. After all, as the Dalai Lama has pointed out, in > the Cult of the World you: > > "...sacrifice your health in order to make money. Then you sacrifice money > to recuperate your health. Then you are so anxious about the future that you > don't enjoy the present: the result being that you do not live in the > present or the future; you live as if you are never going to die, and then > you die having never really lived." > > It's a totally crazy way to live, when you look directly at it! But among us > members of the ubiquitous and invisible Cult, it seems the natural order of > things, unremarkable and inevitable. The Cult reinforces and conceals a > great many other unwritten rules, invisible beliefs and unexamined > assumptions too. (One example: the Cult inculcates you day and night with > the message that you're a separate individual who must compete to "succeed" > and build up a big, impressive ego-domain, or otherwise you're a "failure".) > > Some of the Cult's beliefs may be crazy (and make you miserable) but as soon > as you start questioning them, you're the one who's risking madness. After > all, you'd be departing from the Public Cult of the World's "consensus > reality" (which is what defines insanity). > > One of the strictest rules of the Cult is the taboo against acknowledging > that the Cult even exists. Thus, every day while you're working hard and > focusing intelligently on your priorities, you're also being lulled back > into being oblivious to the Cult and its bondage. > > You're being drawn into what consciousness researcher Charles Tart memorably > dubbed "the Consensus Trance". He described it as "a state of partly > suspended animation, of stupor, of inability to function at [y]our maximum > level... [dominated by] automatic and conditioned patterns of perception, > thinking, feeling and behaving..." > > Is there any escape from the Cult? Sure, but here's the paradox: to leave > the Cult you'll have to risk being seen as...joining a cult! The official > Public Cult of the World won't provide any support if you want to wake up > from the consensus trance. And if you find someone who has in some sense > awakened and who offers to help you wake up, or if you band together with > others for mutual support in waking up from the trance so you can leave the > Cult....now that's when your family might start to ask "Hey, have you joined > a cult"? > > Maddeningly, your family (and critics) will probably be right! Most small > groups, however healthy and intelligent their premises might be, readily > develop "groupthink" dynamics that can easily become unhealthy, and even > dangerously "cultic". > > And yet without support and teaching, you're just going to be sucked back > into the consensus trance and the mediocrity of the Public Cult of the > World. > > What to do? > > Well, you can recognize that the consensus trance and the "programming" of > the Cult is everywhere and that going in and out of trance is a constant, > on-going process. As you do, it will become obvious that waking up from the > trance needs to happen again and again, in many little moments of choice. > This is what I mean by "practice" --- that choice to live deliberately, to > embrace a way of life that's fully alive, always evolving, spontaneously > in-the-moment, self-aware, humorous and free. (This is the core of the > "Integral Spiritual Practice > <http://click.e.evolvingwisdom.com/?qs=25c601ea8e0de1d61695affe716d537855c77 > 379117f20a921a45c29a6b5363e05cb13fd718cfdc9> " I teach.) > > From this perspective, yes, you're in the big Cult, the one that keeps > re-hypnotizing you back into the consensus trance. The point is this: you > can "leave the cult" now --- in this very moment. May you do so, and may you > keep leaving it, by waking up! Again and again and again --- every day, for > the rest of your life. > > To your practice and awakening and freedom, > > Terry > > P.S. If you'd like to comment on this blog you can do so here > <http://click.e.evolvingwisdom.com/?qs=25c601ea8e0de1d6d814fa7ddb98dce1b67dc > d1b067775bab011d9905329524d43cec6b0fb51020d> . > > > > > > > > > > > > <http://click.e.evolvingwisdom.com/open.aspx?ffcb10-fe9a16757767047574-fdf61 > 6717462027f7c117777-fea315707364077f75-fecb167076670c79-fe2617727664027a701c > 77-ff981675&d=40026> >
