--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Michael Jackson <mjackson74@...> wrote: > > You can think whatever you like - these people who have > lots of followers don't have them from a sense of duty > or doing good for humanity, they have the followers > because they WANT them - for money, sex, and to get > attention - most of them anyway and in some ways Barry > is correct - if the "seekers" could realize the so-called > gurus don't know near what the followers think they know > the world would be better off
The problem IMO is the entire guru model. It's broken, and always has been. The Internet and the faster risk of exposure only makes the scandals happen more quickly now than they did in the past, that's all. And from my point of view, your first statement above is FAR too blanket a statement. I would suspect that *many* teacher "got into the business" out of altruism and a desire to help people. It's just that IMO most of them did it FAR too soon, and before they were capable of handling the pressures. *Most* of the problems, as far as I can tell, are caused not by the teacher per se, but by the students projecting their fantasies onto someone they've placed up on an unrealistic pedestal of perfection because they want -- or need -- to believe in that fantasy. This places an *incredible* amount of pressure on the poor human beings on top of the pedestals. Most can't handle it, and "start to believe their own PR," whether they were the ones to first create it, or their students were. When that happens, ego takes over, and they start to go off the rails. It's *exactly* the same process that happens to CEOs and politicians and celebrities and others who place themselves as the focus of many people's attention. All of that attention carries *energy* with it, and it has a "dark side" in that the energy is both positive and negative. The teachers receive *all* of it from the people who focus on them. Most can't handle this, and go more than a little crazy behind it. The *only* teachers I've ever encountered on planet Earth who didn't seem to succumb to this were the ones who actively prevented it from happening by never allow- ing their students to place them on a pedestal in the first place. A "good teacher," confronted by a bunch of students who want to go all bhakti on his ass and slobber over him like the needy dweebs they are would *send them away*, not encourage them and allow them to do it. Let them project their fantasies onto someone or something else. Unfortunately, I can count the teachers I've run into who do this on one hand. The rest are just as much a sucker for the pedestalization routine as the dweebs who erect the pedestals. > ________________________________ > From: Ann <awoelflebater@...> > To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com > Sent: Sunday, June 23, 2013 9:37 AM > Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: A culture of PR and Spin, ending > with...uh...more PR and Spin > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Michael Jackson <mjackson74@> wrote: > > > > Thanks for posting this Barry - just goes to show all these gurus are full > > of it - not a one of them has any integrity or "enlightenment" > > I am not sure two articles "goes to show all these guru are full of it". > Those two men seem to be full of it as are thousands, maybe tens of > thousands, more who set themselves up as people who think they know better or > can teach others something due to their special access to some sort of > experience or knowledge. > > Although I am perhaps one of the least likely people I know to follow any > guru now I would hardly conclude from the article on Mr Cohen and the > prostitute serial killer that there are no learned teachers (gurus) on the > planet. I think there are probably much better examples of men and women out > there who have something useful and profound to say who have yet to be > revealed as child molesters, embezzlers and animal torturers. However, anyone > who sets themselves up as some sort of guru is suspect in my estimation. > > > > > > > > > > ________________________________ > > From: turquoiseb <no_re...@yahoogroups.com> > > To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com > > Sent: Sunday, June 23, 2013 5:19 AM > > Subject: [FairfieldLife] A culture of PR and Spin, ending with...uh...more > > PR and Spin > > > > > > > > ÃÂ > > Another faux guru bites the dust: > > > > http://whatenlightenment.blogspot.nl/2013/06/andrew-cohen-and-fall-of-guru-in-age-of_21.html > > > > At least Cohen seems to be leaving before turning out > > like this guy: > > > > http://www.murciatoday.com/victim-count-of-false-shaolin-monk-may-rise-further_17175-a.html > > >
