In a recent posting exchange about Andrew Sullivan's beliefs, I was struck by his claim that Jesus loves him. Since that time, I have seen about one thousand bumper stickers on neighbor's cars proclaiming that Jesus loves the driver or that the driver loves Jesus.
I've been in a few sketchy relationships in my day, but I am pretty sure that anytime you don't actually ever see your partner, you are in a fantasy relationship. (no offense meant to my online fantasy Thai wife Toi with whom I have 3 beautiful fantasy kids) After 3 years of almost continuous rounding at Sidhaland, I had some experiences concerning Guru Dev's image that caused me to believe that I had developed a relationship with him as if he was a living person. I am sympathetic to such claims by others because it was extremely compelling, and although I don't view the experiences with the same value I did then, it did open my eyes to the power of mystical experiences and how detailed the experiences can be. Stevie Ray Vaughn once claimed that the Spirit of Jimi Hendrix had taken him over and he began wearing a lot of the tacky hippie colors that Jimi did in his shows after that. MMY claimed that Vaishistha "came onto him" one night and afterwards he came out with some new concepts. (the details of those concepts have faded, but I will never forget, or fail to chuckle at, his provocative wording)In the movement there is the concept of Guru Dev guiding us and it may be just a poetic way to describe the movement's relationship with him or it may be a more mystical claim. I remember a recent post about Sattyanand claim that Guru Dev appeared to him after death to get him to stop blubbering about his passing. The phrase "Jesus loves you" is totally mainstream and doesn't raise an eyebrow anywhere. I don't suppose that people are all referring to a mystical vision of Jesus although I'm sure some are. But the conviction that a historical person can have a relationship with you, beyond their use as an inspirational force, is really intriguing to me. It is taken for granted in society as if it is the most natural thing in the world. In my creative life I value trance induced states in which imagination conjures rich experiences in detail. But I don't come out of them thinking that I have contacted a dead person for real. So I throw out this bone for insightful gnawing from anyone interested. How do you relate to this topic? (In case anyone does have a hotline to the dead I am interested in inquiring form a certain Robert Johnson what fret he placed his capo on in "Crossroad Blues". Although I am not up for his "coming on to me" I am not adverse to the idea of a little "courtesy of reach around" for the blues legend. But only if he really loves me.
