To: K-list
Recieved: 1999/12/09 10:26
Subject: Re: [K-list] Another poll. Samadhi
From: Robert Weil
On 1999/12/09 10:26, Robert Weil posted thus to the K-list:
At 21:02 8/12/99 EST, you wrote:
>People who have experienced the mystical and sublime are not necessarily
>wiser or better equipped to appreciate life than others whose spiritual
>understanding arises from more ordinary things. No matter how profound,
>spiritual awakening doesn't permanently eradicate our personalities/egos.
>"You're still you," writes Glenn Morris, "just more amplified, with some
>additional talents and viewpoints that very few people you know share..."
>(from "Path Notes of an American Ninja Master," p. 204) "Whether a person's
>actual behavior changes as a result of a deep transformative experience is an
>open question; obviously, it depends on the individual's prior behavior,"
>writes Ralph Metzner. "Criminals have been known to become saints. Others
>may, after a transcendent vision, simply find themselves confirmed in their
>life path and their spiritual practice, with no outwardly observable change
>in behavior." (from "The Unfolding Self," p. 4)
I've known K-activated ppl who have continued to behave as they had done
before, albeit slowly changing. The seeing of cause and effect seemed to be
mediated through the belief systems that the person had developed up till
then. Their ability to see through others' automated lives did not seem to
do a 180 degree turn to their own beliefs. However, they were able to learn
lessons beyond the conditioned responses of ppl around them, and often
could see the quality of a person's behaviour as an expression of that
person's Self. This did not stop them taking advantage sometimes. If they
wished they could help the other ppl along, but it was no panacea. Seems to
me that much stuff still needs to be drawn through the fire before one can
say that one is cleared of egotistical motives.
>
snip>>e convinced that she had been selected by God to be born anew as
>an advanced human being. Thus she yielded to the tendency that Jung had
>warned against: that of claiming this impersonal force as her own ego
>creation and, as a result, of falling into the trap of ego inflation and
>false superiority. She expected others to understand exactly what she was
>speaking about and to accept her word unquestioningly, and she grew
>distrustful of anyone who disagreed with her interpretations." (from "The
>Kundalini Experience," p. 79)
Seen that. Irony is that these ppl end up with sheep, not enlightened
followers. This can feed further assumptions of superiority in relation to
those they attract, and greater delusion. Oh, we do love our glamour...
>
>Says Assagioli: "The fatal error of all who fall victim to these illusions is
>to attribute to their personal ego or "self" the qualities and powers of the
>Self... instances of such confusion, more or less pronounced, are not
>uncommon among people dazzled by contact with truths which are too powerful
>for their mental capacities to grasp and assimilate." (from
>"Psychosynthesis," p. 45)
Perhaps also some loss of boundary between the "thought" and the "thinker"
leads to the struggle with whether one is the source of the revelation or
the sharer of universally owned truth.
>
snip>>transformed. The inflow of light and love is rhythmical as is
everything in
>the universe. After a while, it diminishes or ceases and the flow is
>followed by the ebb." At this point, Assagioli says that "the personal ego
>re-awakens and asserts itself with renewed force. All the rocks and rubbish,
>which had been covered and concealed at high tide, emerge again." (from
>"Psychosynthesis," pp. 46-47) This can lead to extreme depression or
>self-doubt and rejection of the validity of one's ecstatic experiences.
Or escapism into drugs, superiority or paranoia. I found Zen principles and
Taoist thinking a useful antidote. Brings back the smile on the face of the
Buddha... :)
>
>Assagioli mentions cases where one aspect of the psyche is far more developed
>than the rest (I've personally come across some examples of this which I call
>the "spiritual idiot-savante syndrome"), in which "people may reach a high
>level with one part of their personality and yet be handicapped by certain
>infantile fixations or dominated by unconscious conflicts." (from
>"Psychosynthesis," p. 57)
I have known ppl who have become fixated on the "killing any living things
is evil" doctrine to the point where they cannot function in the
"imperfect" levels. In the need for final clarity of truth they cannot seem
to accept compassion or forgiveness, even to themselves.
>
>Glenn Morris challenges the prevailing belief that "Kundalini makes you sweet
>and peaceful." Neither a fully awakened Kundalini nor enlightenment
>experiences guarantee a corresponding ennobling of character. Morris
>stresses that Kundalini "amplifies the natural state" so that "You melt away
>your social self and you become what you are." This might not always be so
>wonderful, for whatever was already lurking in the personality is magnified
>by Kundalini. "If you haven't learned to mellow out and love your fellow
>human beings, when you come out, you are either a demigod or a demon." (Glenn
>Morris from a KRN conference audiotape)
IMO, western magic has often attracted ppl who are processing this stage,
giving them a sense of power and control. Not to say that magic is
illusory, or that practitioners are wrong, just that the motivation can be
so easily kept within the person's structured view of technique without
needing to give oneself to the will of God.
>
snip>>Unfortunately, religion often crystallizes mystical/awakening
experience into
>dogma. Says Glenn Morris: "Wrong-headedness is easily taught from the
>perspective of God's Word (as it is from the perspective of 'this is how
>Master Dung Flo passed on his irreparably bad techniques to me, and now I
>will teach them to you, as I have never had an original thought in my
>life')." (from "Shadow Strategies," p. 258)
Although IMO no path is wasted. Maybe not value for money, but not wasted.
It may show one where one has been putting one's self-image.
I was a member of the Emin Foundation many many moons ago. Whatever their
shortcomings, I learned some useful things, and found a path that had
structure and belonging. They also enabled me to become heartily sick of
being patronised over two years. As Leo of the Emin said, the best way to
develop will in yourself is to get sick of someone else's... :)
>
>"Once the Kundalini has awakened, it goes in the direction that the
>personality has developed," Joan Harrigan warns. "If you want political
>power, you get charisma to get elected. If you want money, it goes toward
>business acumen. If you want spiritual development and have developed a
>virtuous lifestyle and eschewed the worldly distractions, then it goes to
>spiritual experience." (from a KRN conference audiotape)
And, I believe, sometimes it just hits you upside the head and says "you
can do no other in the long run, and you know it." :)
"The meaning of
>one's spiritual life is found in the action it breeds," Bradford Keeney has
>observed. "Having dreams of ecstasy does not make one spiritual. If it
>fills one with pride and blindness to the needs of others, it's a curse."
>(from "Shaking Out the Spirits", p. 63)
Until the mistake is seen, and the heart learns.
Rob
>
>El
>
>
>
DISCLAIMER!
Home | Archive Index | Search the archives | Subscribe
K. List FAQ | Kundalini FAQs | Signs and Symptoms | Awakening Experiences | K. list Polls | Member Essays | Meditations | List Topics | Art Gallery | Cybrary | Sitemap | Email the moderators.
symbol.