Re: Accusations by Gnostic Movement of religious persecution
Date: October 27, 2010 03:12AM
The Jeff Farrell Affair – Part 3: Personal Experiences October 24, 2010 9:40 pm As mentioned in part 1 of this story, “The Jeff Farrell Affair – Part 1: A Positive Beginning”, Jeff Farrell attended some introductory Gnostic courses and meditation practices online and at the Toronto Gnostic Centre for under six months. During this time, I observed that he tried the various exercises and readings in Gnosis more or less as best he could, and as such, had what he said and considered to be many positive experiences, as well as held a very positive view of the Centre and its teachers. On his experience with Gnosis, here are just a few of the things I noticed that he has shared openly in online forums (and in most cases also repeated in public classes at the Centre). Paraphrased, Jeff stated that in his opinion: - He came to Gnosis with a degree of skepticism, as he would approach anything in life, but saw he could trust this organization based on what he saw at the Toronto Centre.- He had directly observed that The Gnostic Movement is comprised of very tolerant and careful people.- He could see in himself that he had a lot of what he thought was a particularly harmful inner state (“inner state” meaning something such as anger, aggression, fear, etc.) under the surface, but it had improved since he started the courses as result of the Gnostic work.- He would like to assure anyone that The Gnostic Movement is the furthest thing from a brainwashing cult. Furthermore, that he even made lots of jokes about this at the Centre that would make a “real cult member” crazy, which doesn’t happen there.- He believed that the worst that could happen to someone when attempting to do the Gnostic work is that they are unsuccessful and then they go off and continue with their life. These are some actual examples of the experiences, views, and opinions about Gnosis that Jeff once held and shared openly. As you would have seen from the previous two parts of this story however, his new views and opinions of Gnosis are dramatically different. As pointed out in my observations, they are not only dramatically different, but they also changed suddenly. Surely people have the right to change their minds and opinions about things. What is interesting though, is as pointed out in the first two parts of this story, the actual experiences, thoughts, and feelings Jeff had toward Gnosis, The Gnostic Movement, and the people involved, have somehow been not only seemingly “forgotten”, but also, changed and replaced with what I see as a seemingly unpacifiable rage and hatred towards anything to do with Gnosis and The Gnostic Movement. So what might have really set him off then? How is it that he went from holding such views and saying such statements above, based on his actual experience with Gnosis and the Centre during those 5+ months he was attending, to later on, after having stopped attending, repeatedly and vehemently condemning The Gnostic Movement and its members, in my view, based purely on hearsay and mistaken self-created ideas? To be continued and explored further in part 4. (Back to The Jeff Farrell Affair – Part 2: The Great Escape)(Back to The Jeff Farrell Affair – Part 1: A Positive Beginning) Posted by experiencegnosis
24 Responses to “The Jeff Farrell Affair – Part 3: Personal Experiences” 1. It’s too bad, it sounds like Jeff initially got something from practicing Gnosis. Based on reading his new posts on various forums, my perception of Jeff now is that he appears to be a very angry person. What I find interesting and also saddening in this case is not just that someone initially liked Gnosis and then later pursued other things, which is common enough. But from what I can see, Jeff’s writings demonstrate what seems to be such a “die-hard,” obsessive, and fanatical hatred for The Gnostic Movement and anyone involved with it. That’s unusual. I can only speculate on what would drive someone to apparently devote so much time and energy to attacking others. I just can’t imagine it’s a happy way to be, though. By anonymous98361 on October 24, 2010 at 10:19 pm 2. Thank you for outlining these things, experiencegnosis. I remember very clearly how Jeff shared these observations openly at the centre and online with the teachers and fellow students. The new Jeff is a rather different and angrier version than I recall. I wonder what would cause an individual to flip like that? How can someone go from making over-the-top positive comments to over-the-top negative and violent remarks about something? Was he being insincere then? Or is he being insincere now? Or perhaps it is the case of a rather unbalanced individual? My guess would be the latter… By realitycheck36 on October 24, 2010 at 10:49 pm 1. The dramatic reversal is the problem I personally have with people who claim they were “wrong then” but now they “see the light.” Don’t get me wrong, everyone changes their mind sometimes, and everyone deserves a fair hearing in most situations I can think of. But it seems as if these individuals feel they can completely repudiate all of their former statements, actions, sentiments, comments, etc. and start afresh as totally reliable sources of information. They seem to expect that their new words be given complete credibility, while their former words were simply misguided and should be erased from the ledger. In fact, it seems they feel entitled to even more credibility precisely because they were so “misguided” and “wrong” in the past (as if that makes any sense!) I just find I am a bit skeptical of that kind of maneuver. It smells of self-righteousness to me. “Don’t listen to old me! He doesn’t know what he’s talking about! Listen to new me! I know everything!” By anonymous98361 on October 25, 2010 at 12:54 am 1. “Don’t listen to old me! He doesn’t know what he’s talking about! Listen to new me! I know everything!” I think you summed up the ridiculous mindset perfectly. In my opinion, it’s such a ridiculous mindset that it would be terribly funny, if it were not for the very serious harm this individual appears to be inflicting on a religious minority with what I would describe as a tirade of irrational hatred. By gnosticessence on October 25, 2010 at 6:04 am 2. “Don’t listen to old me! He doesn’t know what he’s talking about! Listen to new me! I know everything!” That’s a good way of summarizing it. By realitycheck36 on October 26, 2010 at 12:40 am 3. It seems like that “particularly harmful inner state” ultimately got him, and now is manifesting in its full force… By breakthechainss on October 24, 2010 at 11:17 pm 1. Agreed. By plainjane234 on October 25, 2010 at 12:33 am 2. Sad, but from my own experience with these things, it seems like it could be true. By anonymous98361 on October 25, 2010 at 12:55 am 4. Yes, I would really like to understand what makes a person seemingly swing to such a drastic and intense hatred against something you once benefitted from. I feel like there are esoteric reasons behind this – it’s too dramatic of a shift to be caused by something small and mundane. I look forward to seeing more of your observations. By recordstr8 on October 24, 2010 at 11:19 pm 1. Interesting thought recordstr8. It seems there is almost always more than meets the eye to life. I would not be surprised if there are esoteric reasons at work in this current scenario as well. By anonymous98361 on October 25, 2010 at 12:58 am 5. It’s pretty interesting, reading all this. Especially that last opinion that Jeff once shared about the worst thing that could happen to someone unsuccessful with Gnosis is that they move on with their life. If only that were true. I think worst thing that can happen is you move on with your life…unless you can’t move on! And because you seemingly either can’t handle failure, or feel the need to save face because you changed your mind, or you are so easily swayed by what other people say that you can’t distinguish what’s reality and become consumed with inflicting the hatred you feel on others, and this is how you appear to spend all your time…well, I think that is by far the worst thing. By plainjane234 on October 25, 2010 at 12:29 am 1. Yes plainjane, the facts definitely seem to support this. I just hope there aren’t lower levels for someone reacting against gnosis to go. By recordstr8 on October 25, 2010 at 8:58 am 6. Reading more of this story I can only think that it’s the old mechanism of ‘going from one extreme to another’ – being totally involved and liking it, even as you mention making jokes about cults, to then seemingly in my view going off the rails and completely bagging the organization. It appears to me this was something internal for Jeff to work on and hasn’t been addressed.. Bring on part 4! By hjc3000 on October 25, 2010 at 12:51 am 7. Yes I agree, although Jeff may have been doing some of the gnostic work, as he was apparently gaining experiences, in my view it seems he was clearly not working on the subconscious side of things, which can sometimes trick us in ways we are not aware of. By truthseeker333 on October 25, 2010 at 1:46 am 1. Good point truthseeker. In fact, that’s what interests me primarily about all the stories of these individuals. It seems many of them simply fell into certain traps of the egos that led to them abandoning working upon themselves for the sake of liberation and happiness. I think we all have elements of these egos within us and that it is worth taking these examples seriously so that, as unfathomable as it may seem to us now, we don’t follow in their footsteps. By recordstr8 on October 25, 2010 at 9:05 am 8. It looks to me from what I can tell like Jeff’s anger is blinding him to a massive degree. So much so that it seems he cannot remember all the good he apparently saw in the movement when he was attending.Thanks for your post, experiencegnosis. By able000 on October 25, 2010 at 1:57 am 1. Yes! I’ve noticed the same tendency in myself. When I’m feeling down, frustrated or depressed, it’s like there’s this roadblock in my mind stopping any kind of positive memories that could possibly lift me out of that state from entering. It’s like the emotion has this control over the mind – only allowing thoughts that reinforce the emotion’s position. It seems to me this is happening on many levels with all of these individuals involved with the modern persecution of Gnosis. By recordstr8 on October 25, 2010 at 9:23 am 9. It seems that the theme of experience keeps coming up in various places. Jeff’s experience was apparently first positive but then seemed to become negative, and it seems to be the same for Jo, Ioannis and the others. As I read it, this apparently was their experience with The Gnostic Movement and the teachings of Belzebuub – their experience. It’s not my experience nor many others. I’ve found that a lot of our experiences with things are very much based on our perceptions of things, from our point of view- and unfortunately most times are not outside of it – unless we really work at it, and a lot of times that perception has to do with what’s going on inside of us. I’ve found from my own experience as well when things don’t work out or go how I thought they should go that it’s easy to become negative and just see things from your own point of view and it can be hard to come out of that to see the full picture of what is going on, what is actually happening outside of just yourself and what your feeling and thinking. And just like with a lot of things in life, people respond in all different kinds of ways with the negative experiences they have – some just decide that whatever it was is not for them and move on, some complain, but some seem to really go after, what in their mind, caused their negative experience. Is it fair though to those that have not had a negative experience and have had a good experience to have to endure and deal with what seems like all the negativity, hatred, and disruptions of others because of their experience? Or what about others who are looking exactly for the teachings The Gnostic Movement and Belzebuub provide. Shouldn’t they have the opportunity to find the teachings of Gnosis and practice and experience things without what I would call a negative cloud of opinions, lies, and half-truths? By cstarlight6 on October 25, 2010 at 3:15 am 1. That’s a great comment cstarlight6. With regard to your last paragraph I would like to say that I agree completely and we must therefore speak out against the injustice of the ‘negative cloud of opinions, lies and half-truths’. I truly hope that all those reading this blog will be able to see that we need to speak up to allow people the chance to make up their own mind, and not discount things simply by reading something negative from those on a heartless mission to destroy that which is good. By able000 on October 25, 2010 at 7:48 am 10. I agree cstarlight6. I mean, if someone doesn’t like something because it doesn’t fit in with their own ideas, fair enough. But as I see it, its not fair to try to prevent others from benefiting from it. That goes against what living in a free and tolerant society is all about. I mean, if I go to a baseball game and don’t like it, I don’t have to go again. If I don’t like my experience at a Mormon church, I don’t have to be a Mormon, and if I don’t like the food at a restaurant, I don’t have to eat there again. In a free society we all have many choices we can make and we can choose not to participate in things we don’t like. And for freedom to prevail there must be respect and tolerance shown toward others who hold different views and make different choices than we do. Giving a bad review of something you don’t like is one thing, but what kind of a person obsessively tries to prevent other people from accessing or doing something just because they don’t like it? What kind of a person tries to actively attack, oppose and oppress something they dislike, by using prejudicial language of discrimination like ‘cult’ and spreading what I think is a hurtful campaign of hatred aimed at creating fear and loathing? A person who does not respect freedom in my opinion. A person who lacks tolerance for others and doesn’t respect other people’s differences I think. A person who is very self-absorbed in my view, because they fail to see that their own personal take on things is not the center of the universe, and just becasue they don’t like something, it doesn’t mean it should not be allowed to exist, and that other people who do enjoy it should be demonized. Many people, including myself, have befitted from The Gnostic Movement and the teachings of Belzebuub. If Jeff doesn’t like it and didn’t benefit from it that’s fine, I respect that. But I can’t respect Jeff launching what I see as a campaign of distortions and hatred, which is making it very difficult for me to continue enjoying and benefiting from the spirituality I have chosen. I wish that Jeff would respect our religious freedom and leave us alone. But since he isn’t I’m glad you are bringing his violations of religious freedom to light experiencegnosis, because I strongly feel its important that the light of the truth is put against the distortions and lies I see being propagated by Jeff, and then people can make up their own minds. By gnosticessence on October 25, 2010 at 6:58 am 11. Good points gnosticessence, and I also think that it’s time that they stop allowing this hatred to eat them up from the inside, it is just not doing them or the people close to them any good at all. Obviously in Gnosis we have ways to overcome and be free of this hatred once and for all, but letting go of anger is something that all religions, spiritual movements, self-help groups etc advocate, so I’m sure there must be some system they believe in which can help them. I sincerely hope they are able to move on and bring forth love into this world rather than division and contempt for their fellow men and women. By truewitness on October 25, 2010 at 11:59 am 1. Well put truewitness. Just from seeing how much stress aggression and hatred has caused me at times, I can only imagine what kind of damage they could possibly be doing to their bodies by seemingly carrying such a vehement grudge. The last part of your post reminded me of something else. A while back, I spent a lot of time watching testimonials of people who’ve had near death experiences. I noticed many recurring things in these videos, but one I found interesting was that they all had said that in the process when they were reviewing their lives, objectively seeing and feeling the effects of their actions on themselves and others, the one thing that the Divine being that was present was interested in was… …what have you done for your fellow man? One person even noted how his good intentions, ideas, and beliefs were completely forgotten and all that remained was the reality of his actions. Keep in mind, these weren’t Gnostics in these videos but traditional Christians and many of them atheists! Hopefully these modern persecutors of Gnostics will take note of this. Just because someone may not believe in something, doesn’t mean it ceases to exist. We all have to answer for our actions at some point. By recordstr8 on October 25, 2010 at 6:24 pm 1. Yeah I have also seen videos like that recordstr8 with people’s testimonies, and how it gives someone that clearer perspective on their life that is often hard to get when consumed by the daily grind of everyday life. OBEs are so valuable to get objective understanding, as when lies are circulating as facts, as I believe to be happening now, people can easily be fooled, and not realize that their emotions and reactions are being exploited by others. By truewitness on October 26, 2010 at 10:32 am 2. That’s an interesting perspective regarding that documentary on near death experiences. I hope that people who I believe are spending their time persecuting Gnostics currently can review their actions now, and change what I see as their hateful actions into peaceful ones, and learn to respect the freedom of others. It would be shame to realize that spending all your time and energy on hatred and persecution isn’t a good thing only after the end… a bit too late to change anything at that point, unless your lucky enough to be revived after a near death experience I guess. By freetobegnostic on October 26, 2010 at 10:34 am 12. Your comment is awaiting moderation. Why are my comments not being posted? You feel the need to attack people and not allow them to defend themselves? What does that say about you? This is just anotherway that you are shown to a be a hypocrit. I’ve seen your anger Jordan. By jefffarrell on October 26, 2010 at 12:13 am