Thanks for your explanation, Facet. I agree with your reservations about having children meditate. I once asked a psychologist what she thought about meditating with children and she recommended against it, saying it may not be healthy to halt their inner processes. Regarding the rest of what you wrote, it doesn't match my own experience nor the scientific research I've read.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hi Rama, you seem to be well informed about matters concerning James Swartz. Maybe you can tell us about the status of James' legal action against Traveler, which he announced in February 2017. See
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quoteshamrock There are, though, plenty of Indian writers who criticize their own culture on the same grounds! Do you know if any of those writings are available in English?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

BTW, another aspect of belief systems that may be relevant to this discussion is the belief that there exists a cycle of reincarnation and the ideal outcome is to be liberated from this cycle, i.e. to be liberated from embodiment. I can imagine that this negative view of material reality can lead to a decrease in initiative to improve material or even societal conditions.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

That makes a lot of sense to me, Earthquake. We haven't been precise enough in this discussion about different kinds of meditation and the corresponding difference in effects, and the same goes for the different contextual frameworks in which meditation is practiced. I think that a lack of initiative in improving one's conditions isn't necessarily causally linked to the practice
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Thanks for your input, Earthquake. QuoteEarthquake I am only guessing the points being made here, (sorry im cooking lunch), and I can appreciate if there is any view that mediation may make one focused in a way that other things are not noticed. This can be true. Yes I guess that's broadly the point of the initial post, that meditation can make you accept (or overlook?) suboptimal circ
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I just took a look at the first few posts in this thread and to my surprise I already wrote about a possible explanation of this conundrum of how decreased amygdala reactivity apparently doesn't constitute decreased alertness (or in the case of the Vice article, decreased combat effectiveness). Here it is, slightly rewritten: Quotezizlz In my experience, an effect of regular meditation th
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

From the Vice article: QuoteThis could be the future of warfare as the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is increasingly providing training in mindfulness tools and breathing techniques to manage stress, build resilience, enhance wellbeing and improve combat effectiveness. That's interesting. I think it casts doubt on the conclusion in the topic title ("Meditation reduces reactivity to
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotefacet I’m not sure about your points about the intentions behind meditation practice being an issue, there should not be blame placed upon people due to their intentions. Give me the workings on that zizl what is that belief about? Or does it just serve to protect meditation as a working model in the minds of those who will be shattered without its fix? Hi facet, I'm a bit puzzled th
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

"Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult" is definitely worth a watch to anyone interested in cults. I've only seen the first episode yet, but IMO it's very well done (unlike the other recent docu series about the same cult), probably making it to the list of my favorite cult documentaries (along with Wild Wild West, Holy Hell and David Wants To Fly). You can find the series on Amaz
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteDis-illusioned The thing is that I thought his style was “normal” for a “guru.” The fact that he can make being an asshole seem normal or even helpful is testament to his skill of manipulating people. QuoteDis-illusioned At one time, I took this stuff on the chin - and he was often very accurate in sussing me out. That makes sense, that he's so good at reading people. It'
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteDis-illusioned In his last exchange with me, he said: “ You’re helping yourself, xxxxx, but it’s not working. Better just be a prostitute and get some serious money out of it while you still have your looks. At least you could afford an upscale tricked out van that would look good in that posh neighborhood. It’s more honest.” What a scumbag.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteDis-illusioned Lastly, and for the record, I have emails from James where he advised/encouraged/recommended that I have sex with men for as much money as possible, and put that towards a new roof for the pagoda or veranda at his villa (amongst other such low-life suggestions.) Really? Did he mean that jokingly or was he serious? Even if he was only joking, it's dubious that that idea
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hi Dis-Illusioned, Thanks for giving us another peek into the mind of JS. The same thing was reported on this forum before by another poster (probably in this thread or in the JS-tangent in the Mooji-thread that preceded this thread): Someone had corresponded via email with JS and wasn't aware that their correspondence would be published on his site. She asked JS to take it down but he re
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotezizlz Hi Facet, are you sure you're better off getting a teacher? Sorry Facet, I misread your post. So you don't believe getting a teacher will benefit you but you'll do it as an experiment. I'm curious about the research you mention doing. Are you going to write some kind of publication about it? Is there a particular research question that you're exploring?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotefacet I’ll return to spiritual circles to locate a teacher, and see everybody here in a year. Hi Facet, are you sure you're better off getting a teacher? You made a lot of good points in previous discussions about the possible harmful effects of the whole spiritual teacher business. Personally, I think the best spiritual teacher you can find is yourself, your inner wisdom. It can
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Does anyone here have experience with People of Praise? QuoteAmy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the supreme court has prompted former members of her secretive faith group, the People of Praise, to come forward and share stories about emotional trauma and – in at least one case – sexual abuse they claim to have suffered at the hands of members of the Christian group. Quote“The basic premise of
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteSunflower7 People have always quested for something higher than what we have come to know. Agreed. And we've always sought out people to be the mediators between that "something higher" and ourselves. You see this all throughout history, all over the world. Maybe it's an instinct we're born with. And/or maybe it's because to find that "something higher&
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Okay, one final post since I'm being accused of gaslighting. Gaja wrote: "One women attended his satsang and ask about her efforts to try make herself a better person, I guess, there was something about improving herself, he answer her, that - he is not interested with it - he said to her, she can improve her personlaity, but it is like dressing pig with pearls, it doesn't m
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I agree with much of what you say. Like I said earlier, I don't think you can be in business as a spiritual teacher without being tainted by that commercial interest to some extent. No place for unkindness or crazy wisdom indeed. Fortunately Adyashanti isn't known for displaying those characteristics to my knowledge, with the exception of Gaja's report who later said she may hav
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Thanks for sharing, Sevenhorses. I went through a similar progression with him, first being interested, then amused, then creeped out, though it took me longer than you. Actually my first impression was that he was glib and arrogant but then I foolishly dismissed that. His practice and interpretation of Vedanta obviously hasn't brought him liberation from being dominated by desires and
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotefacet He chose to create the paid job as a guru / teacher / mentor in this way, he supposedly guides people through, plenty of clips on YouTube, sells the guided meditations, does the retreats. Same framework different dressings. Does his livelihood depend on it or is he in a regular paid job? Okay, we just have different definitions of "guru", I guess. For me the word is tied t
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I think everyone's different. Meditation may be a dead end to you but that doesn't mean it is for everyone. Quotefacet so you gotta meditate. And meditate. And meditate.. until life smacks you back into action again. It’s nice for a while, but eventually a dead end. To me the value of meditation isn't the meditation itself but the long term effects it has, which doesn't
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotefacet total freeing of ego is really a myth to me Okay, so at least we found some common ground :) Thanks for adding some more explanation about your trepidations about Adya and meditation. There are many points I'd like to address but I don't want to write a wall of text or get too off-topic so I'll keep it short(ish). I don't think that the question whether medit
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Here's an outline of how I think spirituality will become more scientific. Where we're at now: - brain scan technology has helped to discover a correlation between spiritual awakening and certain brain states (decreased DMN activity being the main takeaway) - neurofeedback technology has been developed that aids in reaching those states more effectively during meditation What&
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteGaja If I say, something doesn't feel right about Moo, or Adya, this mean, I have trust for my senses. Adya has many many great insights, but maybe he still has some leftovers of ego I agree 100%. If I trust my senses, no one is totally free from ego and to believe that that's even possible is unfortunately part of the persistent mythologizing and romanticizing of spiritual awa
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotefacet Long term meditation too, has it’s long term side effects. It’s not something that I believe can be taught of guided by anyone anyway, people more often (more especially those who charge) may think that they help, but they just share their own experiences with not one of us being the same.. others just take it on as I described upstairs with internalizing. .. and when you’ve got som
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Thanks for sharing, Gaja! I think you're right, we shouldn't feel guilty about having fun. Maybe that wasn't exactly what he said either, but then maybe he should have been more clear.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotefacet Sure, if you are happy with the cost.. for me I wonder why on Earth anybody charge for a service like this at all, but that’s just me. Spiritual growth being a business venture, those two don’t really compliment each other at all from my perspective, it’s not the same for everyone though I get that. It doesn’t have to be. I get that, and I feel ambivalent about the spiritual busi
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I don't think the retreat pricing is unethical. It costs about $100 a day, that's not expensive for this type of thing. It's just that when I checked out the price for the retreat in my country last year, the only retreat was a 5-day one, at a hotel / conference center which costs another $100 a day. It was close to where I live so I could have just traveled back and forth from my
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"