Val891 Wrote: > As for Culture-or-Cult.com, I don't only see stuff > about Be Scofield. I can see one writer who really > doesn't like her, but I also see other posts about > other cult oriented subjects. I understand they're > offering a platform that curates relevant content > that posts submitted articles in addition to their > gathered news from othe
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

From the latter review: QuoteThe Allies of Humanity completely flops as a conspiracy theory, regurgitating pallid imitations of storylines from Babylon 5, The X-Files, and any number of B movies. Agreed. "The New Message From God" isn't even interesting as a conspiracy theory, it's just bad sci-fi mixed with religious mumbo jumbo. But people who suffer from existential fe
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Another website about spiritual teachers which especially features Summers: Every page of the site links to gururating.org, so it's likely owned and made by the same person/people. In the top left corner of every page on enlightened-people.com, there's a list of "messengers": Moses (1393-1273 BCE) Buddha (483-400 BCE) Jesus Christ (4 BCE-33) Muhammad
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Correction to my previous post: this forum doesn't link to gururating.org as much as I thought after all. In my google query I used the search operator "link:" but I just found out that operator was officially deprecated in 2017 so the results of the query are inaccurate. @nmconcerned: That's pretty scary, that your wife has been indoctrinated so severely through just the i
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I'm pretty sure this cult is behind the site gururating.org. That site appears to be a sneaky way to lure people to Marshall Vian Summers. In order to appear unbiased they've also rated a few other gurus, but none of them are rated as highly as Summers, except Ramana Maharshi (See the ratings here). Apparently the site uses Ramana Maharshi's great repute to make Summers look appeal
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

It wouldn't be hard to program a chat bot to replace Mooji. You can program it with the same few stories he keeps telling and make it keep replying to questions with retorts like "who says that?", "who watches that?", "who is I?" etc. Ramana Maharshi used that kind of questioning (only occasionally) but in his case there would be actual insight behind those ques
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteyouarenotanobjectYeah... there's only THIS,isn't it...?This outstanding nothing at all...:) They who say it is a joyful realization are right. Shocking!! Poverty!POVERTY!!!, it's what it is.Not a peak experience!A valley of alive-nothing.Non-experience! Yes, beautifully said! :-) QuoteCorboyBy contrast, Advaita and Neo Advaita are doctrines which privilege experiences kno
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Sahara71 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I would like to acknowledge that Zen Buddhism and > traditional Advaita Vedanta (but not > Neo-advaita) are genuine and legitimate religions > that deserve respect. These beliefs have a long > and honored place in traditional cultures and have > many devout followers who benefit greatly from > t
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Sahara71, there's a profundity in the statement that the absolute and the relative are exactly the same that's easy to overlook. I've tried to put into writing the deeply transformational effect nonduality teachings (such as Advaita Vedanta and Zen Buddhism) can have, but anything I can write falls short. According to Seigen Ishin (Ch'ing-yüan Wei-hsin): QuoteBefore a
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Corboy, in the quote below from the introduction of his book "Toward a psychology of awakening" it becomes a bit clearer what the author (John Welwood) means by "this kind of psychological work would require a much larger understanding and aim than conventional psychotherapy, whose focus is on pathology and cure rather than transformation." Further into the book it will probab
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quote2cents It made me very aware of how I have resorted to spiritual bypassing when looking for that easy exit from arising issues within myself and others - ugg -such arrogance but it's all grist for the mill. You and me both :) There's probably not many people (at least in the West) on the spiritual path who don't acquire spiritual arrogance (to compensate for feelings of alie
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Psychological work may be necessary to progress beyond the seedling phase. From this excellent article about the psychological pitfalls on the spiritual path: QuoteIn its ability to shine light into the hidden nooks and crannies of our conditioning, psychological inquiry can serve as a powerful ally to spiritual practice. It can help break up the hard, rocky soil of our personality patt
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Here's some more from the mentioned Wikipedia article: QuoteAnd the Soto Zen Master Jiyu-Kennett: One can easily get the impression that realization, kensho, an experience of enlightenment, or however you wish to phrase it, is the end of Zen training. It is not. It is, rather, a new beginning, an entrance into a more mature phase of Buddhist training. To take it as an ending, and t
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

From the Wikipedia entry for Kensho: QuoteKensho does not eradicate our unhealthy habits [...] There is a sudden awakening to the fact of "no-self" and then this insight has to be integrated into one's life which means that it has to be embodied and not just be a memory. Narcissistic personalities seem to be unable to progress from the awakening experience to a lasting, embodi
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Thank you Rick and Sahara for confirming my suspicions! QuoteSahara71 I think James knows less than a complete novice. I think he is really leading people astray.... he will make people very unhappy. I think you're right! I really feel like I took a wrong turn when I started following his teachings. It's a road leading to a dead end, or rather to a boring, egotistical simulacrum o
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Heather's story is heartbreaking and it may be insensitive of me diverting from that with this post. But I'm trying to untangle the sense from the nonsense in what I've learned from Swartz, and since other readers may trying to do the same, perhaps this post is useful anyways. I was thinking about this comment James made regarding Gaudapada's commentary on the Mandukya Upan
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Traveler99 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > A message from Heather, copied directly. > [...] > JS is not only deceptive, he is cruel, unloving, > totally selfish, and maniacal. In my view…he is a > psychopath. Even based solely on his own words, it doesn't seem that unlikely to me that James is a psychopath. One of the many red flags i
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Good point, Valma. Why does Swartz call himself Ramji? A quick search through his autobiography showed this as the first occurence of the name in the book: QuoteAnd one day, sitting alone on a rock in the desert at dawn, the Friend called me Ram, the one who revels in the Heart. This power, the exquisitely beautiful "thumb-sized Person sitting in the Heart" as the Upanishad say
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

earthquake Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Anyhow, fast forward two years to the most recent > Berlin seminar. At the end, James SWartz decided > to ask donations in order to pay for his new home > in Spain. He did the same thing in Amsterdam. He also said roughly the same things in Amsterdam as he said in Berlin obut how bad Trump is but that
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

bellajack Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Swami Chinmayananda did MOT ask him to go out and > teach. From what he told me their relationship > ended on an unpleasant not. In fact he only > started jumping on the Chinmayananda bandwagon > about four or five years ago. Probably because he > was using some of his texts. JS has never written
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

bellajack Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > his first wife. Her name was (is) Marlene. He > described her as supremely beautiful. He said she > was a dancer and had been chosen as Miss Hawaii > during those times. Apparently they travelled all > over the world with JS acting as her costumier and > manager. Then all > I heard about her (
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

After rereading the quote about the difference between awakening and enlightenment from the previous post, I see the need to add that the writer was obviously mistaken about Mooji. Everything mentioned about Mooji in this thread indicates that Mooji may have had an awakening but is definitely not enlightened.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I watched a few minutes of the Lisa Cairns video and she seems nice and authentic, but she may be spreading misconceptions without realizing it. She says everything is a projection of the mind. I don't know if she means it that way, but many people will take that to mean that everything is a projection of the individual's mind. That's a dangerously misguided view, called 's
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteearthquakeThere is indeed no one to blame or feel guilty for from the perspective of Brahman, and indeed all is the will of Isvara, as all is Isvara. however, if i walk down the street and see someone being attacked I will respond. So, yes, everything is happening according to Isvara, yet that doesnt mean one should be lazy and not work on themselves. :) . The above poster brings and this, a
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I don't find James' arguments against the allegations very convincing. I don't know if the allegations are true, but I'm grateful that they made me take a critical look at JS and his teachings, having attended a weekend seminar of his a few weeks back, and having accepted his teaching a bit too uncritically. I can now somewhat agree with the comment found here: Quot
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Sahara71 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I just read the quotes that you have posted for us > from Old James' autobiography. How he threw his > first wife (?) out of the house like she was a > piece of trash. He writes about the incident like > he is some kind of hero! It made be want to puke, > actually. I was mistaken about the w
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Thanks Earthquake, your posts really want to make me become more knowledgeable about Vedanta. Since I'm only on a rudimentary level with it, I can't discern very well which are correct Vedantic teachings and which aren't. So your take on things is greatly appreciated! A small correction to one of my previous posts (as I'm a bit further in the autobiography now): the woman J
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

After James described how he desposed of his wife like a piece of garbage because he now fancies someone else, he writes: QuoteI know it is hard to believe but it was only after she drove off that I realized I had just solved my problem. There would be no more furtive trips down darkened hallways in the dead of night. Guru Jim was getting respectable. Respectable? What kind of person can thi
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I'm still reading parts of James' autobiography and it's shocking how he exposes himself in it for what he really is. (The book is called "Mystic by default" and a free pdf of it can be found online) First of all, he describes how he "got enlightened" but it's clear that he doesn't understand the difference between an awakening experience and enligh
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

earthquake Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Perhaps that, and the well known phenomenon of > "the curious case of the wandering hands".. Ah yes, that may be what he meant by "The body was automatically assuming complex yogic postures."
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"