Jim and Sharon,, I think we did much better for our lives, and for our Spirit, by not becoming yet another profit centered ego passing as the latest minstrel of Truth, whether Western, or Eastern based in understanding.
True guru’s know that no Teacher, no matter how popular, has any permanent effect on our so-called “salvation”, it is always up to the individual to work out their live’s details and heal from their childhood, and adult, traumas. Issues that aren’t addressed forthright and without reservation will haunt all of us like specters. Just because the “fickle finger of fate” has appeared to choose one writer, speaker, or teacher over another (or a million others) means only that the public, whatever that means, resonates with their message of hope, though verbal transience is once again masquerading as permanence. They market “hope”, and we are susceptible to messages that imply that we too can be wise, become enlightened, ascend to heaven after death, or whatever the empty promises of this type of marketed hope, and hype, implies. Writers who leave wishful thinking behind and directly confront Life’s issues may really have something to say, but in this capitalist world there is no guarantee that any promoters will rise up to support the work, or bored, disinterested readers will catch fire with the message, however. Sharon and I have a little personal experience with that one.
The ego was created as an intelligent, though misinformed, agent of our deep need for safety and love, in a world that still does not know how to be safe, and to love itself and each other. Our ego is a birthing canal for the energy of the Universe, so let us not be permanently stuck in it. The ego is the river water of consciousness that eventually carries us back into the ocean of Spirit, and is not our enemy. Never forget the world also has an ego, though every bit as fragmented as the most mentally ill amongst us. Attempting to fix the world will only drive one crazier than they already are, if the personal ego is still affirming its terminal uniqueness, and has not yet begun collaboration and reunification with what is true.
Patriarchy and misogyny (especially in religion, Eastern or Western based), capitalist systems gone socially awry, racism, hubris, and lack of empathy and compassion towards each other AND TO THE PLANT AND THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, continue to make the world an unsafe place for all life upon this planet. We forget that our biological origins are through the plant and animal kingdom, and if we don’t respect their rights, we have lost respect for ourselves. This only encourages more irrational, unskilled behavior from our most precious creation, our ego There are many who will not speak out against troubling social, ecological, and/or religious issues. One of ego’s avoidance subroutines is to ignore the evil of others, knowing that to judge others of misbehavior is to have to acknowledge the malfeasance within itself,
It is time to follow new paths of consciousness, the worn out ruts of our world culture are about to become our graves if dramatic and lasting change is not made.
There is a timeless path, but we first must unhitch our ego from the overworked horses of our troubled individual, and collective, past.
There is much money to be made off of human suffering, in religion, in the legal and medical professions, or in work as undertakers. Unenlightened capitalism encourages profit making at the expense of others, and from their misfortune.
As leaders of prosperity conscious churches (Hello 50 million dollar pseudo-saint Joel Osteen, etc.,), established and embedded religious institutions (Catholics have a source of money greater than that of many countries), and those who can promote their own opinions skillfully enough to capture the often limited attention span of seekers after social conformity, but rarely the Truth. People that don’t take the time to understand their own lives become hypnotized by the opinions of others, be they the power brokers of cultural, political, and/or religious/spiritual agendas.
Gee, you are you!
Or, GURU.
Let me steal your watch from your pocket, then sell it back to you—-Alan Watt’s opinion about guru’s, enlightenment, religion, and truth.
We are all enough.
The spiritual Path is the journey all must take to become reunited with our True Value. It is unique for each of us, and It will not be found along Capitalism’s competitive superhighway
No saint, sage, guru, or prophet can walk the Path for us.
It is healing to have company along the way. Bring snacks, it will be a long walk into eternity.
Tread lightly, with a curious mind, and an open heart.
Gee, you are YOU!
TIME TO CELEBRATE OUR REAL LIFE TODAY.
And, your real Self is free!
Spiritual capitalism need not corrupt any seeker for Truth.
JUST SAYING
Bruce speaks, but few listen, or read..
Perhaps if I charged people to listen to me, there would be more perceived value in what I say.
Argh, then I would be a f..king GURU.
