Written on 2009-10-28 05:45:54
There’s a little tale I tell in my book Sage of Synchronicity, about the time I got kicked out of a spiritual group in New Zealand for being a spiritual twit. It was a particularly demanding programme that I was taking part in, and I failed to take the necessary levels of responsibility to stay with the group. What was required for the programme was a complete acceptance of responsibility for emotional projections at others. Because the group was dealing with consciousness at a very advanced level, anyone who was not being extremely disciplined, diligent and honest could not hope to keep up with the group. So I got the boot.
It was all terribly embarrassing for my ego. Humiliating even. I had an ego fall. I kicked and screamed a wailed at the unfairness of it all. But I did eventually get the lesson. Ego falls are good for the spirit, as long as you don’t fall so hard as to break your neck.
The human ego operates in a world of separation and illusion, and its prime task is to make sure that you stay separated. Many spiritual seekers don’t grasp this fully, and their journey is sabotaged by the ego. What is required is a complete honesty about who you are, what you think and what you feel. The only way to do this is to being the mind to presence.
I have been particularly intrigued by the recent case, highlighted in the media, of an incident near Sedona, Arizona, where a spiritual retreat featuring an Indian sweat lodge, went horribly wrong.
Three of the fifty or so people in the sweat lodge died. The group leader was James Arthur Ray, a prominent New Age teacher and author, who is perhaps best known for his part in the hugely successful video, The Secret. What really happened there? As one might expect, the popular media and blogosphere have labeled the whole scenario a cult, and the blogger community has taken on the mentality of a lynch mob. I suggest you don’t join that gang. It’s simply a collective projection of the ego, as is all emotional condemnation.
There is however, a difference between judgment – which is laden with the emotional projections of the ego – and discernment, which is the non-emotional and non-judgmental perception of something or someone, including the shadow. Judgment condemns, discernment perceives.
One thing my spiritual teachers taught me - not long before they gave me the boot, that is – was how to connect with consciousness fields. All human beings have the innate capacity for integrated intelligence, to perceive information from beyond the brain. So I snuck a “look” at the situation surrounding the Sedona incident, and have noted some of the energy surrounding it. The event is a very important lesson for the New Age movement, and the millions of people who have seen or read The Secret video and book. The idea of manifestation, at least as presented in The Secret, is naïve. It also has the potential to take people into ego, into separation and into greed. An unbalanced focus upon external goals and financial and material success, takes one away from Spirit. This is because it places the focus of the life journey on external goals. The spiritual journey involves a “responsibility’ to a context greater than that of the isolated ego. We are part of a universal evolution. And this is precisely what The Secret fails to remind us of. Such a philosophy may lead to power and control problems, and then the individual is likely to become a channel for dark energy. That’s what happened to me in New Zealand. But I was lucky. I fell – was pushed actually – but it was only my ego that was bruised. I didn’t bring anyone down with me. Sometimes a Spiritual thrashing is the best thing for the soul. It can prevent much bigger catastrophes further down the line.
I wrote a little about this in Sage of Synchronicity. I noted that the consciousness level of the cast of The Secret had, on average, fallen since the video was made. As a collective, it was becoming more enmeshed in lower density energy fields (read, "dark energy"). When I looked at the Sedona incident, an image came to my mind. I was looking down on the camp grounds from above. As I looked, the buildings changed into money. I’ll let you choose the meaning of that.
James Arthur Ray is going through an ego fall. He's falling a long way. I trust all parties get the lesson. It's actually a gift for him, and for us all.
Comments:
by Simon Buckland
2009-10-31 10:41:57
Great points, Marcus, and you put your finger on the problem of stuff like "The Secret" - that it pretends to be about aligning with your higher goal, while at the same time promising you massive material wealth. Spirit just doesn't care what kind of car you drive, or if you go by bus - so long as you're going where you need to go.
It's no accident that so much of this stuff comes from the USA; the belief in infinite possibilities also has something childish about it, and goes with a denial of the either/or choices of maturity.
by Robert Perry
2009-11-03 11:19:09
Marcus,
I like the new site. You and I corresponded a few months ago. I read this post with interest as I live in Sedona and in 2004 taught a retreat at Angel Valley. I know the owners (the Hamiltons) who are now named in at least one lawsuit. While I don't have an ability to check into consciousness fields, as you speak of, I share your sense that this incident contains a powerful lesson for the New Age movement. The message of The Secret, as I saw it, was the message of using the power of one's mind for plain old personal gain, rather than the common good. This, I believe, reflects a narcissistic sentiment that pervades the New Age movement--from leaders to promoters to audience. How can this driving sentiment not eventually result in events that make the real nature of that sentiment shockingly plain?
Robert
by Marcus T. Anthony
2009-11-05 23:00:07
Yes, Perry. I can only repeat what I said to Simon. Still, I think there were some good people involved with the secret. The black woman seemed wonderful to me, and Jack Canfield seems to have a good heart.
I do think there is something to manifestation, but it is something more simple, more beautiful, and more selfless than what The Secret suggests.
by Marcus T. Anthony
2009-11-05 23:00:50
Simon,
(Haven't quite figured out how to respond directly to posts, yet).
Yes, I basically argue this in by book Sage of Synchronicity. The new age idea of manifestation and the USA's materialism emerge from the same mind set. Ken Wilber is right when he calls much of new age thinking as a retreat into narcissism. A fall was inevitable, just as a fall for the USA in general was inevitable. The separated ego state is just caught up too much in its own dream. Sooner or later God sends the "please slow down" sign - maybe even the "please drop dead" sign!
The more I look at Chinese nationalism (China), the more I see an inevitable and huge ego fall here. When it comes, it won't be nice. The thing with China is that it turns the "I am great" American/Western worldview into the "we are so great" Chinese worldview. Both lock the ego into separation - only the Chinese WV manifests at a collective level (and both civilisations have a bit of both - Chinese kids are not too short on the "I'm so special" mentality, I can assure you! - while the US has plenty of "we are special" attitude too.
Plenty of people are resisting the call of Spirit to let go of the illusion. Let' s hope enough people "get it" to counterbalance things.
by tboz
2009-11-27 05:54:32
It's actually a gift for him, and for us all.
People died and you call it a gift! I'm resrchin and will link you to my cussies. You fail!
No god
by Marcus T. Anthony
2009-11-27 06:55:37
It's a gift in the sense that the tragedy can teach us something, especially about some errors in new age thinking. A greater tragedy will be if if people don't learn from it. People do unwise and stupid things. They always have and always will. That doesn't mean you have to do the same.
Marcus