Omprem

[Guest guest]

Hi Omprem

> This passive-aggressive attitude of yours has got to stop. It is

> bringing you no credit and winning no one to your point of view.

 

Who are you to judge my path, Omprem? I respect that you have

a good knowledge of this tradition, and I believe that you do

actually practice some of the things you mentioned, such as

meditation. However you are not my teacher, other than in that

you are a vehicle for the divine and here for me to learn. I

do not acknowledge you as a teacher, yet you see fit to lecture

me. Where do you feel you get the authority to do so?

 

For example:

> For example:

> Sandeep: Along the way, if you are moved to, have a look at the

> stake you have, in the questioning.

>

> Ralf: Growth, ego, learning, teaching, a vehicle for the growth of

> others, strengthening of the self, connection with the Self,

> destruction of the self, connection with other people, pure

> fun, the expression of insights, release of frustration ...

>

> Of course, it is clear to all that the stake that you have is just

> bolstering a wounded ego. Sandeep asked a pointed question

> in order to get you to admit the undesireability of your motives, at

> least to yourself, and to thus change the thread to something that

> approaches usefulness. You ignored that veiled invitation, took it

> as an attack and listed a lot of platitudes as a defense.

 

Is it clear? It is completely your perception of what you read. I

wrote that response in introspection, looking at the various needs

that I appear to be meeting when I interact on mailing lists.

Some of them are contradictory. I am human and acknowledge that

humanity in myself.

 

 

This is my perception from your posts:

 

You perceive honest answers as aggression. You perceive challenges,

such as my question about Sandeep's attainment of full awareness, as

aggression. You are yourself aggressive (re-read your posts about

feminism, for example, or your post where you call me gut-less) but

do not seem to recognise or acknowledge this, and therefore you see

it and challenge it everywhere, even where it is not.

 

I believe that this is something it would be of value to you to

meditate on.

 

I am not giving you absolute truths. I am giving you my opinion

and my perceptions.

 

 

> And, speaking of platitudes:

>

> Sandeep: The energy in the last few posts through Ralf is

> different.

>

> Ralf: It is the one energy. There is no Ralf, there is only

> UsAsOne. A difference in me is a difference in you.

>

> Again, a passive-aggressive attempt to assign blame elsewhere

> and avoid taking responsibility for your own actions. Sandeep

> was making an observation and again inviting you to enter into a

> true discussion. You rejected that and choose to continue in the

> same attack mode.

 

A platitude? Absolutely.

 

I chose to reply with the same answers that Sandeep was using to

answer the questions that have been posed to him by me and others,

and thus to illustrate the uselessness of that answer.

 

In my opinion Sandeep is extolling a path to spiritual awareness

that is solely based on intellectualism. We are creatures of both

mind and body, and anything that does not acknowledge and utilise

both can never be the true path for such creatures.

 

You yourself said that discernment between right and wrong actions

is needed alongside physical meditative practices.

 

Sandeep's prattlings are what I have heard many times before from

young pagans who have just come to the realisation that they are

an aspect of the divine, and who have become stuck in that insight

because they are not complementing thought with regular physical

spiritual actions. He refuses to answer questions about himself,

so it is impossible to make the judgment whether the absolute

truths he preaches are mature and correct. I have been reminded

by his posts that I was like that too once, and that is a good

lesson for me to remember. I thank Sandeep for that. :-)

 

 

There are too many misguided self-authorised teachers out there

for any of them, including myself, to be trusted without probing

into their history, experiences, etc. Do not blindly follow the

teachings of someone you do not know. When you have established

that trust, there is a place for blind following, but not before.

Any teacher who demands such faith without questioning should be

considered a charlatan. True teachers have nothing to hide. It is

my understanding that the Hindu teachings are quite clear on what

is expected from a student AND on what is expected from a guru, is

this not correct?

 

> Please just speak from the heart and stop being so defensive.

> No one wishes you ill. We all are interested in what you truly

> believe and/or have experienced.

 

As was I in your knowledge, hence my questions to you. Your issue

with aggression, however, is harming your credibility. I'll add

that where Sandeep's intellectualism irritated me until I was

reminded of my history, your problem with aggression does not

trigger any response in me at all. I shall keep meditating on the

lessons inherent in our relationship.

 

In Love and Light,

 

Ralf