Mother Meera, Post-modernism, and (maybe) the Thoth Deck

[Guest guest]

The following article (see link below) was written by an attendee of

one of Mother Meera's darshans during her recent trip to the U.S.

 

The article starts with a nice description of the darshan, and gives

some background on Mother Meera. The author draws some interesting

conclusions about the growing (Western?) popularity of Mother Meera.

 

I think this is somewhat relevant to the " Thoth Deck conversation --

 

I think the Mother Meera phenomenon is one of the situations

where the interface between East and West mostly works. I'll

say 'mostly' because I think that (perhaps) the lack of a

Western cultural understanding of " avatar " has led to some

misunderstandings between Mother Meera and some of her devotees,

and cultural issues may have led to accusations that she's " anti-gay " .

 

[article excerpts follow]

 

A sign of the times?

Receiving darshan from Mother Meera at the 19th Century Club

The Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and River Forest (Illinois, U.S.)

By Tom Holmes

 

http://www.wednesdayjournalonline.com/main.asp?

SectionID=4 & SubSectionID=4 & ArticleID=8026 & TM=82875.88

or

http://tinyurl.com/28uhdc

 

[....]

In significant ways, Mother Meera's growing popularity

can be seen as a sign that postmodern attitudes are taking

hold in our culture. According to Wikipedia,

postmodernism is characterized by:

 

1) Obsolescence of the metanarrative apparatus of

legitimation.

 

In simpler terms, it means that people are increasingly not

looking to only one grand myth or set of doctrines or

philosophical system to explain ultimate reality.

 

Messick said, " I was raised Lutheran, but I find dogmas too

small to fit God into. People want to put God in little

boxes. " [....]

 

2) Subjective knowledge, and not objective knowledge is

the dominant form of discourse.

 

You won't hear devotees of Mother Meera getting into

arguments about doctrinal truth, because truth is subjective.

In a sense, the heart is more important than the head. [....]

 

3) Disillusionment with the promises of the Enlightenment

and the progress of science.

 

" How many times I have seen it! " wrote Adilakshmi

[Meera's secretary and assistant] in Answers, Part I. [a

book on/by Mother Meera] " People come in here with so

many questions but just sitting with Ma sweeps everything

from their minds. They come with questions and they go

away with peace. " (p. 123)

 

[....]

 

Milijana [an attendee] had been to therapists, classes

and workshops to try to find the key to removing what

she called the " angst " in her life, but she found that she

always " hit a ceiling " with anything derived from human

wisdom or knowledge. " I needed real healing, " she said.

" Humans couldn't take me there. The beauty of it

[darshan and meditation] is that there is no ceiling. "