Online privacy, was: Gurus and teachers

[Guest guest]

, "Harsha" <harsha-hkl@h...> wrote:

> Over the last 25 years, I have seen many

> teachers and gurus ridicule each other and different paths, and

their

> disciples of course take their cue from their gurus. Sometimes the

criticism

> might even be justified from some point of view. But this is how

spiritual

> business is done. This is how spiritual business always has been

done.

> There is a long history of teachers and gurus hiding their own

shortcomings

> and problems, sometimes

> serious, and acting as guides. Certainly, people can still benefit

from

> their

> teaching although some may be misled and harmed as well. This is

why it is

> important for spiritual aspirants to take some responsibility and

> familiarize themselves with at least the basic religious and Shakti

> literature which comes from the genuine spiritual traditions.

 

Hello,

 

In the question of teachers and gurus, maybe it is we who are too

little critical ?

 

As you say, it is a business and ppl are offering services and

goods.

 

It is then up to the purchaser to make sure the services and goods are

of proper quality.

 

This reminds me of something that happened way back when the first

time I joined a mailing list dedicated to spritual matters.

 

The list had newly been started up and to be honest, we were all

absolute or close to absolute

beginners, except for a long time practitioner of Buddhism,

who also turned out to be about the oldest of us, being about 60.

 

The list owner and the two moderators knew each other before and had

invited most of the members from other groups they themselves

were members of, so while some ppl knew each other from before, not

everyone did, so we were all kind of sounding each other out.

 

Someone made a question on list about socalled "Ascended Masters"

and what they were. Then comes a message from the Buddhist

practitioner, who was a thoroughly kind soul and not likely

to start up malevolent gossip,

warning everybody that none of us were in any way

obliged to give out personal e-mail or snail mail addresses,

or meet ppl we knew from online, even if they stated that they

were an "Ascended Master" out to bestow teachings on us.

 

Turned out someone had called themselves an "Ascended

Master", mailed some female members of the list in private

and offered them "private tuition" in the hope that someone would be

naive enough to fall for it.

 

I cannot picture the same thing happening on this list with so many

experienced members, and Ascended Masters in their own right

but I just want to remind everyone that they

are in no way obliged to give out personal information,

including home addresses, to anyone on the net, no matter the

reason you are asked for this information.

 

 

Love,

 

Amanda.

[Guest guest]

Thanks Amanda,

 

For the helpful reminder. It never hurts to be reminded of these things -

these lists change all the time, there are always new members, and some

could be newcomers to the Internet.

 

Nice to have you here.

 

Love,

 

--Greg

 

At 05:24 PM 4/20/00 -0000, mumblecat wrote:

 

.... snip ...

>I cannot picture the same thing happening on this list with so many

>experienced members, and Ascended Masters in their own right

>but I just want to remind everyone that they

>are in no way obliged to give out personal information,

>including home addresses, to anyone on the net, no matter the

>reason you are asked for this information.

>

>

>Love,

>

>Amanda.