{"id":1252,"date":"2009-08-02T10:03:26","date_gmt":"2009-08-02T14:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lwlworldwide.com\/blog\/?p=1252"},"modified":"2009-08-02T13:52:11","modified_gmt":"2009-08-02T17:52:11","slug":"herd-on-the-secret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lwlworldwide.com\/blog\/herd-on-the-secret\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Herd’ on The Secret… and… The Disrobed Monk"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a researcher of metaphysics, interviewer, writer, and just plain open-minded explorer of\u00a0 all things that help us humans DISCOVER, CONTRIBUTE and get RESULTS, I’ve seen and heard some fascinating “stuff.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Things that make me jump up and down and yell, “Holy @#$%… that was very cool,” and things that cause me to shake my head in wonderment.<\/p>\n

In regards to the latter, if there’s one OVERRIDING, fingers-on-the-chalk-board<\/em> sorta annoying FACT that I’ve seen come true, time and time again, it’s THIS:<\/p>\n

Hard-core New Agers, self-help junkies, born-again meditators, LOA groupies, and worshippers of all things “love ‘n light” — heck, however you want to describe someone who boxes themselves “in” through ascension-driven thinking and living — constantly stay CONFUSED…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

They confuse<\/span> “feeling” good with actually BE-ing good; they confuse<\/span> spending time “imagining”\u00a0 reality with LIVING a real-world life; they confuse<\/span> excessive self-analysis (activity) with quantifiable results (productivity); they confuse<\/span> affirmations\/mantras\/lofty quotes with foundational and conscious awareness; etc.<\/p>\n

Get where I’m going?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you see how the above distinctions can easily become disconnects<\/em> when someone uses the former mindset and approach to REPLACE or minimize the latter<\/span>?<\/p>\n

Let’s explore some more…<\/p>\n

— Cont’d<\/em><\/span><\/strong> —<\/p>\n

There are a few gentlemen I want to introduce you to that I hope will ILLUMINATE (or just massage over) the soap-box I’m surfing on today.<\/p>\n

The first one is a disrobed (former) Buddhist Monk who has been described as direct<\/em><\/strong>, daring<\/em><\/strong>, compassionate<\/em><\/strong> and nearly always ‘spiritually incorrect<\/em><\/strong>.’\u00a0 In short, totally my kind of guy.<\/p>\n

Alan Clements<\/a> was the first American to have pioneered the dharma for the remote South East Asian Buddhist country of Burma, where he lived in a Buddhist monastery during the 1970s and ’80s, five years of which were spent as a monk. During this time he trained in classical Buddhist psychology and vipassana (insight) meditation with two of the most respected meditation masters of our era, the late Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw, and his successor Sayadaw U Pandita.<\/p>\n

However, one day would forever change the way he understood how the meditative life<\/em> can (and should) be. Watch the short video clip here and he’ll tell you what happened in his own words:<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

\u2666\u00a0 \u2666\u00a0 \u2666<\/p>\n

In short, if you want to learn about some ways to guard against the dangers of ridged fundamentalist-thinking or what I call “spiritual knighthood” (the process of fitting into a group-consciousness mold), research and learn what Alan has to say.<\/p>\n

For a taste, here’s something worthy of your time:<\/p>\n

“Start looking at self-deception. People can unwittingly weave themselves into a cocoon of false ideas, all the while assuming they\u2019re free. It\u2019s very Orwellian.<\/p>\n

“The tool to use to safeguard yourself from becoming a political puppet or a spiritual shee are namely, sharpening self-inquiry, critical analysis, and independent thinking. The basics of a smart spiritual life.” \u2014 Alan Clements<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Now for the second guy…<\/p>\n

A little pre-name introduction: he’s an Integral Institute member (Ken Wilbur’s group), Buddhist practitioner and American musician who has been touring\u00a0 for more than a decade. This renegade artist, whether through song, paintings, writings, or screenplays, has devoted his life to finding entertaining ways of exploring the human puzzle.<\/p>\n

And, he’s got a cool sense of humor.<\/p>\n

He has a lot of “5 Reasons…”\u00a0 lists, and there’s one titled:<\/p>\n

“Top Five Reasons You Are Full Of Shit<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

The last two on his list are:<\/p>\n

#4) <\/strong>Excuses, Rationalization, Blaming, Blah Blah Blah. Someone should put a diaper on your ego.<\/p>\n

#5) <\/strong>I look through your medicine cabinet, and I’m like “Give me a break”. You have no intention to floss.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When I FIRST read Stuart Davis’ article, “The Secret: The Spirituality of Narcissism<\/a><\/strong>,” I thought\u00a0 it was a tad harsh on the movie.<\/p>\n

Then, after experiencing so, so many people — whether partners, subscribers, friends or customers — cling onto the LAW of ATTRACTION identity and abstract, intangible methods of creating a prosperous life (regardless of their outer results), like a junkie hordes and protects his crack stash, I became a believer.<\/p>\n

A believer in Stuart’s critical examination, not just of the movie, but of how the masses (notice the title of this post says “herd” and not “heard”) move along like cattle, munching on whatever piece of “guru-delivered” insight that’ll validate their experience<\/span> (again, regardless of how much it hasn’t changed).<\/p>\n

If you actually see virtue in the color spectrum of life — where you’re willing to hear things you normally don’t like hearing and see things that you normally close your eyes to — you should read this Stuart Davis article<\/a> (then come back and let me know what you think).<\/p>\n

WARNING<\/strong><\/span>: It is a bit DEEP and does require some intellectual brain power and stamina. So, don’t go there expecting an atta-girl or atta-boy applause for embracing “The Secret”.<\/p>\n

Instead, read what he says with an open<\/em><\/strong>, honest<\/em><\/strong>, reflective<\/em><\/strong> mind.<\/p>\n

As ALWAYS, Heather and I are here to cajole you to see the “other side of the story,” and push you into taking ownership of your experiences and the results you achieve HERE “in the physical” (not in your meditations or imagination).<\/p>\n

And, no, don’t leave a comment telling us that it’s the pretend life you create in your imagination that replaces or initiates the life you have here.<\/p>\n

Sorry, it just doesn’t work that way<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Meditations, affirmation, self-talk, visualization, writing your future story, etc… they’re all just TOOLS to help you align intangible energy with tangible “to dos” — i.e., those things that require you to get your hands dirty<\/span> and your head in the game<\/span>.<\/p>\n

By the way, if you have an interest in how to build self-reliant WEALTH — where you actually arrange
\nyour money affairs, through little-known, unconventional programs and vendors, follow our “A Colossal Failure of Commons Sense<\/a>” blog post to the bottom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a researcher of metaphysics, interviewer, writer, and just plain open-minded explorer of\u00a0 all things that help us humans DISCOVER, CONTRIBUTE and get RESULTS, I’ve seen and heard some fascinating “stuff.” Things that make me jump up and down and yell, “Holy @#$%… that was very cool,” and things that cause me to shake my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,372,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-critical-thinking","category-personal-responsibility","category-prosperity-mind-wealth-creation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lwlworldwide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lwlworldwide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lwlworldwide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lwlworldwide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lwlworldwide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1252"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/lwlworldwide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1275,"href":"https:\/\/lwlworldwide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1252\/revisions\/1275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lwlworldwide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lwlworldwide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lwlworldwide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}