Thanks PapajisaysNO,
for sharing that video. I felt very sorry for that particular teacher explaining manipulation and abuse by spiritual teachers- she seemed confused at times, lost for words at other times...
To me, it seemed like she was very unsure and unhappy, trying desperately to hold on to some beliefs about non-duality while at the same time recognizing how non-dualist positions can be used to exploit people.
I very strongly suspect that she has been abused within a cult herself - I actually didn't watch the whole thing, but that seemed to be what she was alluding to. (Just my opinion, as someone who has worked for many years with people in crisis situations.)
I think that most religious doctrines, or political doctrines, or even philosophical doctrines for that matter, can be used to exploit people... if you are a manipulative person who has the intentions to use other people for your own advantage.
But in my experience, non-dualism particularly lends itself to creating an uneven power relationship between teacher and student. Just by way of being called a 'teacher', that person gives themselves some authority or places themselves above others in experience or knowledge. The 'student' hungers to learn, so they are very open to being (unknowingly) exploited.
If you let yourself believe that "everything in the universe unfolds naturally in a great play of consciousness" and that "I am not actually this person" and "emotions are just conditioning" - then, you know, whoopeee! Anything goes, doesn't it???
Abuse is not really abuse and I am not really here, anyway. Things happen, but who is to say those things are either good or bad??? No-one, it seems.
No ethics, no morality, no right or wrong.... just stuff happening to no-one in particular. A big recipe for disaster, in my opinion!
for sharing that video. I felt very sorry for that particular teacher explaining manipulation and abuse by spiritual teachers- she seemed confused at times, lost for words at other times...
To me, it seemed like she was very unsure and unhappy, trying desperately to hold on to some beliefs about non-duality while at the same time recognizing how non-dualist positions can be used to exploit people.
I very strongly suspect that she has been abused within a cult herself - I actually didn't watch the whole thing, but that seemed to be what she was alluding to. (Just my opinion, as someone who has worked for many years with people in crisis situations.)
I think that most religious doctrines, or political doctrines, or even philosophical doctrines for that matter, can be used to exploit people... if you are a manipulative person who has the intentions to use other people for your own advantage.
But in my experience, non-dualism particularly lends itself to creating an uneven power relationship between teacher and student. Just by way of being called a 'teacher', that person gives themselves some authority or places themselves above others in experience or knowledge. The 'student' hungers to learn, so they are very open to being (unknowingly) exploited.
If you let yourself believe that "everything in the universe unfolds naturally in a great play of consciousness" and that "I am not actually this person" and "emotions are just conditioning" - then, you know, whoopeee! Anything goes, doesn't it???
Abuse is not really abuse and I am not really here, anyway. Things happen, but who is to say those things are either good or bad??? No-one, it seems.
No ethics, no morality, no right or wrong.... just stuff happening to no-one in particular. A big recipe for disaster, in my opinion!