Mysticism

The Tenth Picture

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A lot of spiritual experiences give you a high. This isn’t a bad thing at all, but too often the sign gets mistaken for the destination

I’m not only talking the high from drugs some people take for spiritual or faux-spiritual reasons. It’s obvious that appropriately used substances, employed by informed people under proper tutelage, can lead to deep spiritual insights. It’s also obvious you can have such deep experiences from breathing, visualization, energy work, etc. These are deep, strange, powerful and also can get you high as hell for that moment.

And that high is not necessarily a bad thing. That is a sign that you’ve gotten something going on. You feel that high of your body relaxing in Quigong, the self-yet-not moment of cyclical breathing, or the psychedelic top-of-your-head-blows off of a drug or visualization trip. Something happened, and you have a powerful experience and often see and feel life differently.

However, I think a lot of people see the high as the goal. They want the sign of enlightenment, of achievement, of spiritual fulfillment – and to them that’s the rush of the therapeutic relaxation or some stunning vision. They want to own it by owning an experience.

I think this is why we see so many people falling under the spells of gurus, grifters, endless substance experiments, and shifting trends. They’re chasing the high or looking for a new one so they can once again “hold” that sense of spiritual enlightenment. But it’s just a senstion.

Spiritual highs are just roadsigns you’re onto something (and, in some cases, just on something even if it’s your own neurotransmitters). Something in your head and personality just shifted, got blown apart, or made connections. But the question is what you do next.

Plenty of seekers’ next step should be to ask if they just deluded themselves. But for many they had some authentic insight and that’s a chance to grow, not just find a new way to get high again.

What did you learn? How can you apply it? Does it help you understand yourself, others, and your teachers better. Where does the spiritual experience send you next? I mean even if you go to conventional therapy, good job, you learned something.

Spiritual experience should help you grow, not become a junkie.

I’m reminded of the famous Ten Ox-Herding pictures of Zen. They’re a lovely metaphor for meditation and spiritual practice based around seeking and taming a recalcitrant bovine. Eventually the trainer – the seeker – returns to society after many insights, helping others. He doesn’t leave the world or stay in his seeking, but returns a better person.

If your spiritual highs don’t help you become better, if they don’t someday lead you back to the bustling marketplace and busy town, then pause and take stock of yourself.

-Xenofact

Enlightenment In The Trash Heap And Enlightened Garbagemen

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Around 2003, remarking upon the all the mystical and meditative books available, I said “someone could probably achieve enlightenment on their own.” The remarkable rare texts, deep analyses, and thoughtful translations were stunning to me. No monk, magician, or meditator could match what we could get with a trip to the right bookstore, a catalog, and a few clicks online.

This is not to say it would be easy – one would need dedication and research. One could doubtlessly make mistakes, as I did examining various Taoist practices (let’s just say physical pain and leave it at that). This is also not to say that learning from a person is inferior, it’s merely that enlightened teachers seemed in short supply. But the knowledge was there, and it was impressive and humbling.

At least one could get pretty far along, I’d figure.

(The fact I am of the opinion there is an identifiable form of enlightenment is something for another time, of course. I like to keep these columns of a reasonable size).

As time went on, I came to realize that even if I was right – and I arrogantly assume I am more likely right than not – it’s gotten harder because of all the damn stuff out there.

How much could a seeker dig up that is Theosophy wearing a funny hat and carrying a fake ID? What books are out there that are merely well-designed rehashes, Robin Hood’s barn’s of meditation and contemplation? How much is manipulative near-criminal bullshit designed to pull you into a very criminal cult – or help you found one?

Then you’re up to your armpits in podcasts, TikTok videos, and people trying to sell you something! There’s distractions beyond books – and things that may be helpful that look like distractions! Even if Sturgeon’s law wasn’t true, it’d all be more than a bit much.

It makes me understand why some sages and such grab a pile of books and high-tail it to a shack. Or the modern equivalent, which I guess is a studio apartment.

For modern seekers of spiritual knowledge, sincere people who want to learn and grow and attain some kind of Enlightenment, you can’t rely on the market. You have to research and talk, be skeptical and test, and above all walk that line of skepticism and enthusiasm. We’ve given the spiritual seekers all the tools the could need, and scattered them inside a junkyard.

In many ways, this just reveals the value of having fellow spiritual seekers to work with and consult with. We need people to talk to, to recommend things to us and to recommend things to. We need people to sort through the bullshit for us and with us, people we can trust.

Any enlightened teachers out there are probably pretty busy not just teaching but helping people avoid and filter bullshit on a level unseen in history.

Maybe it’d make them harder to recognize because they’re helping clean up the trash.

– Xenofact

They Don’t Believe, But They Believe

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Honestly, do the various grifters, fake gurus, and political pundits believe their own shit? That’s a question I hear a lot in the spheres I run in. Perhaps it says something about the time – or humanity – if we have to ask, “does this libertarian selling crystal shorts that protect your genitals from 5G believe what he’s selling?”

However, I don’t think the issue is one that always has a yes or no answer. The question is what do these grifters believe themselves and what do they want you to believe?

Let’s take a look at some of the bizarre magical/supernatural/New Age practices that set off our bullshit detectors. You know the ones, where someone has “discovered new energy centers via a Lunar download” or provides an insanely complex map of colored rays that connect you to aliens. The stuff that looks wrong in part because it’s described in just the right way to get attention.

Sure it may be a load of holy horse crap, but what happens to people taking these practices seriously? Does it just occupy their minds with crap – so they can be sold more crap? Does it drive dependency on the guru or make your mind mushy? Any of us with some mystical experience know certain practices can really mess you up.

The metaphysical grifters may not believe in their practice. But they do believe it will affect you and it may not be in a way that’s good for you – but it’s good for their bottom line.

The same can be said for political grifters and opportunists who clearly are selling people policies that make believer’s lives worse. People who complain about taxes will vote for politicians who cut taxes on the far more wealthy while raising those of the complainers. Politicians will blame someone of another skin color for drug problems created by giant pharmaceutical companies. It’s very obvious – and it keeps working.

What the grifters sell you works but for them to get power and money. They don’t necessarily believe it but it’s a tool.

And behind all that? Well the grifters and opportunists and gurus may have actual beliefs. I suspect they’re also way more disturbing than many want to admit.

Look at the mystical would-be Space Shamans and Cosmic Love grifters. They’re making bank selling you all sorts of made-up stuff, usually by re-purposing what others do. But how much metaphysical malarkey do they believe? Perhaps they really do think all those controlled souls empower them or that they’re in contact with ancient gods – they just don’t want to spill the goods to their victims.

The political grifters? Well it’s often clear they believe something but they don’t want to admit it. Many a grifter has a barely-disguised philosophy of some kind, though it’s usually “how do I get more power.” They usually have some kind of plan, so something is clearly in their heads..

(For some reason it seems these political types believe more than the New Rage guru types, which is probably worth it’s own exploration.)

Next time you see someone selling Cosmic Witch Ray Charts, Crystal 5G Negating Shoes, or The Solution To Your Money Problems By Electing me don’t ask “do they believe or not.” Ask what they really believe and what they want others to believe.

The two probably don’t line up, but belief is there. Figuring out what is important to understanding them – and dealing with the crap they foisted upon us.

(Shout out to Nonsense Bazaar (https://thenonsensebazaar.com/) for being the core inspiration for this post.)

– Xenofact