10.27.07
Posted in Booknotes, New Age at 6:01 pm by nemo
In the previous post I cited one of U.G. Krishnamurti’s books (he passed away this year), and his radical criticism of the guru tradition. I also noted that WIE had an advertisement for the republication of Lizelle Reymond’s To Live Within, an out-of-print piece of guru propaganda. So what’s Andrew Cohen doing promoting this book in his magazine?
I recall this book from the seventies when I passed on the fringes of various Sufi worlds, and noted how this book appeared as a sort of coffee-table chestnut passed around among semi-followers still with some common sense left, but still liable to mesmerization by overbearing ashram hypnosis fields. I could see how this book was used to get people to sign their life away.
This book looks profound on one level, and those who are intimidated by the threatening declarations of Gurdjieff via Ouspensky need to learn (hopefully not the hard way) that such dishonest people just don’t deserve the ridiculous peans given to them by shills like Anirvan, or anyone else.
As soon as I saw the ad, I went immediately to Amazon.com to review it, or sound a warning. Enough people have been hurt by this kind of literature, and the author’s indirect promo of Gurdjieff is some of the most egregious mischief in this area. This book (the author himself is a harmless fool) has been abused already by certain Gurdjieff types to promote the mystique of the gurus, and plant in the minds of naive New Agers the absolute authority of gurus.
Don’t let it happen that these transplanted traditions of domination take root in the West, if it is still possible to do anything about it.
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To Live Within (Paperback)
by Sri Anirvan (Author), Lizelle Reymond (Author), Jacob Needleman
The reappearance of this out-of-print book by Anirvan/Reymond is perhaps unfortunate, though no doubt inevitable, since it has been used (effectively, for the naive New Ager) for a purpose contrary to its main theme: the relationship of a disciple to a guru, in an Indian context…
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Posted in Booknotes, New Age at 5:47 pm by nemo
Picking up on comments on the recent issue of WIE magazine, I notice the announcement that U.G. Krishnamurti passed away this year. A radical critic of guruism in the tradition of the other Krishnamurti (whom he criticized), Krishnamurti was a voice for the times as Westerners attempt to grapple with the tricky phenomenon of gurus. Here’s one of his books.
The Mystique of Enlightenment: The Radical Ideas of U.G. Krishnamurti (Paperback), by U. G. Krishnamurti .
For most, the question of gurus is closed, but there are droves of New Agers systematically confused on the subject, and the secular critics are often of little help, as the question derails in the Standard Operating Critique, deprogramming and cults. But the issues are not that simple.
I notice that WIE also has an ad for the republished To Live Within, by Lizelle Reymond (and Sri Anirvan), a book better forgotten, but, inevitably, the guru propagandists thought it fitting to keep this piece of guru intimidation on the market. I will comment on this book in the next post.
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10.25.07
Posted in religion, The Axial Age, The Eonic Effect at 4:31 pm by nemo
Rodney Stark, the author of the much ridiculed ‘Victory of Reason’ (note many of the similar arguments in D’Souza re: Christianity and science, etc), returns with a new book, which I am perusing: Discovering God: The Origins of the Great Religions and the Evolution of Belief (Hardcover)
by Rodney Stark
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10.10.07
Posted in Science & Religion at 2:53 pm by nemo
Hitchens gets it wrong about Buddhism
I’ve never really paid much attention to Christopher Hitchens, renowned and reviled critic of all things religious. But when my brother recently brought his anti-Buddhist sentiments to my attention I had to take a closer look.
We have commented extensively here on Hitchens and Eastern religion.
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10.05.07
Posted in New Age at 11:15 pm by nemo
Enlightenment Blues: My Years With an American Guru (Paperback)
by Andre Van Der Braak “>Enlightenment Blues: My Years With an American Guru (Paperback)
by Andre Van Der Braak
In relation to previous post,
Now why would Andrew Cohen hate me?,
I should note that I have also just finished reading (finally) Enlightenment Blues, the fascinating account of a ‘disciple’ who broke with Cohen. I don’t have too much to say about this, since I have never had anything to do with Cohen (his venom came unsought) except to wonder why Andre Van Der Braak put up so long with this treatment from Cohen.
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