Subjectivity and Objectivity

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The roles of subjective and objective views are balanced in the spiritual life. The most that we can positively know, through personal feelings and observations, is all "subjective." The "objective" is reducible to a consensus of subjective views of the cosmos.

The mystical view of the cosmos is that it is a world of Mind. In this sense, every experience is ultimately subjective. But, with the reality of the collective Unconscious, human beings have developed an "objective" collection of views and data over the millennia, which we call the "scientific" perspective.

Some simply deny and drop this, in the metaphysical community, as if it has no value. The mystic avoids such extremisms. When she examines her philosophy, she makes absolutely certain that it is in harmony with two factors: Love and reason. The second is largely "objective." She does not build a perspective in mental or subjective isolation. Instead, it is her Way to "compare notes" with others, so that she does not get lost in a purely subjective understanding of the cosmos.

This objectification of spirituality keeps her on the moderate course. It prevents her from falling into falsehoods or delusional, or attractive, dreams.

The Greek word aleithia means both "truth" and "reality." The mystic seeks truth, and emphasizes truth. For this reason, she does not adopt every cockeyed scheme that comes along. She defends the right to withold judgment about any number of concepts, some of which are very popular among "new age" or "metaphysical" types.

As an example, people are always convincing themselves that they are "channeling" other (often higher) extraterrestrial or extradimensional beings. Many mystics do not buy into this pop "pneumobabble." Why? Because there is not a shred or particle of objective evidence that anything real is occuring. There is no good evidence that these "channelers" are not simply delusional. This is a perfect example of the imbalance and extremism that can occur when your spirituality becomes only subjective, when you completely abandon objectivity.

The mystic is an ultimate realist. She is on the opposite end of the spectrum from wishful fantasizers or dreamers. She has, and respects, dreams, of course, but, in the construction of her philosophy, wants to create as solid a core of objectivity as possible. The use of Love and reason as her criteria constitutes an analog, for the mystic, of the "scientific method."

In science, as in metaphysics, historically, some absurd ideas were held to be "truth." But because it uses replicable experimentation and clear observation as its criteria, science is better at explaining many natural processes than is metaphysics, which is both freer and more speculative.

So, the mystic also avoids the other extreme of using only "objectivity" as the basis of her thinking. For this leads, at the present primitive state of our science, to only dead-end materialism. (Science is not yet mature enough to explore and explain the great mysteries of Mind and spirituality.)

So, caught in her own subjective cosmos, the mystic nevertheless respects and consults objective views before embracing an idea or concept, even though she is not dominated by the "objectivity" of a view.
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Petition Senators to Protect Our Rights

Hi, friends of the heart,

As you probably heard, Sandra Day O'Connor just resigned from the Supreme Court. This is an extremely important time for our senators to hear from us. They need to know that we are counting on them to stand up to President Bush and protect our rights -- because with a moderate like O'Connor stepping down and a far-right like Bush making the nomination, well, the stakes couldn't be higher. The Terri Schiavo tragedy showed us all just how far these people are willing to go.

MoveOn PAC has already started an emergency petition, and we're looking to get 250,000 signatures and comments to the Senate before Tuesday -- which is when rumor has it Bush will announce his nomination.

I hope you can take a minute to join me in signing this petition, so our senators know that, in what might be the fight of our lives, we need them to do what it takes to protect our rights.

http://www.moveonpac.org/protectourrights

Thanks!

Petition for Consensus Judge

070205sat

Dear Friends of the Heart,

Please sign the petition urging President Bush to nominate a consensus candidate that will unite and not divide Americans. Our nation has been polarized, and we have gone on record urging a different direction, but we will be prepared to fight if necessary.

Please forward this petition to five of your friends and family.

http://www.democraticaction.org/ftaf/consensusjudge.html

If you would like to contribute to our efforts, please click here:

https://secure.dccc.org/default.aspx?id=consensusjudge_ftaf

Avoiding the Snare of Solipsism

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Some teach that it is "impossible to love others." For, they say (correctly) that the cosmos is a complex series of multiple mirrors. But does this imply that "others" do not really exist?

Not at all. The mature and wise mystic knows that the "material" and "physical" world is all Mind. It is all maya or "illusion." The world is virtual, a dream. Mystics believe that Mind alone is real. God is Mind, and "Reality" is one common mystical name for God, or Lovemind. Just as you have Mind (because you have a mind), so mystics know that the divine One manifests as other very real minds. God is "playing" you, as a role, and is also "pretending" to be all other minds. So, others are just as real as you are.

The presentation that it is "impossible" to love others is not the accurate Way of Love, but a misunderstanding and distortion. This pseudospirituality emphasizes unhealthy solipsism rather than healthy other-centeredness and real Love. What is "solipsism"? It is a spiritual disease or disorder that promotes and supports ultra-egotism. It is the lonely, unfulfilling belief that makes ego into a false "god," as it is under the delusion that you are the only mind in the cosmos.

Since it implies that it is somehow "spiritual," solipsism is a counterfeit. That is why it can be more subtle, and more dangerous, than other beliefs. It pretends to be "enlightenment," but is a disastrous dead-end. It goes nowhere fast, and reverses true spiritual growth.

It is based upon an exaggeration of a truth: The cosmos is our teacher, and our school. It is, in many ways, the deeper psyche. But this collective Unconscious is so vast that it is like a tree, and we are all leaves from that one tree. You are one leaf, and your friends are others. Each is just as real as you. But mystics say that we have forgotten our interior connection with the One, or one Mind (Spirit, God, or Lovemind). The Way of mysticism helps us overcome this soulevel amnesia." We remember that we were never "separate" from Godmind, and neither has anyone else ever been. It is the practice of Love alone that can bring us to this stunning awakening.

But mystics have never allowed themselves to slip off that slippery slope into solipsism. That way is antispiritual because of the delusion that only the ego exists. And mysticism is only just beginning with the "death" of the ego, or, more correctly, its disappearance into cosmic Lovemind.

So, by emphasizing a small aspect of mysticism (that the world is a series of teaching "mirrors"), this group has failed to understand the essential and bottomline meaning of Love. And those who do not understand the basic component of Love should not try, out of ego, to be "spiritual teachers."

In saying that "loving others" was an impossibility, this group smashed the foundationteaching of all mysticism, from the Buddha and Lao Tzu to Jesus Christ. The great luminaries, masters and teachers, do not call upon us to do the "impossible." They, and their Way, challenge us actively literally to "lose ourselves" in the process of loving others. To "lose" yourself in Love is to merge mind with Mind, self with Self, personal mind disappearing into Lovemind. Nothing in the world is more fulfilling than that. Why? Because this is the purpose for which we were created!

Selflove is great, necessary, and wonderful. But if our Love stops there, as was implied in their earlier article, we are "Love-dead." For Love is brightest, warmest, and most beautiful when we learn to universalize it. That is, in fact, why we were born into this difficult world-- to learn patience, kindness, goodness, and the other aspects of Love that are expressed towards others. A so-called "spiritual" life without other-centeredness is a contradiction in terms, and is lifeless and barren. On the other hand, a life filled with Love expressed towards others is a life abundant in the riches of the Spirit, the jewels of the spiritual Journey.

Like Bonnie, the reader whom they display, I too find some of their messages incomprehensible, such as the one that you earlier forwarded to me about "Love's" being "impossible," except towards the Self. As this is egotism, thinly disguised, it can be dangerously unspiritual, or even antispiritual. The most perilous of all teachings are those which claim to be "very deep" spirituality, but have only an empty hole at their center. Love should be the Center of our lives, and of our truly spiritual messages. To follow this group, I feel, is to be lost in the cheap, shabby counterfeit of solipsism.
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Thoughts on War

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You and I are on exactly the same page when it comes to the end of war. War is terrible, wasteful, and, worst of all, deadly. It ruins every life that it touches, and has left behind, after millennia, a planet sorely in need of all the healing that it can get! That is where the messengers and teachers of Love come in. For this poor little planet can be healed only one person at a time, and only through genuine spiritual education. We begin by awakening to the historical fact that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all share the exact same centuries-old Love-tradition. As long as the planetary population is infected with the lethal bacterium, "War is okay," innocents will continue to perish, and babies drown in their own blood. We must present a united front in our own heartminds that recognizes war as having NO redeeming qualities. For the idea that it can be "justified" is part of the disease. And she who is not part of the solution is part of the problem.
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Money or Human Life?

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Fine dreams of total social improvement look wonderful on paper, but all cost money. So, the nuclear problem of initiating such great dreams goes even more deeply into human psychology: Everything depends on what we value. That is, in turn, decided by our education.

Here on earth, the situation is shameful. In history and policy, we often are analogous to a "planet of the apes," for our policies and actions are so conservative and backwards as to be actually antiprogressive. At the moment, we value only dollars (or their economic equivalents). We value gold over God-- money over compassion, over and above human life. The death of 112,000 mostly innocent Iraqis demonstrates beyond the shadow of any reasonable doubt that the administration values oil and money far above human freedoms and rights.

As long as money has the unqualified priority above human welfare, this utter greed will remain with us, as it has been among the rich and powerful for millennia.

But a new age is coming,and we stand right now at its threshold. That new age begins with YOU and me. It all starts with the right kind of education; for we are what we learn. We all need to educate ourselves thoroughly in the artscience of "agapology," the psychology of compassion (or Love). That is why we write, publish, and promote books designed precisely to educate people in agapology. For everything starts right now, and everything starts with your decision to selfeducate.

The world will, and can, change only after we change who and what we are.

Fulltime devotion to spiritual education can make it happen! Please spread the good word of liberty and liberation!
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The following was sent by one of our most brilliant and socially aware
friends:

Inspiration came... to add some comments and "dreams" about how we might go about building a better world. The impulse was felt to share the writing with you...

If you believe the War in Iraq was (is) necessary and inevitable, this message is not for you. And, in that case, please, disregard it. But you might consider just reading the part I wrote about some of my dreams for a "better world", anyway. I imagine that we would be "on the same page" in that regard....I am an "Independent" voter, not a Democrat. But I thought this update might be of interest to free thinkers and sincere souls that long to find intelligent and effective, compassionate ways to build a more equitable and peaceful world for ALL. I know we are a VERY LONG way from erradicating countless global deaths from curable diseases and from hunger, and from abuse of power and exploitation of every conceivable type. But we have to start somewhere! Right? To paraphrase: a journey of one thousand miles begins with the first step.

Here are some fantasies of how to create a "better World". It is understood, of course, that it would take decades to accomplish the goals stated or implied by my dreams! No kidding!! :))

1) The US decides to create a "Department of Peace" that will focus on eliminating global illiteracy, overpopulation, and the deliberate exploitation of one nation (its people and resources) for the express material benefit of another; in effect, changing the current acceptability of the "First World vs. Third World" concept to a "One World" family consciousness; 2) The US establishes that the "Department of Justice's mission is to construct and oversee a plan to eliminate hunger in collaboration with other industrialized nations within a defined amount of years; 3) The National Institute of (Mental) Health starts an initiative to eradicate from our cultural values the notion that "materialism" and "progress" or "being civilized" are synonimous and that "multitasking" or incessantly "doing" is synonimous with "accomplishment" or "self-worth" :); 4) A Department of EmPOWERment is created and its mission is a total commitment to developing alternative sources of energy so that our energy needs may be met without the ultimate depletion of the Earth's soil and its resources and the poisoning of its waters and its oceans thus, ultimately, saving ourselves! 5) The international definition of "Violation of Human Rights" code is updated to include as "genocide" any/all institutionalized, ritualized and systematic violence that women everywhere are still experiencing today from the ubiquitous "domestic violence" in the US and most other nations to the acid burnings of wives and fire burnings of widows in Middle Eastern countries and in India, to the clitoral/vaginal mutilation of little girls in Africa, and the discarding of female babies by roadsides in China or in orphanages, to name some examples; 6) The Department of Foreign Policy in collaboration with the US Department of Health & HS, the CDC, Physicians Without Boundaries, the World Health Organization and other agencies and governments makes it part of its policy/mission to erradicate curable diseases in poorer nations. Thus, it makes it a top priority to bring together all these parties to work together toward this goal. The DFP makes a commitment to finance existing (and new) organizations in bringing healthcare (doctors, nurses, supplies) to poorer nations and to help finance the training of doctors, nurses, and aids in US schools and by providing materials to build hospitals (and supplies to run them) in poorer countries; 7) The Department of Agriculture in collaboration with other nations makes it a top priority to encourage and facilitate education and incentive for earth-friendly farming practices at home and abroad and to financially support existing (and new) organizations with a mission to provide materials, seeds and live stock to small farmers and fishermen in villages throughout the developing world to enable them to
feed themselves; 8) The Department of Tourism in collaboration with other governments and environmental groups commits funding and education to assist nations and groups whose livelihood depends on the killing of precious wildlife and endangered species, to substitute those activities with viable practices that generate income from tourism.

What are YOUR dreams? Would love to hear from you.

Love, Ramona

Control, or Letting It Be

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Vernon Howard is a big-time "positive thinker" from way back. Decades ago, some of his stuff was read-- and rather voraciously, at that. He seems to believe that the cosmos is somehow forced into control by the conscious mind, if the "formula" is just right. This is as delusional as an ant trying to lift and carry an elephant. Still, this kind of thinking is amazingly and magnetically attractive to the fearnature. We fear the cosmos, in a kind of cosmophobia, fearing to let it take its own course, guided by only the great Mind, Tao, or God. If we have no faith in this Power, we then must "take over," and run everything ourselves. The placid, pleasant course of spiritual relaxation and trust is so much more satisfying! That is the essence of much of our teaching: Perfect faith is perfect relaxation. Again, running the entire cosmos is overload, like an ant trying to direct a whole herd of elephants!:)

The Lord of Love

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It usually takes decades for people, under extreme social and psychological pressures, to develop a rabid, extreme, or out-of-control fear of God. This can be spiritually catastrophic! Obviously, this cannot be corrected overnight. It can take years to accommodate fullest recovery. But it is vital to get started right now!

There are steps that you can take right away, to at least begin your recovery: Stay away from people who believe that God is psychotic, brutal, evil, or murderous. Instead, find friends who know that God is Love-- loving, tranquil, the Fountain of all good and blessings. These people might be harder to find, but they are well worth the effort! So, please strive to replace all your old "friends" with friends of higher intelligence, sensitivity, and quality. One friend of wisdom is worth
more than thirty in ignorance.

Also, do not expose yourself to religious propoganda and programs randomly. Turn off the radio/tv if you sense, or know, that its message will be of the "god" of terror and horrors.

Stay away from churches and religions that promote fear.

Seek out faiths that support, enhance, and strengthen Love. For your convenience, we meet once every two weeks in Liberty Township, Ohio. If you are within driving-distance, we would all welcome you to come. Every two weeks, we have uplifting, positive, encouraging discussions of a God of pure Love, pure Light, pure goodness, uncontaminated by the hate-filled traditional religious views.

On a positive note, read, and reread, as often as possible, spiritual books that emphasize the pure God of Love. Several are available, free, on my website: loveministries.org

If you want to order actual physical books, that can be easily arranged. Fill your mind continuously with the studies of the Lord of Love, peace, and forgiveness. As often as possible, talk to this interior Lord in prayer. Affirm to yourself the Lord's Love, justice, kindness, forgiveness, and wisdom. Get a Concordance to the Bible, and do a word-study on the word "love," and you will find many affirmative statements. Focus on only the New Testament, since it is filled with the Lord of Light, while the Old Testament is usually about a completely different "god," the harmful, destructive Jehovah-myth. Christianity was started by Jesus Christ because this ancient Hebrew "god" was mistaken.

Keep writing emails to me, and to others who believe in a God of stainless and infinite Love. All good people will do anything that they (we) can to help you overcome the interior "hell" of a "god" of fear, torture, Lovelessness, and nightmare.
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Pentecostalism and Speaking in Tongues

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I have been to several Pentecostal churches, and have prayed with several varieties of charismatics. I even conducted a Communion service at a charismatic Catholic mass once.

The history of Pentecostalism traces itself to the "Day of Pentecost," celebrated by Jews in the first century. "Pentecost" means "fifty days," and has something to do with the Jewish calender. Pentecost came fifty days after another holy day.

In the first century, in the book of Acts, the record reveals how early Christians needed to communicate their message (the evaggelion or "good news") to a wide variety of people who did not understand the common tongue (Greek). Strange lights over their heads ("tongues of fire") symbolized and revealed that the Holy Spirit was present, and the Christians began to speak in different languages.

They knew nothing about the languages (were not educated in them). This is a phenomenon called "glossolalia," and was present in a number of early Christian churches. One can "have" the Holy Spirit without speaking in tongues, of course, and there is much blah-blah gibberish that is supposed to imitate glossolalia, but, once in a while, the "real thing" occurs.

Perhaps not everyone who "speaks in tongues" is "possessed" by the Holy Spirit. But, especially if it is the real thing-- not just repeating nonsense syllables such as "io shonda," the Holy Spirit is possibly the cause. One can also speak in a tongue or language spoken in a previous life, in which case, the phenomenon originates with the soulevel of the Unconscious. Or you can also "tune into" "other" minds in the collective Unconscious. So, all the events of this type do not originate within the Coremind or Lovemind (God). Glossolalia was also accompanied by other charismata (Greek word for "gifts" of the Spirit). Miraculous healings, precognition, telepathy, and a list of other "parapsychological" phenomena manifested, interpreted as evidence that the Holy Spirit was present. At times, these same phenomena occur outside of the church as well; so they might represent genetic predispositions too. (Some people might just be born with the dna that permits them to occur.)
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Gurus, Helpful or Counterproductive

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I have never made a blanket-condemnation of ALL "gurus." Never! Not a single time! This is the major misunderstanding to which you are objecting! But you are setting up, then attacking, a "straw man," for no such universal rejection of all "gurus" has ever taken place, in any of my teachings.

To do that, I would have to reject true teachers, the greatest of history, for the Sanskrit word guru simply means "teacher." But are most gurus genuine?

This is really the crux of our discussion. I do not believe that they are. Here, however, is where you make your most serious error: You assume that my rejection of gurus is "all or nothing." Only a fool would reject all "gurus."

Some design their entire lives, especially their economics, around self-styled "gurus." Some build into their lifeplan the actual worship of "gurus." Lifedesign is a personal matter. While we can, and are absolutely free to, seek help from anyone whom we choose, no one ever has the right, or the power, to design our lives, or our paths, for us. I have repeatedly made it crystal-clear that all my friends/students have this personal responsibility. Each chooses what she wants to believe about any particular teaching, or any particular guru. I have no interest in designing the lives of others. One life is plenty sufficient to keep anyone superbusy!

When it comes to cults, the depths of the personal wounds and agony go very deep. They have been inflicted on the self, and on many friends, by the disaster of cult-psychology. They are hideous and horrific. Every attempt is made to keep all my friends from making the most terrible mistake of their lives!

I have always been meticulously careful never to intrude, to be invasive, on the design of any person's spiritual path. In fact, many, many times, it has been said, "I will help you discover and design your spiritual path. But I promise not to try to design it for you." All those years in a harmful, destructive cult taught me, at a soulevel, that cult-psychology is explosively and karmically dangerous. Am I more sensitive than other teachers to this perilous and damaging path? You bet I am!

Cults are almost exclusively connected with the guru-phenomenon. Most gurus are frauds, fakes, and phonies. But that is lightyears from saying that "all gurus are bad, useless, fake, etc." It is a galaxy away from your claim that I've taught that ALL are illegitimate. I have never made this blanket-generalization, and never will. In fact, this universal rejection goes directly against all mystical teachings, for many of the great mystics were, in their day, "gurus."

I was also positively impressed by the Autobiography of a Yogi, which I read several times, several years ago. I agree with you that his followers have turned the fine spiritual teachings of Yogananda into a cult. I was positively impressed, and consider this man, for one out of many, to have been a true and genuine spiritual teacher. The Dalai Lama is another "guru" who is the real thing.

In my wide exposure to "channelers," gurus, cultists, and "new age" people, I've encountered a number of people who, through desperation, have fallen into acceptance of ideas that do not tally well with reason or Love. I've also met many phonies and fakes. That has been my experience, and my teaching reflects my personal experience, as well as cosmic principles. But I could never say that all gurus are phonies. Why? It's simple: I haven't met, or even read about, ALL GURUS!!

It is not necessarily a "mistake" to respond with silence when disagreeing with another. You can feel completely free to disagree with any statement by any teacher, as long as you do it with politeness, common courtesy, and kindness. For that is only decent, and promotes the peace that is so treasured by our hearts. At the Pneumarium, everyone has total freedom to say whatever she thinks, as she is also free to believe whatever she chooses.

My criticisms of "gurus" are not about all gurus. But a little reflection will prove that criticism for greed and power is absolutely applicable to MOST "gurus." That is both the intent and content of my teachings.

Is it possible for a "guru" to lead a life of honesty, nongreed, simplicity, compassion, and Love? Yes, of course it is, especially if we define "guru" in the way it is used in the ancient Indian mystical texts. All true gurus are supreme models and examples of living spirituality. And I have never denied this. What you have done is an error called "generalization."

You have generalized from my statements regarding dishonest, ego-driven "gurus" to ALL gurus.

You say, very wisely, and from the standpoint of history, "The definition of guru is not an ego-driven person who wants to be worshipped. The definition is a highly advanced spiritual teacher."

And you are absolutely correct. But this Sanskrit word, in American English, usually does not have such high and noble definitions. But this was the original, and probably still is the truest, literal meaning of that word. In common American English, however, the word ["guru"] very often has additional connotations of egotism, greed, and dishonesty. As noted, I have read Autobiography more than once, and consider its presentation of Kriya yoga excellent. It is a superb form of yoga. I have dozens of times spoken of yoga, in all its branches and forms, as a
true form of mysticism, and have given it high praise.

Your own letter proves that I have had the good sense to distinguish between "good" and true gurus and false. For you say, "I have heard you say you thought that Lahiri Mahasaya, who introduced this technique to the world, was a highly advanced soul,..."

If I did not think people capable of both minor and major breakthroughs, it would be a waste of timenergy to spend all my time in spiritual education.

Next, you write, "There are at least six web sites of people claiming to be 'Babaji'. All of them are frauds. If I claimed to be Jesus, people could rightfully call me a fraud." This is almost identical with what I have said about gurus. Yet you felt that you had a perfect right to express this opinion. Why, then, will you not grant me the exact same freedom of expression that you appropriate, and rightfully demand, for yourself? Would you like it if, on the basis of these words, I spread the false rumor that you disrespect, reject, or hate ALL gurus? If you can use discrimination and discernment to discover the "frauds" from the true "teachers," why can, why do, you not allow me that same right?

You have expressed the matrix of all my teachings in your next sentence: "As an adult, I can and will use whatever means available to grow spiritually." As long as those "means" are honest (non-fraudulent), I perfectly agree. You then say, "If that means availing myself to the the (sic) teaching of a guru, then so be it. You tell people to avoid gurus..." Yes, I do tell people to avoid gurus. But that is not because all gurus are antispiritual. Generally, avoiding "gurus" is very good advice. People have lost their entire savings, their lives, their best friends, their Love-partners, their sanity, their other friends, their virginity, their spirituality, and all hope, after having turned their wills over to gurus. The guru has ruined their lives. Are you seriously telling me that you would recommend that people generally follow gurus?

You next say, "As far as keeping a picture of a guru, I'm sure people do this out of love, just like keeping a picture of a spouse, a child, or a pet, for that matter." How can you possibly know this? Again, you have made the same mistake: I've never been fanatically anti-photo! I've never suggested that it was in any way "wrong" to keep pics-- of gurus or of anyone else. My objection was to the placement of the photo upon one's personal altar, as an object of adoration. So, you are objecting to something that I have never taught!

I agree with your next statement one hundred percent: "As an adult, I can also discriminate between a genuine teacher and a fraud. How? By the love I feel emanating from that person. I can also discriminate between cult-mentality, mind control, and genuine love. I will always choose genuine love. I won't waste my time on anything else." Bravo, my friend! In just a few words, you have summarized the essence of my teaching re a spiritual adult. And that is the fine goal towards which we should all, and always, be striving!
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