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Go Back   Spiritual Forums > Spirituality & Beliefs > Non Duality

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  #1  
Old 15-11-2017, 02:40 AM
Iamit Iamit is offline
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The spiritual supermarket

The paths, practises, ideas, and concepts available on offer in the spiritual supermarket are many and varied. Some require more than others. Characters vary and some seekers may value the requirements placed before them, while some may not see the need for them at all. There is an option available to suit every taste.

There is variation in how the destination is defined and how the distance between the seeker and sought is to be covered, and at least one idea asserts that there is already no distance between seeker and sought at all,

Conflict, if not condemnation, often arises between them, each claiming one to be right, and the other wrong, for example between Traditional and Neo Avaita.

A lot of this conflict could be avoided by accepting that one size does not fit all, that characters vary so that what suits one may not suit another. For example a mind that is usually successful at finding and applying solutions to problems may prefer a path and practise, while a mind that has found that a more difficult task may prefer an idea that requires no path or practise whatsoever. That roughly describes the issue between Traditional and Neo Advaita.

The point being made is that there is no need to be put off considering everything and anything in the search for what suits you, despite these conflicts that rage.

Good luck.
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  #2  
Old 15-11-2017, 04:10 AM
blossomingtree blossomingtree is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Iamit
The paths, practises, ideas, and concepts available on offer in the spiritual supermarket are many and varied. Some require more than others. Characters vary and some seekers may value the requirements placed before them, while some may not see the need for them at all. There is an option available to suit every taste.

There is variation in how the destination is defined and how the distance between the seeker and sought is to be covered, and at least one idea asserts that there is already no distance between seeker and sought at all,

Conflict, if not condemnation, often arises between them, each claiming one to be right, and the other wrong, for example between Traditional and Neo Avaita.

A lot of this conflict could be avoided by accepting that one size does not fit all, that characters vary so that what suits one may not suit another. For example a mind that is usually successful at finding and applying solutions to problems may prefer a path and practise, while a mind that has found that a more difficult task may prefer an idea that requires no path or practise whatsoever. That roughly describes the issue between Traditional and Neo Advaita.

The point being made is that there is no need to be put off considering everything and anything in the search for what suits you, despite these conflicts that rage.

Good luck.

Ahhh I see - Neo Advaita. If it is as you say, it is a very damaging concept.

It is really a convolution of the highly respected Advaita Vedanta schools, which do teach and emphasize the "destination" and encourage/guide to the ways (reflection, meditation, yoga, prayer) which "attain"/realize the fruits of that Way. Most traditional schools will likewise teach a path of practice to the {same} fruits. This is what I have always loved about all the genuine spiritual paths in the world, whether it is Native Indians, Mystic Christians, Tibetans, Zen monks, Hindus, Advaita Vedanta, Judaism, Buddhists. Sufism - all these are set up and established from people who first had the genuine spiritual breakthrough/realization, and then went back and found words and a context/system in order to guide aspirants to the same {realizations and fruit}.

And the beauty, the very beautiful vision of that, is the unity of the result. Rumi captured it very well, and all those shared hearts rejoice:

Not Christian or Jew or
Muslim, not Hindu,
Buddhist, Sufi, or Zen.
Not any religion

or cultural system. I am
not from the east
or the west, not
out of the ocean or up

from the ground, not
natural or ethereal, not
composed of elements at all.
I do not exist,

am not an entity in this
world or the next,
did not descend from
Adam and Eve or any

origin story. My place is
the placeless, a trace
of the traceless.
Neither body or soul.

I belong to the beloved,
have seen the two
worlds as one and
that one
call to and know,

first, last, outer, inner,
only that breath breathing

human being.

http://www.worldprayers.org/archive/...or_jew_or.html

However, what you present here and elsewhere ( here is a link to your related thread - http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/sh...d.php?t=118220 ) is dare I say a farcical attempt to keep people entrenched where they are, whilst imagining they have attained any spiritual realization, even going as far as to believe a conceptual "understanding" equals the same attainments as the Adepts.

BT
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  #3  
Old 15-11-2017, 04:13 AM
blossomingtree blossomingtree is offline
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I found a website which will save me a lot of words and which I concur with to a large degree. Neo-Advaita is a fake program suitable to those who would prefer to do nothing yet imagine success.

Neo-Adviata – Deception of Imaginary Awakening

Neo-advaita can be defined as Advaita for the masses. Its oversimplifications allow people with low intelligence and minimal spiritual aspirations to relate to the ideas of non-duality and awakening. At the heart of neo-advaita is the concept of ‘instant enlightenment.’ Instant enlightenment is a distorted and ignorant misrepresentation of the notion of sudden awakening which has been indiscriminately taken from the original schools of enlightenment. It is an exceedingly superficial interpretation of the spiritual path which combines psychological relaxation with developing a connection to so-called ‘now,’ and then calls the result ‘awakening.’ When the masters of old said: “there is nothing to do, nothing to seek and nothing to reach – our pure nature is already present,” they were speaking in metaphors which point to reality; these were not supposed to be factual descriptions of truth. Neo-advaita has taken these metaphors out of their original context – the holistic inner path – and in so doing, has made an unconscious mockery of this ancient wisdom...

Those who teach that enlightenment as something very simple and accessible to anyone, without the need to go through the process of hard inner work and deep transformation, bring shame on spirituality.


http://anaditeaching.com/neo-adviata...ary-awakening/
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  #4  
Old 15-11-2017, 04:50 AM
ocean breeze ocean breeze is offline
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If you do end up in a spiritual supermarket, make sure you buy my ocean breeze spiritual t-shirt. The amount of bliss you will feel while wearing it will be indescribable, it may be too much to handle. It will be on sale 2 for 12 U.S. dollars after Thanksgiving until New Years. So start the new year with a bang. You could even wear it while on the forums. That way you could feel like a bada$$. The only issue is that it very often sells out too quickly.

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  #5  
Old 15-11-2017, 04:52 AM
blossomingtree blossomingtree is offline
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I'm so with ocean breeze on this now.
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  #6  
Old 15-11-2017, 05:36 AM
Gem Gem is online now
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Australia
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Iamit
The paths, practises, ideas, and concepts available on offer in the spiritual supermarket are many and varied. Some require more than others. Characters vary and some seekers may value the requirements placed before them, while some may not see the need for them at all. There is an option available to suit every taste.

There is variation in how the destination is defined and how the distance between the seeker and sought is to be covered, and at least one idea asserts that there is already no distance between seeker and sought at all,

Conflict, if not condemnation, often arises between them, each claiming one to be right, and the other wrong, for example between Traditional and Neo Avaita.

A lot of this conflict could be avoided by accepting that one size does not fit all, that characters vary so that what suits one may not suit another. For example a mind that is usually successful at finding and applying solutions to problems may prefer a path and practise, while a mind that has found that a more difficult task may prefer an idea that requires no path or practise whatsoever. That roughly describes the issue between Traditional and Neo Advaita.

The point being made is that there is no need to be put off considering everything and anything in the search for what suits you, despite these conflicts that rage.

Good luck.

Might as well face it, the spiritual economy is mostly junk much the same as the physical one, and if Maccas with coke is called a 'happy meal'... you see what that implies?
__________________
Radiate boundless love towards the entire world ~ Buddha
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  #7  
Old 15-11-2017, 07:14 AM
sky sky is offline
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I love to browse around the spiritual supermarket filling my basket with whatever suits me.I have freedom of choice as long as I don't succumb to the advertisements promoting ' this one is the best '...

I take my purchases home, I try them and decide which one's I prefer, the items of no value to me go into the recycle bin...
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  #8  
Old 15-11-2017, 11:15 AM
Moondance Moondance is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Iamit
The paths, practises, ideas, and concepts available on offer in the spiritual supermarket are many and varied. Some require more than others. Characters vary and some seekers may value the requirements placed before them, while some may not see the need for them at all. There is an option available to suit every taste.

There is variation in how the destination is defined and how the distance between the seeker and sought is to be covered, and at least one idea asserts that there is already no distance between seeker and sought at all,

Conflict, if not condemnation, often arises between them, each claiming one to be right, and the other wrong, for example between Traditional and Neo Avaita.

A lot of this conflict could be avoided by accepting that one size does not fit all, that characters vary so that what suits one may not suit another. For example a mind that is usually successful at finding and applying solutions to problems may prefer a path and practise, while a mind that has found that a more difficult task may prefer an idea that requires no path or practise whatsoever. That roughly describes the issue between Traditional and Neo Advaita.

The point being made is that there is no need to be put off considering everything and anything in the search for what suits you, despite these conflicts that rage.

Good luck.

Great post, Iamit. I completely agree with these sentiments. There are innumerable factors which condition our perceived choices.

------

As a side note. I have to say that I'm a little uneasy with the designation, Neo Advaita.

The term was originally applied to the post Ramana teachers such as H. W. L. Poonja and subsequently Andrew Cohen and other students. And there is perhaps some validity in its use there as these were modified Advaita Vedanta teachings. But now the term is used indiscriminately to cover basically any teaching which does not agree with or apply traditional Vedanta methodology.

This is an error (or at best, lazy) since many current speakers/teachers (who might be labeled Neo Advaita) are grounded in (among other things) Buddhism/Zen and Taoism (also Sufism, Christian mysticism etc.) They present an inclusive, non-sectarian form of nonduality which often draws on the essential core of the different traditions. They don't set themselves up as Advaita teachers as such so there is no basis on which to call them Neo Advaita.

Also, the term itself is (knowingly) pejorative - no modern nondualists refer to themselves as Neo Advaita.
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  #9  
Old 15-11-2017, 09:53 PM
FallingLeaves FallingLeaves is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 6,383
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Iamit

A lot of this conflict could be avoided by accepting that one size does not fit all

in my book it is better not to think about it at all than to get mired in the web of agreement even of something as seemingly innocuous as this.
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  #10  
Old 16-11-2017, 03:11 AM
Iamit Iamit is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: West Wales. u.k
Posts: 1,002
 
"We may differ on many things, but what we respect is free inquiry, openmindedness, and the pursuit of ideas for their own sake.”
― Christopher Hitchens, god is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.

Check out his writings, quotes, and many appearances on You Tube and resist all attempte, like the responses here, with one exception (Thanks Moondance, especially in the current climate:) to undermine and limit your free and unfettered independant enquiry in pursuit of what may resonate with, and suit you.

Good luck

Last edited by Iamit : 16-11-2017 at 04:46 AM.
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