Pompous Pontifications of a Misanthropic Mystic (A Review of Sam Harris’s Uber-Popular, But Grossly Overrated, Text “Waking Up”)

November 21, 2014
If you’re an off-the-assembly-line, Matrix-bound moron, “programmed” by Church (mainstream religious institutions) and/or State (public schools and progressivist government propaganda) and/or Mainstream Media (including clueless pseudo-profound talking heads such as Bill Maher and John Stewart) and/or “Higher” Education” (meaning the Ivory Tower idiots hiding behind fancy sheepskins), and/or pop/superficial Buddhism/neo-Advaita Vedanta teachings (check out my 237 Amazon reviews, in which I deconstruct many of these teachers and teachings), then you might find Sam Harris’s “Waking Up” an enlightening read.

But for someone like me, who has “cracked the cosmic code,” waved the zeitgeist goodbye, and become, arguably (I challenge anyone to argue otherwise), the foremost expert in the world on mysticism and esoteric spirituality, it is a pathetic joke by a pompous pontificator who doesn’t have a clue what “waking up,” or spiritual Enlightenment, is really about, but yet pretends to be able to educate us on the subject. The guy no doubt knows brain science (which doesn’t include understanding consciousness), but he is out of his league when he ventures into the subject of Enlightenment – and he does real spirituality a real disservice by reducing it to his circumscribed level of understanding.… Read the full article

Sri Aurobindo’s “The Synthesis of Yoga”

November 11, 2014

The iconic Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950), the father of integral yoga and integral psychology, is doubtless one of the most profound and influential spiritual philosophers ever to walk the planet. And in the text “The Synthesis of Yoga,” his unique, complex, and intricate vision of Yoga, which explicates his integral philosophy – “All life is Yoga” – is on full display for 900 pages.

Before there was Adi Da Samraj (whose teachings partially derive from Aurobindo’s), there was Sri Aurobindo, and to venture into his elaborate expositions of yoga practice and philosophy is sure to deepen and expand one’s understanding of  spiritual life and Divine Truth.

“The Synthesis of Yoga,” along with Aurobindo’s magnum opus, the 1100-page “The Life Divine,” contain the bulk of his most important and illuminating essays on spiritual life and how it impacts, and can transform, earthly existence.… Read the full article

The Case Against Paul Case’s Tarot/Qabalah/Astrology

October 30, 2014

At my Facebook page (L Ron Gardner), on October 11, I posted an article entitled “Ken Wilber and the Enneagram.” In my article, I stated that despite my deep and wide reading, I hadn’t come across an impressive Kabbalah book – meaning one that explicates and elaborates the “two Kabbalahs (mystical-ecstatic and theurgical-theosophical) to my satisfaction.

In response to my lament,  poster Robert Wilkinson suggested that I read “The Tarot, the Key to the Wisdom of the Ages,” by Paul Case -- and so I did; and now I’m ready to review it.

The legendary, late Dr. Paul Case (1884- 1954) is considered an occult genius by many, but I’m not one of the many. In short, I simply do not agree with his exegesis of the Kabbalah and his correlations of it with the Tarot Major Arcana.

First off, Case does not account for Da’at, the “invisible” 11th sephirah; and without such an accounting, the Kabbalah does not make sense to me.… Read the full article

Pluto and the Kabbalah

October 10, 2014
A few years ago, when I began studying the Kabbalah, the correlations between the Sephirot (the ten archetypal cosmic emanations of the Infinite) and the planets quickly became clear to me. Even though Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto had yet to be discovered by astronomers, the ancients anticipated them, as made clear by the Kabbalah. When Daat (the “invisible eleventh” Sephirah) is understood to correlate with Neptune and form a mystical dyad with Keter, which correlates with Pluto, then the ten-Sephirah Kabbalah remains intact as an integral Tree of Life.

But when I learned that Pluto, in 2006, had been unceremoniously demoted from the pantheon of planets by professional astronomers, my faith in the Kabbalah as an integral Tree was shaken, for if Pluto was no longer a planet, then the Kabbalah no longer made sense to me.

Thankfully, I came across the article below on the Web, and in accordance with the East Kentucky Science Center and Planetarium, I am happy to still consider Pluto as the ninth planet in the solar system. The article follows:

“In August of 2006, the International Astronomical Union came up with a definition of the word “Planet”. … Read the full article

Spiritual Music

October 8, 2014
Gautama Buddha instructed his monks not to listen to music. But in Hinduism, devotional music has, across the Ages, served as an aid to spiritual practice. Although I’m a big fan of Gautama’s teachings, my sentiments are with the Hindus, because I know from personal experience that the“right” music can be spiritually helpful.

The question is, what is “right” music? The answer is, whatever music helps you connect to and stay connected to the Spirit. Music that opens the heart and/or stimulates vertical feeling-intensity (such as certain psychedelic and hard rock) can be classified as “potentially” spiritual - and I say “potentially spiritual,” because unless you are able transmute the musical vibration into spiritual energy, then it’s not spiritual for you.

It’s common to consider New Age music, such as Paul Horn’s Inside the Taj Mahal, Ray Lynch’s Deep Breakfast, and Merlin’s Magic-Chakra Meditation music, as “spiritual”; likewise, it’s not uncommon to also consider some classical music -- exemplified by Pachelbel’s Canon (which Adi Da classified as 7th-stage music) – as spiritual.… Read the full article

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