On 2008-Dec-18, at 00:08, Jared ''Danger'' Earle wrote: > On 18 Dec 2008, at 00:07, Stefano Mori wrote: >> No you're thinking of David Deida. > > They're all the same. No, really they are. Ask Cohen's mother.
I've not met his mother but yes, she really has issues with him. Frankly I think he's a bit of an immature arsehole. The head of the White Plum Zen lineage, Genpo Roshi, seems to think that Cohen is in that difficult place where having gotten enlightened, he (Cohen) believes that everything he does is right. See, Cohen isn't part of a lineage, so he's got nobody to mind him. There is a question about whether anyone can be a Guru anymore. We're just past "serve and obey" culture. If you want that, join the army or something, if even there still has it. As for whether every single enlightenment teacher is in it only for money and sex, well, that's bollocks. That's like saying that every actor is only doing it for money and sex. You know, some actors actually love the art for its own sake. There is a difference between being careful/skeptical, and claiming that they are all corrupt. One of the interesting things from Wilber's long critiques on these things, is that getting enlightened does not make you perfect, does not raise your IQ, does not make you a concert pianist, does not give you wisdom to solve problems, does not make you a great cook. Genpo Roshi knew Zen masters in Japan who, whilst able to deeply meditate and enter enlightenment states, in their day to day life they really wanted to become Kamikaze pilots so they could attack Americans for the glory of Imperial Japan. But this is why so many people think enlightenment is a crock of shit. And their criticism is largely correct. It actually only seems to give people one particular thing. The rest you have to slog out like anybody else. The rest is what Wilber calls stages. Like, stages of musical ability, or artistic ability, or cognitive ability, emotional intelligence, relationships, and so on. If you want to develop those, then like everyone else, you have to practice and learn those skills. If you have a pervy weakness for young women and can't keep it in your trousers, then getting enlightened doesn't necessarily cure you of that, so you need to go get help and work through it and build some integrity. If anything it makes it worse because you're so immersed in the absolute that you no longer care that you're a shmuck. People used to think that enlightenment was the one and only goal, but now we know better. Just don't throw the baby out with the bath water. By all means if you want to learn to meditate, get someone who has experience and can teach. But whatever you do--even if the guy wears robes and bows humbly-- don't leave him with your daughters. Stefano _______________________________________________ OSX-Nutters mailing list | [email protected] http://lists.tit-wank.com/mailman/listinfo/osx-nutters List hosted at http://cat5.org/
