Label: Enlightenment

Psychospiritual honey trap?

Psychospiritual honey trap?

This post relates to a previous entry, which was, among other things, about a protracted copyright dispute in the circle around the Danish mystic Martinus Thomsen (1895-1981).

Actually, I don't care that much about the fuss over literature. It's sad. But let the dead bury their dead, as he said, the Nazarene. However, the discussion that followed my post helped me get to grips with what is and has been my fundamental problem with all of this.

“Everyone does not understand the Master, they cannot appreciate, they do not need him. This is because they are not mature enough. They have not been through as much suffering as we/me. People are at different stages in their humane, intellectual development. Some are before, some are after. It is as it is. Everything is very good.”

You hear that from time to time. (Guess that in the argument about literature, you can hear it from both sides?) But there is something clever about it. Alluring, but devious. Like a psycho-spiritual "honey trap".

("Honey trap" is a term from the spy world. Someone is seduced by an attractive man/woman and can be picked on secret information and/or put themselves in a blackmail situation. That is, something attracts, tastes sweet, but it fetches a high price.)

But, again, I therefore do not take a position on whether such things as spiritual development exist (as in my made-up quote above). One would perhaps want to dismiss the whole thing because it sounds so elitist, old-fashioned or even colonial? But I actually don't. Satisfying myself with psychology. It comes closest.

Are we equipped to handle and face life with this thinking - regardless of whether it is true or not - or will it do something to one, dull, simplify, betray one's mind? (But the downsides I'm trying to describe don't apply to everyone. Some seem to be able to parry it. Is probably not a matter of will, whether you can handle it or not. It is something else that then acts as an "antidote".)

But one might think it is a strange circumstance that so many other movements arose and individuals came forward who formulated their philosophies in a similar way to Martinus Thomsen, then a hundred years ago?

Then in some camps there were also darker, more active dreams, as in the extension of this "some are ahead, some are behind"... Shouldn't one actively try to get rid of those who slow down, who only cause trouble, etc. Philosopher Jules Evans wrote about the dark history of esoteric neo-spirituality in a long, readable text A couple of years ago.


To wake up

To wake up

Each spiritual tradition seems to have or advocate its own version of that "wake up". Saved or Enlightened. With great similarities, it seems to a layman. A transformative, pervasive experience.

The model I myself am most familiar with is the one presented by and passed on by followers of the Danish mystic Martinus Thomsen. It is a process in several stages, with enlightening experiences of increasing strength. First it comes as "cosmic glimpses", ultimately as a permanent "cosmic consciousness".

True or not, you can read more about that elsewhere. Rather, I am thinking about how skeptical or playful one can be in admitting such experiences when someone testifies about them. Will be a bit of an inquisition over the whole thing.

I don't have too many examples to base my reconnaissance on. But Sture Emby is at least one. This was already in the 50s. Twenty, twenty-five years ago another.

But then a few weeks ago a guy appeared who was open about what he experienced and experienced.

We have had little contact in recent weeks. Not that I intend to vouch for the accuracy of what he claims, or pull any metaphysical gears a la Martinus or some other Enlightenment model on the whole thing. But I think it looks genuine and nice actually. Hard to dismiss.

Here are some clips from other forums, what I thought and thought:

"You can have crazy, rash projects when enthusiasm is high, call it mania, pseudo-mania, or something else. One thing I've come to understand is that this kind of breakthrough experience—whatever it is, metaphysics or just a radical restructuring of the psyche? – is not always a smooth ride.”

“As I said, I do not mix possible metaphysical aspects, steps towards emotional and cognitive perfection, etc., into this. It might be needed, to judge correctly, what do I know. But anyhow. I am well familiar with Martinus Thomsen's 'stepwise' model. At the same time, there are testimonies from everywhere about strong mental experiences that for the individual feel like 'waking up'. So one can experience it in a more pure mania or psychosis, too. But then there are those who believe that it is possible to differentiate in this, as a scale. That some are closer to the psychiatric end, others on the other edge, may appear similar but have a different course, a different prognosis.

The Martinus model seems a bit simplistic, puritanical, I think. Because the originator saw it that way, or because that is how the model has been traded or solidified? You need to be humble in the face of things like this, I think. Everything like that is stirred up, releasing energy, emotions and thoughts, then you get to see where it lands."

"What I wanted to highlight was mostly that the phenomenon of 'awakening' is something that has been researched and thought about even far outside of metaphysical contexts with a clearly established development model. Really new to this, but is there such a thing as Transpersonal psychology? Which, as I have understood it, partly arose because some psychologists and others thought that there seemed to be a difference between 'psychosis' and 'psychosis'.

I think that fundamentally it is a radical internal restructuring. That it is mainly this. How to feel about yourself and the world and yourself in the world.

I keep it open that, for example, drugs can in some cases have the same function as a powerful catalyst for such a 'restructuring'. Sometimes in combination with psychotherapy. Was reminded of that when watching this documentary and trailer.

Maybe it does not fit well both in the usual psychiatric system and in the Martinus doctrine as it is sold?”

Tulku (2009)

Tulku (2009)

"Gesar Mukpo was three when he became one of the first people born in the West to be recognized as a tulku the present-day reincarnation of a Buddhist master. For his entire life, he's been trying to figure out what that really means.”

https://www.nfb.ca/film/tulku/

The enlightened

The enlightened

It is possible for a person, if the conditions are right, to gain deep insights into existence in a prophetic way. This path to knowledge, which does not go via study, research or experiment, is likened to the person becoming "enlightened" or gaining access to "intuition". The knowledge obtained in this way is of a high, pure and complete character and these individuals are self-proclaimed teachers in the spiritual realm because they can see and understand things that are hidden to the vast majority. What these individuals experience is the very "result of existence".

The prerequisites required to become enlightened have to do with certain experiences that person has had in previous lives. It is in the extension of everyone's development to experience this condition. The difference between this type of understanding and when someone is directed to speculate or research is like comparing human comprehension with that of an animal, or like instead of just being able to weigh and measure the properties of a book, actually being able to read it. Already today there are individuals who are enlightened. Some are incarnated here on earth, while others now have a permanent residence in a spiritual existence. The portal figures within the major world religions: Buddha, Moses and especially Jesus are mentioned in many places and with respect. Time and again in the material, the biblical Jesus returns as the model for human perfection: "We must develop into, like, Jesus. When we're at the finish line, we're just like him," says one respondent. Such enlightenment also has a moral dimension. People with these gifts are normally very loving. In relation to them, the followers are younger souls. Relative to the large majority who do not yet embrace the neo-spiritual thoughts and values, the latter, however, form a vanguard. That people are generally unaware of, uninterested in, or even skeptical of these perspectives is natural given their current spiritual level.

It is possible to point out how almost all natural or societal hierarchies are rejected in the interview material. However, with one exception and it is precisely these individuals that the respondents believe are perfect people. Those who are ahead in spiritual development seem, in a way, to represent the older generation for the respondents. The almost unreserved respect shown to these individuals has features of what is usually called idealization. By being able to recognize and understand them, the individual possibly also experiences that she or he shares in their greatness. In the group of these high spirits, the biblical Christ has a special position. He is described by the informants as a spiritual and moral genius misunderstood by the church in many ways.

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