Last night I went along to hear a talk by Lynn McTaggart (left), author of The Field, which is an excellent tour of cutting-edge science and its relation to spirituality and consciousness. She was in that film "What The Bleep Do We Know" (I'm trying not to hold it against her). She's currently involved in setting up the world's largest scientific experiment into mind over matter, which you can take part in on 24th March if interested.
She was a good speaker, but the event was hosted by The Yes Group, a London organization inspired by the teachings of self-help guru Anthony Robbins.
First up on stage were several female dancers, dressed in lemon-yellow "Yes!" t-shirts. It was quite sweet, in a way, because none of them were there for cosmetic effect, and it clearly meant a lot to them to be doing this. They danced to Dr Beat by Gloria Estefan (eek) and Born to be Wild (which they clearly weren't) ... Click "Read More"
Next up was their chair, a lady who didn't seem all that happy in herself, followed by our MC, a sharply-dressed black guy, who made us clap the people who were new to the Group, and then clap those who had been before, and introduced a "health talk" by one of their number, the Daily Star's health correspondent. He proceeded to tell us (I kid you not) about the foods that we should eat to fart less. We had to hug someone we had never met before and then exchange e-mail addresses so that we could check in with each other in a fortnight to report on our flatulence.
By the time Lynn McTaggart (who has no relationship to this group) took to the stage I was pretty well exhausted with the condescending, patronising tone of the whole experience. As soon as we got to the break my companions and unanimously decided to beat it before anyone else networked us. Someone remarked, "I feel soiled".
If the Yes Group is indicative of the general NLP, self-help, New Age scene, my worst prejudices have been realised. Despite all the positive thinking, there wasn't one person there who came over as unusually impressive, or deeply happy. It appeared to me that this group, instead of being a place that challenged and inspired, was their cosy escape from the world. Give me Old Age any day.
Does anyone else have observations, positive or negative or just interesting, about other paths?
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Er, No ...
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7 comments:
OK, not your scene. But they were all doing their best. Don't knock it. People are searching, putting out feelers. There's an inchoate sense of wanting to join in the great wave, the great shift in consciousness that is taking place all over the planet. Sometimes it takes odd forms. You don't have to join that particular stream (obviously), but keep an open mind. Krishna said, "Howsoever men try to worship me, so do I welcome them." That means EVERYONE is welcome.
Hello Diogenes
So you're not such an old Cynic after all, then? ;-)
I agree with what you say, but why can't I knock it? Just because we're all searching for something doesn't mean all paths are equally useful, does it? Some of them are going in the wrong direction, or going nowhere, or have got stuck in a blind alley.
It's horses for courses, sure, but it's not 'all relative'.
I just think people in the School are sometimes guilty of spiritual snobbery. Got a feeling there could be a price to pay.
Acknowledge the snobbery on occasions, it does sometimes sneak in. And then puts up a barrier.
It's more important, however, to follow a genuine path with its disciplines, tested knowledge and recognition of the nature of being.
The rest is not necessarily airy-fairy nonsense; it, too, supports a yearning. But in itself it's very unlikely to last. And so it's of a lesser value.
That's what I understood by this.
I've registered for the Mind Intention on 24 March.
Will report back later .... possibly....
Diogenes, I think that we are paying the price for not having established better mutual links with other valid organizations - see today's post on this changing.
I am interested in meeting people on different paths (which I've never really done), but I reserve the right to be amused at their folly, as I am by ours.
Fair enough. Me too.
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