When we think of enlightened leaders, we tend to imagine outcasts, penniless prophets, or somebody like Jesus, Buddha, or the monks of the medieval times.
I came across this guy's work a decade or so ago, while I was doing health-related research for myself. I looked into what he was doing, smelled a rat, and moved on. Nothing you said here would make me want to take another look. 😊
Several decades before that, in the 1980s, I visited Esalen a couple of times, taking a class each time. I was exploring stuff, and that was one of the things did. I don't recall there being "members" per se. One could sign up to take classes and such. And it's not that many hours from here by car.
So there I explored and then moved on. I wouldn't care to repeat any of what I did back then, having learned my lessons, and I don't endorse it, but Esalen was milder than some of the other things I have gotten myself into. I didn't know enough, then, to see the major problems with it, but after those two trips I couldn't find a reason to return again.
Later in that decade I explored other aspects of New Age, and found lots of problems. Maybe what I heard at Esalen contributed to seeing those things; I don't know. I ended up rejecting everything New Age and re-discovering God. That was a good trade, though far from the end of the journey.
I wasn't sure whether to mention the idea of "members" in Esalen, so I'm glad you clarified that. My sense was that there was an inner circle of founders and their friends, who created the material/courses, and the students. Presumably, it works like most schools, where the education itself is more like an opportunity to network and join the social network. Does that make sense?
Yes, it does. They had staff, who ran the place and led the regular workshops like the ones I took. There were also volunteers. But then there were workshops led by the "big names", the names you hear about, and I don't know what their relationship with Esalen was but I assume they were paid. I considered a few of those workshops, but was unconvinced of their value.
It was an interesting place. There was the bookstore with all kinds of books with strange titles and dubious content. And there was a vegetable garden, with people gardening in the nude. And then there were the hot-spring baths, which were definitely different from anything I was accustomed to.
I visited there in the wake of breaking up with another cult-like organization that was not so mild in its approach to messing with peoples' minds. I was looking for something better, but I didn't find that at Esalen. I had a number of stops to go still before fully reconciling with God and the Bible, minus the puritanical (pharisaical?) twists that I grew up with, but Esalen at least was not puritanical!
A new voice in the medical freedom lecture group is Jason Christof. He makes compelling presentations and mentions being a follower of Paul Chek. Having now heard from the man himself, I must re-evaluate what Jason says, most memorably that coffee is poison.
Remember that movie with Natalie Wood, they stole all the preachers money, and he was chasing them in his car with a giant loud speaker on top, finally he screamed at them: "Give me back my God Damn Money", that's what I think about whenever anyone starts preaching to me
Rudolf Steiner called this time “the war of all against all “
It seems they are certainly sticking to the script laid out.
Wreaking havoc on humanity is justified as necessary for us all to experience “growth “ and those that make the right choices avoid the “harvest”(their term 🤔)
In his writings he says Jesus will return in this age but in the etheric not the flesh.
I have been reflecting on this and wonder if you think as i do Terry that for one to experience Jesus in the etheric as they promise, they will offer psychedelics ?
Will it be like Chek encourages, that one has to manifest the second coming in their minds?
I think their plans will falter and fizzle and they will grow impatient and start persecuting Christians openly. I think God will ruin their strategy before they can execute it, and they will freak out and take the mask off.
There's a sucker born every minute." Attributed to P.T. Barnum.
I admit I skipped through this post. But, basically this guy makes Barnum statements. What he says is so non specific it can mean whatever an individual wants it to mean.
I came across this guy's work a decade or so ago, while I was doing health-related research for myself. I looked into what he was doing, smelled a rat, and moved on. Nothing you said here would make me want to take another look. 😊
Several decades before that, in the 1980s, I visited Esalen a couple of times, taking a class each time. I was exploring stuff, and that was one of the things did. I don't recall there being "members" per se. One could sign up to take classes and such. And it's not that many hours from here by car.
So there I explored and then moved on. I wouldn't care to repeat any of what I did back then, having learned my lessons, and I don't endorse it, but Esalen was milder than some of the other things I have gotten myself into. I didn't know enough, then, to see the major problems with it, but after those two trips I couldn't find a reason to return again.
Later in that decade I explored other aspects of New Age, and found lots of problems. Maybe what I heard at Esalen contributed to seeing those things; I don't know. I ended up rejecting everything New Age and re-discovering God. That was a good trade, though far from the end of the journey.
I wasn't sure whether to mention the idea of "members" in Esalen, so I'm glad you clarified that. My sense was that there was an inner circle of founders and their friends, who created the material/courses, and the students. Presumably, it works like most schools, where the education itself is more like an opportunity to network and join the social network. Does that make sense?
Yes, it does. They had staff, who ran the place and led the regular workshops like the ones I took. There were also volunteers. But then there were workshops led by the "big names", the names you hear about, and I don't know what their relationship with Esalen was but I assume they were paid. I considered a few of those workshops, but was unconvinced of their value.
It was an interesting place. There was the bookstore with all kinds of books with strange titles and dubious content. And there was a vegetable garden, with people gardening in the nude. And then there were the hot-spring baths, which were definitely different from anything I was accustomed to.
I visited there in the wake of breaking up with another cult-like organization that was not so mild in its approach to messing with peoples' minds. I was looking for something better, but I didn't find that at Esalen. I had a number of stops to go still before fully reconciling with God and the Bible, minus the puritanical (pharisaical?) twists that I grew up with, but Esalen at least was not puritanical!
A new voice in the medical freedom lecture group is Jason Christof. He makes compelling presentations and mentions being a follower of Paul Chek. Having now heard from the man himself, I must re-evaluate what Jason says, most memorably that coffee is poison.
I think the fact he gets given time to speak regularly in different parliaments around the world should make you ponder
Remember that movie with Natalie Wood, they stole all the preachers money, and he was chasing them in his car with a giant loud speaker on top, finally he screamed at them: "Give me back my God Damn Money", that's what I think about whenever anyone starts preaching to me
Rudolf Steiner called this time “the war of all against all “
It seems they are certainly sticking to the script laid out.
Wreaking havoc on humanity is justified as necessary for us all to experience “growth “ and those that make the right choices avoid the “harvest”(their term 🤔)
In his writings he says Jesus will return in this age but in the etheric not the flesh.
I have been reflecting on this and wonder if you think as i do Terry that for one to experience Jesus in the etheric as they promise, they will offer psychedelics ?
Will it be like Chek encourages, that one has to manifest the second coming in their minds?
I think their plans will falter and fizzle and they will grow impatient and start persecuting Christians openly. I think God will ruin their strategy before they can execute it, and they will freak out and take the mask off.
There's a sucker born every minute." Attributed to P.T. Barnum.
I admit I skipped through this post. But, basically this guy makes Barnum statements. What he says is so non specific it can mean whatever an individual wants it to mean.