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yatharth ༺༒༻@AskYatharth• over 4 years ago

😬😬😬 Watching this video in half-laughter and deep terror. So much of cults are indistinguishable from spiritual communities. https://t.co/Ug3WuYDF4t

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4/8/2021

yatharth ༺༒༻@AskYatharth• over 4 years ago

Replying to @AskYatharth

This shouldn’t be surprising. Chanting, meditation, revealed vulnerability, these are powerful psychotechnologies. They’re not good, or bad, they’re just powerful. https://t.co/h5RX0Lq9dG

yatharth ༺༒༻@AskYatharth• over 4 years ago

Vows are psychotechnologies humans stumbled upon for the phenomenological experiences of surrender, simplicity, and love. There’s nothing wrong, right, or metaphysical about it.

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4/8/2021

yatharth ༺༒༻@AskYatharth• over 4 years ago

Replying to @AskYatharth

Then there’s . . . more dangerous ones. Sleep deprivation, guru worship, intense feelings of emptiness, sexual union. The staple of cults. If you see those, 98% of the time, something has gone wrong.

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4/8/2021

yatharth ༺༒༻@AskYatharth• over 4 years ago

Replying to @AskYatharth

. . . then there’s the 2% of tantric lineages that pass them on in a way that feels healthy, non-renunciative, and loose. The problem is you can’t tell from the outside which 2% that is. https://t.co/2YP3L9yjFg

yatharth ༺༒༻@AskYatharth• over 4 years ago

The thing about conspiracy theories is that 2% of them are true and you are going to guess the wrong 2%.

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4/8/2021

yatharth ༺༒༻@AskYatharth• over 4 years ago

Replying to @AskYatharth

So we’re stuck. “Crazy wisdom” sounds good, and many of the 84 mahasiddhas were so, but to license crazy wisdom is to license many a lesser teacher to get away with harm. It can’t be licensed.

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4/8/2021

yatharth ༺༒༻@AskYatharth• over 4 years ago

Replying to @AskYatharth

To engage in crazy wisdom is to do so at your own risk: do it well, and it may be tolerated; otherwise, there may be severe consequences for any reason. To lose the protection of the law.

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4/8/2021

yatharth ༺༒༻@AskYatharth• over 4 years ago

Replying to @AskYatharth

Heck, nation-states use a quarter of the techniques in the video. National anthems, assigning special purposes—these techniques already form the fabric of civic and communal life. Singing, dancing. Any form of annealing, really. https://t.co/en62cfLufP

yatharth ༺༒༻@AskYatharth• over 4 years ago

This shouldn’t be surprising. Chanting, meditation, revealed vulnerability, these are powerful psychotechnologies. They’re not good, or bad, they’re just powerful. https://t.co/h5RX0Lq9dG

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4/8/2021

yatharth ༺༒༻@AskYatharth• over 4 years ago

Replying to @AskYatharth

Yet it feels like there’s a distinction to make. Maybe “looser” and “tighter” ideologies. It’s just the language of any particular distinction can be appropriate to sound good by a cult.

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4/8/2021

yatharth ༺༒༻@AskYatharth• over 4 years ago

Replying to @AskYatharth

I can’t distinguish them on the level of a technique. But what I do know is cults *feel* very different. There’s a strange tightness, a desperation to them.

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4/8/2021

yatharth ༺༒༻@AskYatharth• over 4 years ago

Replying to @AskYatharth

Whereas the spiritual communities I respect the most feel really healthy, humble in their knowledge and certainty of their action, “loose.”

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4/8/2021

yatharth ༺༒༻@AskYatharth• over 4 years ago

Replying to @AskYatharth

Blergh, I give up on this thread for now. May come back to revise.

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4/8/2021

yatharth ༺༒༻@AskYatharth• over 4 years ago

Replying to @AskYatharth

I don’t know.

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4/8/2021

yatharth ༺༒༻@AskYatharth• over 4 years ago

Replying to @AskYatharth

The thing I don’t want to say out loud, but feels necessary is: “You fool. How are you even trying to make that distinction? Cults and healthy communities are non-dual. Not the same to be sure, but this distinction you seek does not exist in the way you want it to.”

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4/8/2021

yatharth ༺༒༻@AskYatharth• over 4 years ago

Replying to @AskYatharth

“There’s something that feels really . . . 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 about all looking for distinctions.” “What’s at risk if you can’t find one?” Well, then we’d just be a cult.

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4/8/2021

yatharth ༺༒༻@AskYatharth• over 4 years ago

Replying to @AskYatharth

“And then?” Well, I don’t know. It means none of us really know what we’re doing and we’re just a bunch human pack animals trying to live and survive in an unbelievable world of technology and nature. Hmmm

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4/8/2021

yatharth ༺༒༻@AskYatharth• over 4 years ago

Replying to @AskYatharth

You know what else this reminds me of? Pick-up artists. They too are a group anyone will universally pick on. Inhumane! Selfish! Unhealthy! They need to be brought back and coddled into mainstream society. Oh ya?

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4/8/2021

Malcolm Ocean 🏴‍☠️@Malcolm_Ocean• about 4 years ago

Replying to @AskYatharth

@AskYatharth this bit about the motivated-looking-for-distinctions reminds me of a piece I wrote a few weeks ago about "ideological thinking" which is all about a particular kind of grasping towards distinction https://t.co/GEDdLTG9uA

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7/30/2021

Malcolm Ocean 🏴‍☠️@Malcolm_Ocean• about 4 years ago

Replying to @AskYatharth

@AskYatharth wait what is "sexual union" I would usually understand that as synonymous with "intercourse" but maybe you mean something more specific?

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7/30/2021

yatharth ༺༒༻@AskYatharth• about 4 years ago

Replying to @Malcolm_Ocean

@Malcolm_Ocean Sex can be quite transactional. “You use my body, because X.” Union is giving yourself over emotionally. Letting them fuck your heart.

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7/30/2021

Malcolm Ocean 🏴‍☠️@Malcolm_Ocean• about 4 years ago

Replying to @AskYatharth

@AskYatharth ah, yeah not a sign of cults on its own, but if happening in the context of gurus and sleep deprivation and so on, very bad sign

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7/30/2021