21/11/2021
This is my dad a few years before he died.
I have conversations with him sometimes out loud even today. I miss sitting with him. As much as I found our relationship to be dysfunctional, I loved learning from him. Tons about the world, politics and in his later years, spirituality. He encouraged me to start Imiloa.
There’s a plague going around the world and not many will want to read about it.
It’s the plague of spirituality. I think contrary to Kumbaya circles and beach kirtans, new age spirituality is very dark. And many can’t see it for themselves because it’s disguised as light and wellness woo.
Self-anointed coaches and teachers, or God-forbid, shamans. Self-realized and self-actualized only to themselves.
A good friend once asked me about a spiritual “shaman” to the stars in LA who wanted to host at Imiloa (we kindly passed on their outreach), “What would ____ be doing if this were 20 years ago?”
Waiting tables? Maybe working at an ad agency?
It’s a good question. Many of these so-called coaches and shamans wouldn’t go through the rigor of a doctorate training in psychology. Or even a masters program for business. So, then, how are they teaching people to live their best lives when often, behind the scenes, they are so un-integrated themselves?
In Buddhism, you always, ALWAYS, investigate the teacher. Who did they learn from? What are their values? Finding out who they really are before you open yourself to whatever they’re teaching.
I traveled the world in my 20s seeking to sit with masters. Munich, Egypt, Ireland, Israel, Congo, Jordan and eventually Hawaii. I would sometimes be in the presence of someone who’s books I love for weeks without a word. I was a mess inside and out, but I wasn’t teaching anything. I never purported anything I wasn’t. I can’t say the same about many who I meet today.
