There was never a time when I was comfortable with teachings espousing the unreality of the body and the world.
While I understand the dogmatic reason(ing) behind such, I always deeply felt that our bodies and the World were the most efficacious routes to The Divine. Each and every sense a Divine Portal into our inherent birthright of a natural connection with God, Source, Spirit…call it what you will…and The Universe.
Additionally…and, most especially, the denial of the body and of a world led to a nihilistic view that SO easily covered for, not only the potential for harm, but for the actuality of disregard and abuse.
And, by extension, there were the very real dangers of becoming an automaton by statements such as ‘thoughts and emotions are unreal.’
If one needs to say anything about a body/ and world it would be more accurate to say “You’re not the body and you’re not NOT the body” and “The world is real but, like everything, impermanent.”
Was the necessity to abandon everything, literally, what was ‘intended’ by The Universe for us to realize our rightful and Holy place in the Grande scheme of things?
Is this what was/is truly meant by Love?…or was/is The Totality beckoning each of us to claim our rightful place in this Divine Inheritance?
Is there anything that is not held in the deepest embrace of this All?
Even though I never embraced this ‘duality of radical non-duality’ I none-the-less fell victim (yes, there are victims as long as anything is excluded) to the necessitation of lies/deceptions in the upholding of such a structure of radical division. Talk about salt in the wound.
I became the inadvertent holder for the deceptions of that out-of-balance dogma…a dogma upheld by numerous non-dual teachers, institutions and supporting organizations. https://integrityintruth.com/systemic-collusion-in-the-non-dual-field/
During my time with that radical non-dual teaching I let go of family, friends, education, likes and preferences, things that I love, my own creativity…and essentially my Life…my sacred Life — which is All of it.
Then…after “falling through the cracks” (Russell Smith) those same teachers manipulated the rest of this Life with existential controls involving siddis (occult powers).
Many contemporary teachers borrow heavily on teachings removed in time, space and culture.
The classic Rumi poem “Out beyond ideas of right and wrong there is a Field…” contains beautiful and sacred words which are often taken out of time/space and cultural context and unfortunately used to justify and hijack moral authority in order to cover where there has been actual harm.
Furthermore, if someone has the courage to speak up when/where there has been harm those very teachings are used to scapegoat and gaslight the one reporting on the harm.
The destruction of a Life that has been ripped apart by such radical dogmatic delusion is extreme and total. It may be the reason why so many felt they would…and, literally, had to…remain at SAT for life.
In that regard…and with reference to ancient teachings: not all egos need to be killed. Not all egos need eradicating. Not all egos even need diminishing.
The damage from such delusion cannot be overstated.
Some egos actually need building UP to realize a ‘transcendent’ and all-inclusive Freedom.
It was several years after having been at SAT…and dedicated to the teachings and teachers… that Nome, all of a sudden declared that his teaching was “radical non-duality.”
My original resonance with the all-inclusive Pantheon of ALL Truth teachings…and the broad-based inclusiveness of all major traditions…was what originally resonated with me.
I had no clue what was meant by “radical non-duality” except that it’s radical in the embrace of denialism (duality) and harm.