Archive for the ‘Enlightenment’ Category
Left in the Dark now available to read online
I received an email from Tony Wright, author of Left in the Dark, letting me know that the book is now available to view online in its entirety. If you enjoy pondering the mysteries of human development, especially those that seem to make no sense outside of supernatural or mystical explanations, you’ll love this perception-altering book!
If you like studying human consciousness and enlightenment (are we truly on an evolutionary trajectory to higher, better levels of consciousness?), Left in the Dark will provide a new frame for understanding this intriguing subject. But not to worry — it is a hope-filled message, a message that quite possibly can lead us to real, workable solutions to the mess we’re in today.
The human brain, over a period of perhaps a million years, expanded at an increasingly rapid rate then, some 200,000 years ago, this expansion suddenly stopped. There is, to date, no plausible scientific explanation for either of these linked events.
Religious and mythic traditions of paradise inform us that we once lived in a benign state of perpetual wonder and joy but from this we regressed. The reasons for this are obscure. Do these apparently unrelated perspectives have something in common?
The new theory presented here and in the Left In The Dark book suggests the extraordinary evolution of our brain was influenced by changes in the activity of our own hormones. Such a seemingly innocuous idea has dramatic ramifications. It not only explains a number of recently uncovered anomalies within the human mind, but also makes sense of the stories of human degeneration that are preserved in virtually all cultural myths and religions from around the world.
Both perspectives tell the same unexpected and shocking story — Humanity is suffering from a progressive neurological condition that has distorted our perception and altered our sense of self. This seemingly dire situation however has a positive side — we still have unimaginable potential just waiting to be unlocked. There is a very real possibility of regaining our lost perceptual heritage. (from the author’s Home page)
Consider buying the book to support further research!
More from Tony’s site:
Virtually all cultures preserve myths with an almost identical theme; that from a past golden age humanity has suffered a progressive degeneration. Is this near universal tradition based on real events? The answer appears to be ‘yes’. Recent scientific evidence supports the idea that we suffer from an inherited hormonal condition that has damaged part of our brain. In an unexpected twist, it is the damaged part that is not only driven to play the major role in telling us who we are but also dominates our basic biological functions.
Such a scenario explains some extraordinary anomalies that have emerged from research into how our brains function. It provides an underlying reason for the present crises in health, from the dysfunction of the immune system to the declining age of puberty. It also makes sense of the diverse mystic and religious practices that are said to lead to enlightened states or ‘oneness with God’.
If our common experience of near constant low-level fear and anxiety is actually a consequence of a neurological disorder, there may be a fundamental solution to the problem. We all know that fear, distrust and a lack of connection lead to conflict and ultimately war. Such a solution therefore could be of crucial importance to our global future.
To find out more, read on…
Don’t be left in the dark 
Read the book!
Getting my arms around The Puzzle
I’m always thinking about the human condition, life on Earth and where we’re headed. Many believe we’re in a global crisis, with the health of the entire planet hanging in the balance. This may be true. I don’t know.
We now hear the call, from many quarters, for a great shift in human consciousness. Some groups are more than willing to lead this great shift, and they offer up a stellar slate of so-called leading-edge visionaries to serve as the pioneers. I do understand that a shift or change of consciousness is not possible without a new vision, leaders and participants. But I find myself resisting these group efforts.
For starters, some of the “visionaries” are highly questionable. I don’t get why people will simply believe what an author claims is true. You know, like having a conversation with God. Or that “Jesus” beamed a revelation into a psychiatrist’s brain for transcription. And while we’re on the subject of credible sources, it’s beyond my comprehension how people can believe that beings from other dimensions or universes are contacting Earthlings with important messages. Anyway…
I just don’t trust subjective experiences as truth. I want to know the facts, as much as we can know and understand them. I want stuff to be objectively proven. Or at least seem reasonable based on what we know. So I’m drawn to understanding the human condition through scientific study and research. Here’s a comment I wrote under Neuroanatomist Finds Nirvana, which prompted today’s post:
If you’re interested in human development and understanding the context for the varying levels of human thought and behavior (especially those we have now), I highly recommend studying Spiral Dynamics.
If you’re interested in learning about a fairly new, systematic approach to understanding and solving psychological problems, check out the Human Givens approach.
Both of these are grounded in scientific study and research. I’ve found these systems and approaches extremely helpful for getting my arms around some of the biggest issues of our time. Not that I understand everything, of course, but now I have a basic framework for hanging the millions of pieces of the puzzle (to me).
Neuroanatomist finds Nirvana
Brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor shared her “stroke of insight” at this year’s TED Conference in Monterey, California. If you’re interested in hemispheric brain function, mystical experiences, the concept of humans as energy beings, or consciousness, this is a must-see video.
One morning, a blood vessel in Jill Bolte Taylor’s brain exploded. As a brain scientist, she realized she had a ringside seat to her own stroke. She watched as her brain functions shut down one by one: motion, speech, memory, self-awareness …
Amazed to find herself alive, Taylor spent eight years recovering her ability to think, walk and talk. She has become a spokesperson for stroke recovery and for the possibility of coming back from brain injury stronger than before. In her case, although the stroke damaged the left side of her brain, her recovery unleashed a torrent of creative energy from her right. From her home base in Indiana, she now travels the country on behalf of the Harvard Brain Bank as the “Singin’ Scientist.”
What she said about the right hemisphere and perception:
Our right hemisphere is all about this present moment. It’s all about right here right now. Our right hemisphere, it thinks in pictures and it learns kinesthetically through the movement of our bodies. Information in the form of energy streams in simultaneously through all of our sensory systems. And then it explodes into this enormous collage of what this present moment looks like. What this present moment smells like and tastes like, what it feels like and what it sounds like.
I am an energy being connected to the energy all around me through the consciousness of my right hemisphere. We are energy beings connected to one another through the consciousness of our right hemispheres as one human family. And right here, right now, all we are brothers and sisters on this planet, here to make the world a better place. And in this moment we are perfect. We are whole. And we are beautiful.
I have never experienced right-hemisphere perception like this. It’s hard for me to even imagine it. My left hemisphere is running the show in my head. However, my “body” easily connects to the energy of my environment. Actually, everyone does this. But I think we have varying abilities for receiving and perceiving information. Fascinating stuff.
What a wonderful world it could be
I started this blog post several weeks ago after reading “Consciousness is Nothing But a Word,” an article by Henry D. Schlinger in Skeptic Magazine. I enjoy reading about consciousness, which remains a mystery. I absolutely loved the article and Schlinger’s ideas about what consciousness is. To my delight, the article is now available online in the latest e-skeptic.
I believe we do have the ability to create the wonderful world we want.
I invite you to read the article and comment.
Exploiting the desire for happiness
Most of us want to be happy. The United States Declaration of Independence declares the pursuit of happiness as an unalienable right. The Dalai Lama says the purpose of life is happiness.
The desire to be happy is a human given, wired into our brains, because without it, why go on? This makes sense from an evolutionary point of view.
It is this innate desire that unscrupulous gurus often exploit. Some of their followers do experience happiness, so they’re inclined to spread the word about the guru. Unfortunately, other followers are left in a worse state, many mired in deep depression or teetering on the brink of suicide. What goes wrong? In most cases, the followers have been immersed in conditioning and methods found in cults. The mind is broken down, and the person can no longer deal with reality.
Medical experts who help people recover from being in cults describe the same experience and blame it on a process called “dissociation,” in which the mind withdraws from reality based on cues and no longer connects properly to such tasks as consciousness, memory, identity and perception.
It can come about from achieving the “absolute unitary state” too many times. At its best, it can lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety and stress and offer practitioners a renewed sense of purpose. At its worst, it can cause extreme mental illness and even symptoms of related multiple-personality disorders.
Read the entire article, Tapping into inner happiness
Entering into different states of consciousness is very real and very powerful. I’ll even go as far to say that it may be possible for people to assist others in changing their brain state through physical contact and intention, such as giving and receiving Deeksha.
My point is simply this: There are safe ways to develop happiness, and there are unsafe attempts. Be careful.
A new view of Enlightenment
Enlightenment. It sounds so lofty, so full of promise. Who wouldn’t want to be full of light, wisdom and love? Who wouldn’t give their eye teeth to walk around in a perpetual state of bliss, no longer shackled by fear, anger, worry, and other unpleasant feelings?
Sign me up! As long as you don’t call that peaceful state Enlightenment. Or hook it up with a religious or spiritual system that I need to buy into.
The other day I read Bill Harris’ comments about human development (e.g., Integral theory), religion and spiritual states on his new blog. Bill is the director of Centerpointe Research Institute and developer of Holosync audio technology, which helps you to create deep states of meditation. (Bill appeared in The Secret, but don’t let that scare you. He’s one of the few who actually has the facts straight about how to create the life you want. It’s not magic.)
Here’s what he writes (in part) about human development:
Human development takes many forms–humans undergo moral, cognitive, ego (or self), interpersonal, emotional, values, and spiritual development–just to name a few areas of development. A thread running through all these streams of development is our ongoing attempts to discover meaning in our existence, to find some sort of significance.
I suspect that you’ve probably thought about this. Here we are: vulnerable, alone but also part of a larger whole. We’re here for a finite amount of time, and then we’re gone. On one hand, we have a certain amount of control over our existence, while in other ways we’re subject to forces we can’t predict or control. So we ask questions such as, Who am I? Why am I here? What it all about? Why do we die? Why is this happening? How do I know what to do next? How do I relate to the rest of the world, and to other people? What is Truth? How do I know what is right and what is wrong? Can I be happy? How? And so on.
In the beginning, of course, we aren’t asking such existentially complex questions. But from the moment we’re born we do start trying to make sense of our existence. How we do this changes and develops over and over as our environmental situation changes–hence the idea of developmental levels. These are levels of meaning-making, of understanding. You might even say that they are levels of wisdom. …
There are many ways to slice these developmental steps. One broad way would be to talk about four basic divisions: preconventional, conventional, postconventional, and transcendent. Let’s look at these. … <snip>
This fourth stage, or perspective, could be termed transcendent, or unitive. Those at this stage come to realize that all objects–including abstract ideas such as the self, the ego, and even the idea of three-dimensional space and time–are human-made constructs, based on layers upon layers of symbolic abstraction. There is an awareness that language presupposes many things that may not be true about reality, and traps us in a view that may not always serve us.
For instance, the whole idea of subject and object as separate things–one of the main premises in language–is seen by those at the unitive stage as constructed rather than actual and real. Subject and object, a unitive thinker would say, “go together.” They are actually one thing, not two. In fact, all polarities created by the mind (and language) arise together: up makes no sense without down, good makes no sense without bad, me makes no sense without not-me. All of these polarities, say unitive thinkers, are arbitrarily constructed.
At this transcendent stage what I and many others have called a witness perspective allows the person to stand aside and observe what is without adding meaning, without creating a mental map of what is being observed, or at least view things with a realization that all meaning being added is just something made-up. A person at this level realizes that the mental map we make of reality isn’t reality itself, that the map is not the territory it represents.
At this level the existential questions I’ve posed are seen from a very cosmic perspective, where the typical separate self-identity is no longer seen as the essence of the person. Instead, everything is seen from a universal or cosmic perspective–you might say, from an experience of being “one with” everything. Consciousness or rational awareness assumes either background or foreground status depending on one’s momentary attention. This stage is often spoken of as “enlightenment” or “self-realization.” It is estimated that less than 1% of people are at this level of development.
I liked most of his comments. But I found myself wanting to object to the Transcendent, or enlightenment, stage. For instance, I have no desire to be one with, say, my pencil or computer mouse. (I’ll make an exception for chocolate.)
Why are less than 1 percent of humanity at this level? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? (Oops, I’m giving away my stage of development.) What exactly is enlightenment, and is it something every person should strive to attain? Is it even possible for every single person?
Sometimes the striving to reach “enlightenment” can be a terrible waste of time at best; tragic at worst.
From my perspective, enlightenment has nothing to do with being filled with light or gaining special insight or wisdom. It has nothing to do with being “spiritual” or “religious.” “Enlightenment” is simply a brain state — and it can be easily explained by neuroscience.
Today while googling “brain science AND enlightenment” I found these remarkable articles by Todd Murphy, a behavorial neuroscientist and psychologist.
Forgetting About Enlightenment
Enlightenment as a Neural process. A forensic look at the Buddha’s transformation
(Murphy does support meditation because it trains the mind to be aware of positive and negative emotions. Then you can choose which to cultivate and which to prune.)
The Spiritual Personality
The personalities of people who are involved with spiritual practices like prayer, meditation and ceremony are shaped by the altered-state experiences their spirituality creates. The part of the brain that manages our states of consciousness, the temporal lobes, is a little busier in these people than most, producing personality traits that appear over and over among spiritually oriented people.
This article is especially interesting to me. Not too long ago I encountered two lovely people who are on a spiritual path. Unfortunately, they lost touch with reality — big time. They divorced their mates and moved in together, causing their family and friends much pain and suffering. They had trouble carrying on a normal conversation with others, used spiritual lingo that their families couldn’t understand, and seemed spaced out. Their thinking was illogical. “Intuition” and “guidance” became the new rule. Personal hygiene went out the window.
Murphy may provide an explanation:
Another personality trait that spiritual practitioners almost always seem to show is a fascination with spirituality. It may seem to be too obvious to say, but what it less obvious is that spirituality dominates over other kinds of concerns more than other pursuits do. What seems to be happening is that the repeated experience of altered states is so novel, and infused with such a sense of meaningfulness that things which lack meaning in them lose their impact.
Another personality trait that can emerge after enough time in an altered state has two names. In medical terms, its called hyperemotionality. In spiritual terms, its called open-heartedness or more simply ‘being filled with love’. A psychologist might call it ‘extreme vulnerability.’
Most of the time, unusual states of consciousness invoke intense emotional states. TL seizures most often involve fear, terror or a sense of ‘impending doom.’ (Interestingly, there are also dissasociative seizures that seem to have no emotion at all.) Spiritual states are usually pleasant. Everything from simple calm or freedom from fear to bliss or ecstasy.
This extra input to the amygdala has an impact beyond just making for intense moments. It makes the person more emotionally sensitive at all other times as well. Among TL epileptics, it commonly makes for extra irritability. For spiritual practitioners, it seems to be more a matter of an extra need to feel safe. After a certain point in spiritual development or ‘growth’, the aspirant begins to be more careful about the ‘energies’ they connect with. Their own way of seeing it is a bit monastic. Monks and nuns withdraw from the world, avoiding socially intense situations. In more modern times, we hear of meditators ‘withdrawing into their own space’. The need to defend one’s self from verbal assaults, and to avoid those who aren’t like-minded gets more intense. Practitioners become more ‘open-hearted’, and along with it, more vulnerable. Few romantic relationships escape unscathed. If one partner begins spiritual practice, and the other doesn’t, they may soon find that the level of intimacy that’s comfortable for each is now different. Of course, the now-spiritual partner has a new set of interests, and that tends to divide two partners. The practitioner can feel that they’ve ‘outgrown’ the relationship, while the one who’s not doing practice might tend to blame the group their partner joined, or to feel that their partner has taken religion ‘too far’. In fact, one study of TL epileptics found that they were more likely than others to undergo multiple religious conversions. …
In order to go further with this topic, we need to talk about the amygdala again. What seems to be happening is that as the two amygdala get more active, the chances of their falling out of phase with one another increases. Normally, the left amygdala (remember language is on the left) is the dominant one. Normally people process their experiences by thinking about them; thinking in words.
Humans seem to have two senses of self. Left hemispheric, and right hemispheric. The pathways of the human sense of self on each side have been found to include the amygdala. When the two amygdala fall out of phase with one another, the ’self’ on the left can become aware of the activities on the right. The right-sided sense of self is experienced as an outer (ego-alien) ‘presence’. All of this is fairly well established. What I want to add to it, as an hypothesis, is that the two amygdala are out of phase whenever we’re relating to another. (I’ve designed a study that should put it to the test, but lack of funding at present makes it difficult to carry out.) As a person experiences altered states more often, they find that the way they relate to ‘the other’ is changed.
Another obvious effect is that as the left ’self’ begins to lose its mastery over the individual, the person is more and more likely to ‘feel’ their way through situations, rather than thinking about them. One study found that people who experienced altered states frequently were unable to follow scientific, ‘linear’ reasoning.
Still another effect is that, because each time the right-self intrudes on the left, the left-self loses a bit of its control, and because the left is normally dominant, the effect is that the person’s self esteem (while they are in normal states) goes down. As near as I can tell, it stays that way until the person’s normal states are adjusted so that they then have a permanent ‘baseline’ state that allows their right-sided ’self’ to emerge in all circumstances.
Until this happens the person can suffer from ‘the dark night of the soul’, which can come as moments when they doubt their self-worth, or as long periods of melancholy. More often in my experience, such people respond with a specific coping strategy. They become ‘holier than thou.’ In these cases, spiritual practitioners will respond to comments from others with ’spiritual’ interpretations.
You missed your bus? You weren’t ‘meant’ to be on it. How have you been lately? There is no lately: there is only this moment. The person you were attracted to isn’t interested in you? Give your love to Jesus. I seem insensitive? I’m only sharing my truth in this moment. You’re angry about something? It just shows how are attached you are. You’re offended by something? That’s just your ego coming out.
In extreme cases, such people have an answer for everything they don’t care to hear, and each answer shows how ’spiritual’ they are, and subtly ‘puts down’ the other. Its just not possible, for one who is ‘holier than thou’, to feel beneath others. This type of person won’t be free of the inner turbulence that an extra-active amygdala creates, they just won’t feel that they are lower than others. Because we are such linguistic beings, we are very sensitive to words that we don’t like. An easy way to cope is to have a stock of things to say that invalidates whatever the ‘other’ has to say, and to do so in a spiritual-seeming way. If they are successful, they can become gurus or teachers in their own right.
Now, gurus (or masters or satgurus, sufus, tzaddiks, roshis, growth group or workshop leaders, priests, or a ministers) often don’t like to be ‘defined’ or ‘labeled’ or ‘categorized’, but there a category that seems to invite them in. Its a term from primatology, the study of our closest living evolutionary cousins, the primates. You know. Monkeys and chimpanzees. Gurus are dominant or alpha individuals. Within their community, the guru is the boss. He (forgive the sexist pronoun) usually calls the shots. He disperses the donated resources, and if the tradition doesn’t include celibacy, to be his romantic partner is a ‘position’ of some prestige. All other conditions being equal, the guru will be more successful at passing on his genetic material than the disciple. If you become a guru, your self-esteem will automatically rise. You’ve become the alpha person.
In one study of seratonin levels in monkeys, it was found that the seratonin level of the alpha male in the troupe was higher than that of the betas. When he was removed from the group, one of the betas took his place. When his seratonin levels were taken again, it was found that they had risen to the level of the previous alpha. Becoming a guru works against low self-esteem, just as becoming a leader of any kind will bring a person ‘up’.
We’ve been talking about gurus and ‘wannabe’ gurus. Another type we need to look at is the ‘perfect disciple’.
Another way of responding to low-self esteem is to lower your self. The perfect disciple will always see the guru as being higher. Devotion to the guru allows a context where low-self esteem can be acted out in a constructive way. Being subordinate is rewarded in communities gathered around a spiritual master. The Buddhist and Hindu practice of prostrations or pranam allows a person to behave submissively without actually taking on a position of inferiority for those around them. Only the master (and the ‘inner circle’ of senior disciples) is worthy of these gestures. For day-to-day living in the ashram, the slogan seems to be ‘we’re all bozos on this bus’. Outside of their community, their having found the path allows them to discount what others say. They don’t know the truth. Such a believer need not pay any heed to slights or challenging remarks from others.
Source: www.spiritualbrain.com. Reproduced by permission.
Fascinating, isn’t it?
Time to get new wineskins?
It’s easy to look at our crazy world, shake our heads and say, “There’s nothing new under the sun.” People are people. Human nature is human nature. Nothing has changed.
Or has it?
Obviously we frame what we see based on what we know and have experienced. But that can give us tunnel vision.
The world today is dramatically different than it was just 100 hundred years ago. Technology and science have catapulted us into a far different reality, with far-reaching consequences. For example, industrialized nations are cradled in unimaginable comforts and conveniences. We have personal freedoms and choices that don’t exist in other countries. Yet, for the most part, we aren’t happy.
A few years ago the book The Power of Now captured a lot of attention. It seemed everyone was reading it and going ga-ga. So I bought a copy. A few pages in I realized that I couldn’t relate. Number one, I wasn’t into so-called enlightenment. And number two, I wasn’t all that interested in learning from someone who’d had a psychotic break.
Not long after that, I ran across The Ancestral Mind, by Gregg D. Jacobs, Ph.D. “A revolutionary, scientifically validated program for reactivating the deepest part of the mind,” the book cover read. “Access life-enhancing positive emotions, Achieve a closer harmony of intellect and emotion, Connect with a more intuitive intelligence, Reawaken ancient sources of wisdom and well-being.” I was hooked.
Jacobs explains how modern life and the dominance of our Thinking Mind lead us to be disconnected from ourselves, from others, and from our world. “The consequence is an emotional malaise that has undermined our capacity for health and happiness and left us feeling drained as well as confused about how to find meaning. Prozac has become today’s vitamin; television today’s tranquilizer; and loss of simple joy in life an all-too-common predicament.”
His prescription is to reconnect with our ancient Ancestral Mind and reclaim its power. I highly recommend the book. It says some of the same things as The Power of Now, such as the critical need to live in the present, but from a scientific viewpoint.
That’s just one example of how our world is vastly different. Add in globalization, the unprecedented scope and threat of terrorism, the huge shifts in religious thinking, and you end up with a rapidly changing world that we can’t deal with. Our minds and bodies haven’t had time to catch up. Our systems and organizations haven’t had time to catch up. I believe our world is in crisis, but not for the reasons I often hear.
Over the past several months I’ve become painfully aware of a variety of beliefs and philosophies being promoted that appear to be extremely self-serving and narcissistic. I’ve blogged here and elsewhere about what I’ve seen happen with people who embrace these philosophies. I’ve also been following a series of stories about the fallout of second-hand self-help at Steve Salerno’s blog (which has been put on hold).
As I read the stories, Steve’s comments and reader comments, I find myself getting frustrated. And I’ve been asking myself, What is really going on here? Is it as simple as we think? Are we looking at the right things and asking the right questions? I’m beginning to think we’re not. Thus my recent desire to step back and get a broader perspective.
My intention is to get to the root, the cause, the reason for these current mindsets. Labeling and jumping to conclusions (usually based on old ways of thinking) can only get us so far.
Swami B weighs in on perplexing questions about enlightenment
Life can be heavy business.
I’ve been following Steve Salerno’s series on the fallout of second-hand self-help. Very heavy stuff.
And this morning I finished reading the latest issue of Skeptic, which has Ingrid Hansen Smythe’s insightful, scathing review of The Secret published online back in March. The magazine also features articles on faith versus atheism, religion as an elemental impulse, reviews by Norman Levitt and Deepak Chopra of The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins’ latest book which is causing an uproar, and much more. Very heavy stuff.
Just when I need a dash of levity, I receive the monthly e-zine from the Institute of Noetic Sciences. Frankly, I don’t comprehend half of what they talk about, but I really like the column from Swami Beyondananda. Here are his words of wisdom about the confusing keys to enlightenment.
Dear Swami:
I’m a bit confused. For millennia, the Buddhists have been telling us that the key to enlightenment is achieving emptiness. But physicists now say that empty space isn’t empty at all, but instead filled with enormous amounts of energy. So Swami, what is it — fullness or emptiness? And — whatever it is — how does one go about achieving it?Lou Minocitti, Grass Valley, CA
Dear Lou:
Let me first say you came to the right Swami with this question. Not to brag, but many times I have been told, “Swami, you are so full of emptiness!” You can only imagine how tempting it is to take on an emptier-than-thou attitude — you know, like those vacuums putting on airs about how empty they are. Talk about having nothing to talk about. No wonder nature abhors a vacuum. This also might explain those “Vacuums suck!” bumper stickers I’ve been seeing lately.
But I digress. As you have suspected, true emptiness is nothing more or less than infinite fullness. The void is so full of everythingness you cannot distinguish anythingness so it might as well be nothingness. The scientist, looking for something, sees fullness. The Buddha, looking for nothing, sees emptiness. Same difference.
But whether you call it the All-That-Is or the All-That-Isn’t, this is a very peaceful state because once you are one with everything, there’s nowhere to go and nothing to do. Now, that’s relaxing. So, how does one achieve this state of full emptiness? By ceasing to identify with the separate identity, or ego.
In this regard too, you’ve come to the right Swami. As one who takes great pride in my humility — twice a finalist on America’s Most Humble — I will share my secret, a mantra guaranteed to banish the ego in three easy steps: Ego … egoing … egone.
© Copyright 2006 by Steve Bhaerman. All rights reserved. Give the gift of laughter with Swami’s Fool Enchilada Special. To find out more about that and Swami’s schedule, call (800) SWAMI-BE or visit the Swami online at http://www.wakeuplaughing.com
Paris Hilton: Foxhole Enlightenment?
I totally understand why the Paris Hilton saga has caught our attention — it serves as a lightning rod for everything that bugs us about the so-called privileged rich. Reading the wide range of opinions about Paris, her family and the justice system in media stories and blog posts is really interesting.
My opinion? It depends on which part is doing the talking. One part of me believes Paris is paying the price for breaking the law. Sorry, honey, no exceptions. Another part feels compassion for a suffering human being. Another part says in the long run this experience will be a good thing for her. She (and her mother!) needed a wake-up call.
It appears that Paris is feeling the kind of pain that only gettin’ religion and enlightenment can help. Her preparation for jail included praying, toting around the Bible, and reading faith-based and positive-thinking books including The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment and The Secret. In an interview with the New York Post, she said, “I’m a very, very spiritual person.”
Perhaps Paris is experiencing a dark night of the soul and she’ll come out a changed (for the better) woman. Or perhaps she’s doing that temporary foxhole-conversion thing. Time will tell. The saga continues…
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