EASTERN WISDOM AND SPIRITUALITY
I have gathered on this page all the critical reviews of works and reflections devoted to Eastern spirituality and wisdom as well as their lasting influence in the West.
Tibetan Tantrism, neo-Vedanta, Zen Buddhism, non-dual paths and access to non-duality, Jewish Kabbalah, contemporary gnoses are thus deciphered and analyzed with all the required objectivity and respecting their characteristics. , but without any kindness.
It seemed important to me to offer interested readers another story than the one heard and widespread in most media and which unduly benefits the reputation of these so-called wisdom currents.
Some representative examples of wisdom literature
The dissemination of oriental spiritualities.
Three examples of contemporary works.
By selecting three works by authors representative of spiritual currents marked by oriental wisdom, I show how these thoughts share common characteristics.
A more detailed analysis of the contents of these three works reveals the thought of these authors and all that they can convey that is controverted and transgressive.
The fashion for wisdom literature.
After the question of the diffusion of oriental spiritualities, analyzed above, I wanted to focus on contemporary wisdom literature.
Three books representative of this movement have been the subject of my choice. And I present both their common points and their flaws and limits.
On Vedanta and its Western reception
Reflections on the teaching of Arnaud Desjardins.
A. Desjardins had a great influence in France in the field of spirituality, and he is still presented as a recognized spiritual master.
It is on the teaching of this French master of Vedanta, known for his proselytism and his work of popularizing Hindu wisdom that I have looked, in parallel with the analysis of that of R. Maharshi. However, this teaching seemed to me as specious and as unreliable as that of his Hindu masters.
On the Vedanta of Ramana Maharshi.
Analysis of an exemplary spirituality.
After Zen, Tibetan and Theravada Buddhism, after also the modes of Yoga, Tantrism and the currents advocating non-duality, it is this monument of Indian mysticism that is Vedanta that I attack.
Vedanta is certainly the most imposing Hindu spirituality. And its most illustrious representative in the 20th century was certainly Ramana Maharshi. This figure has made a lasting impression on me since my adolescence. It was therefore necessary for me to desacralize it and demystify its teaching, as I have done for other spiritual figures.
Reflections on N. Maharaj's interviews.
An example of spiritual delirium.
After the works of A. Desjardins and the teaching of R. Maharshi, it seemed difficult not to approach this flowing thought representative of neo-Vedanta that is that of N. Maharaj.
On re-reading the interviews given by this guru in "I am "which I had read several years ago, it appeared to me that the remarks of this wise man are totally arbitrary and come under a logorrhea which manifests a megalomaniacal type of delirium, where this guru abusively takes the place of God or of the Absolute vis-à-vis its listeners and its interlocutors.
On the paths of non-duality
On the method of D. Harding:
The third way. Towards a new humanism.
The spiritual method proposed by D. Harding is visibly inspired by non-dual mystics, in a syncretic aim mixed with psychological contributions, no doubt in order to better adhere to the contemporary mentality.
I took advantage of a series of exchanges with J.-M. Thiabaud, a spiritual seeker who was initiated into this original method and has been spreading it for several years, to take stock of it.
But rather than publishing a critical review of this book, I preferred to go back to the letters I sent to J.-M. Thiabaud on this subject, highlighting all the problems that this method poses for me...
Review of the book by Peter and Penny Fenner:
“ The courage to free oneself .”
Peter and Penny Fenner's book is representative of a contemporary therapeutic movement: the non-dual approach. This indistinctly mixes a revival of the ideas of transpersonal psychology, a Buddhism revisited by heterodox movements, and a therapeutic objective with vague but ambitious contours.
This article aims to critically analyze this relatively widespread conception of psychotherapy, and attempts to explore in more depth the crucial question of the relationship between emotions and beliefs.
Non-duality: a borderline spirituality .
Letters with Peter Fenner
In these letters exchanged with P. Fenner, one of the current gurus of the non-duality currents, I try to show how these are both erroneous and harmful. And I make a philosophical trial of these publications and these wisdoms which exhibit a spiritual charlatanism which has imposed itself in our contemporary mentality.
Review of the book by J. Le Roy.
Awakening and waking states of consciousness: borderline experiences.
A disciple of N. Maharaj and D. Harding, J. Le Roy proposes in this book the techniques specific to the Vision of the Self and also relates his own experience. Based on certain spiritual and philosophical traditions, he attempts to show how this vision would be the quintessence of non-dual mystical paths. The reversal of attention thus becomes, under the pen of J. Le Roy, a return to oneself and to the divine Self. However, there is a mental and metaphysical abyss between these different types of epistrophe ...
For my part, I engage in an uncompromising criticism of this type of "approach" which considers itself above everything that human thought has been able to emitted for millennia and which does not support the "visions" proposed...
Non- duality at the risk of ignorance.
Comments on Emmanuelle Errera's videos .
The spiritualities of non-duality seem to blossom like the Hundred Flowers moment of certain ideologies.
This nebula borrows a large number of its themes from the New Age and resembles it to the point of being mistaken. But even more than the religious syncretism of which this current is guilty by hypertrophying it, it is the lack of culture of the current sub-gurus of the non-dual path that poses a real problem. And it is on the "teachings" of these current gurus of this current that we find in particular through the YouTube channel, that these articles focus.
Concluding theses on oriental wisdom.
I present here the theses that years of practice and research have allowed me to arrive at .
They express the doubts and questions that have crossed my mind for years, and the points to which I would like to draw the attention of readers, especially those who are involved in these spiritualities.
I added an article summarizing the general and psychological characteristics of non-dual paths to show their limits and dead ends.
On the sectarian experience
Siddha Yoga put to the test by critical reason
Influence and vestige of Siddha-Yoga in France.
If there is a delicate subject to address in the field of religions, it is certainly the sectarian phenomenon . However, it is an absolutely necessary work to be carried out if we want to understand what differentiates a sect from a religion.
This is what I am trying to do here, by leading a reflection that aims to be as objective as possible on a sect that I joined, forty years ago now. I have added my personal testimony, in order to show how this passage in this sect was important for me, and what I learned there...
Mystical experience :
The testimony of Alain Chevillat.
It is always surprising to see in some people a desire to open up to the world and surpass oneself, but combined with a sectarian spirit of closure to others or to something other than oneself.
A disciple of S. Muktananda, the founder of the Siddha-Yoga sect of which I have proposed a critical analysis above, A. Chevillat has for years directed centers and activities devoted to Hindu spirituality.
Having known him in the 80s, I contacted him again a few years ago about a project I wanted to do on the Siddha-Yoga sect. Discussions followed as well as an analysis of our positions, which were to say the least divergent, on this moment of our existence. In this article, I propose a reflection on the central place of the community in the mystical experience, based on the testimony of A. Chevillat.
The consciousness of Awakening and the awakened.
A moral and spiritual problem.
It is in the form of a letter, sent to Olivier Raurich, that I briefly address this immense question.
O. Rurich is a teacher of the non-dual path. He was a disciple and translator of Lama Sogyal Rinpoche, known for his perverse actions and the scandals of abuse of all kinds for which he was responsible.
I ask O. Raurich crucial questions about certain aspects of non-dual practice, but also tantric practice, too rarely questioned. I also show that the consciousness of awakening, an overestimated phenomenon, from a solution that it was for centuries, has today become a real problem.
Autres courants
"The Revolt of the Earth"of Satprem.
A testimony in the form of a spiritual testament in homage to the Mother and the maternal.
Among the most famous disciples of this couple of gurus that were Sri Aurobindo and the Mother is Satprem.
Of French origin, like his maternal muse, Satprem devoted himself body and soul to this couple who founded the ashram of Auroville, near Pondicherry, in India. After going through the terrifying ordeal of the Nazi concentration camps, Satprem goes in search of a meaning to his devastated life, which he will find in Auroville with the Mother, whose confidant and spiritual son he was.
In the review of his book, a collection of mystical thoughts and testimony to his life, I dhollows out the red thread that runs through its pages as it has gone through the existence of Satprem and which is the Maternel.
Comments on Brother's videos "Benevolence".
Monk and teacher at Plum Village founded by Vietnamese monk Thich Nath Hahn, this brother gives himselfs conferences on videos.
It is on some of them that I posted comments.
The latter evoke the pathetic fate of the paternal function in the West of which this monk is particularly representative.
Sur les Yoga
Contemporary practice of Yoga:
About Marie Kock's book: "Yoga: a world history".
Alongside Buddhist meditation, Yoga is a growing phenomenon in the West. Mr. Kock's book takes stock of this practice, which is enjoying unprecedented success. Yoga is part of the personal development trend, from which it has been taking full advantage for years, sharing with it several pragmatic presuppositions.
This review starts from a different point of view than the media or sociological one, which is that of the author. And it questions Yoga, not from its success or its recipes for therapeutic effectiveness, but from its origins and an aspect generally neglected by its followers: sacrifice.
By going back to a past of Indo-European origin, I try to show what has been repressed by Yoga, not only in the West, but also in India where it is experiencing a revival. And I emphasize what is implicitly at work within these very techniques which, according to psychoanalysis, are far from being religiously neutral.
Kundalini Yoga: A Hindu Version of Tantra.
Commentary on the book by Lilian Silburn.
Known in France for her work on Buddhism and Kashmir Shaivism, L. Silburn has written a large number of books on this subject while translating a significant body of texts belonging to Hindu tantrism.
Having converted to Kashmir Shaivism, of which she became a fervent convert, she wrote a detailed work on the notion of kundalini yoga. Reserved for initiates, and of a technical approach, this book is emblematic of the vogue for tantrism that has taken hold of the West since the sixties.
In this reflection, I attempt to draw up a balance sheet of this type of deleterious and transgressive spirituality to which the author has fully adhered, with unrestrained enthusiasm, and without showing much discernment.
Which would contradict and deny a posteriori the lucidity and wisdom which are generally attributed to those who draw inspiration from such wisdom which is in truth very unwise.
Non-dual mystics and transgender ideology
Non-dual mysticism in the service of transhumanism.
This is a little-known aspect of non-dual spiritualities, and one that I recently discovered, that I can adhere without difficulty to the entire ideology of transhumanism.
The New Age nebula is not for nothing since the two currents are associated with it.
We do not know who is using the other and exploiting it for their own benefit, but the two movements seem to be two sides of the same utopian thought, of the same anti-humanist ideology, one of whose aims is to wipe the slate clean of the past. When the "trans" ideology mobilizes to deconstruct our civilization and its History, non-dual mysticism, for its part, denies that such a past or even a History can exist. This is how denial is put at the service of destruction.
When I try to converse with these followers of non-duality, I realize that I always come up against a wall that is made up of both their ignorance or their lack of culture, which they often pride themselves on, and their hypertrophied narcissism. But I also come up against ideological elements coming from transhumanism, which for years has been doing terrible damage, particularly with the transgender delirium.
I have gathered together comments from videos of followers whose words, ideas or practices seemed to me to be exemplary of this dangerous drift. And I have added a reflection on the transgender phenomenon and a commentary on a Gnostic gospel that already deals with this theme, almost twenty centuries ago.
The example of contemporary Buddhism:
Thich Nhat Hanh
Commentary on Thich Nhat Hanh's videos
This monk is a world-renowned master, notably for having taught throughout his life a meditative method supposed to bring both inner liberation and a cure for the psychological ills that afflict human beings.
Thich Nhat Hanh wrote many books, created monastic or retreat centers in many countries and he was one of the undisputed masters of Asian Buddhism in Europe.
Having myself followed his teaching for several years, I am opening, with this article which is not finished, a reflection on the practice of Buddhism in France based on his teaching.