Explaining Spiritual Failure

by Leo Volont

This was years ago, before the Internet, when I saw a certain thing in print. It seems that some big Zen Organization in Japan was seriously worried that nobody was reaching Satori anymore, and so they decided to sponsor an International Conference, inviting almost any Spiritual Organization that would consent to attend, with the intention of establishing a list of the most effective spiritual disciplines, and then to apply what they had learned by conducting a Two Week Intensive on every Group's Best and Brightest Candidates for Enlightenment. Their goal was to get somebody or anybody Enlightened. They wanted to prove that they were not wasting their own and everybody else's time with their Doctrines and Practices and cute pithy little Stories. Well, it all came and went. The most noteworthy and memorable part of it all was that subsequently the Chairperson of the Convention admitted that it all quite ended in one big colossal Failure. Nobody attained anything. Well, there were probably those who got the Placebo Effect by all the wonderful trappings and spiritual ambiance - they THOUGHT they were Enlightened, but the Placebo Effect evaporates after just 3 days (long enough for a check to clear). Anyway, after 3 days all of the spiritual mode swings quieted down to the Pre-conference Nothing. And the Leader was intellectually honest enough to admit it. That just doesn't happen anymore. Nowadays all we here is the official Spin on everything, and in the Lexicon of Spin, there is no 'failure'. Indeed it is probably in bad taste even to mention possibility of Failure. It shakes the Faith.

Oh, I often hear from those highly influenced by the Christian Traditions, and isn't that everybody nowadays in this small world? That people fail to achieve their Spiritual Goals because of Lack of Faith. Well, yes, they would say that. You see, Faith, while in all the basic Christian Writings was used to explain instances of Spiritual Success - the Roman Officer's niece was healed because he had more Faith than even the Jews. A Grain of Faith can move a Mountain, by Faith ye are made whole, etc, etc. More often in actual practice the Argument of Faith was used in the Negative, to explain Failure - 'Ye of Little Faith' was a kind of negative Mantra with Jesus. We found that Peter couldn't walk on water because of his insufficient Faith.

So, when we actually examine the Concept of Faith, it is used far more in the Negative than the Positive - it is used to explain a great many more Failures than Successes. Every New Age Media Guru who promises more than he can deliver can turn it around and blame his Clients for their own failures, assigning their Spiritual Impotence to their Lack of Faith. You see, apparently one cannot get one's money back unless one can prove a certain level of Personal Faith, which can't be done if one's only complaint is Failure - the Stigma Mark of Insufficient Faith. It's always assumed that the Product itself is fine. But you would think that the Seminar People would take a bit more responsibility for instilling the necessary Faith in People.

Maybe somebody should give a Seminar in Faith. But no, when it too would end in Failure, where would one put the blame? Lack of Faith is their Safety Net, their Insurance Policy. They would use it to explain everything Today. l

But the Lack of Faith, used to explain everything, explains nothing. It gets us no closer to solving our Problem. It certainly doesn't explain why nearly every reputable Spiritual Organization in the World, putting their best People forward, could not touch into the Spiritual Basics - Satori, Nirvana, Muksha, Whatever.

I remember what a couple of friends told me back in the Seventies. We were visiting the Far East and we began speaking of Spirituality in one context or another and they made the startling assertion that Westerners were incapable of Enlightenment, that Spirituality was simply not culturally accessible to the Westerner - to Americans or Europeans. I objected, but I really was at a loss for any Western Names to put forward - Americans or Europeans who in recent times had achieved some plausible Enlightenment. Yes, there were any number of Westerners running around writing Spiritual Books, and giving Seminars, but they mostly confined themselves to how Enlightened their own Gurus were, while not admitting much for themselves. And those who made claims of their own, well, they never bothered to prove any of it. They would mostly coop to an Image and try to Look and Act the Part of Universal Avatar. The Modern Dodge all of the Media Gurus naturally put in place, when asked to prove their exalted Spiritual Status, is that they have Renounced the Miraculous. It's not that they CAN'T perform miracles, just like all of the rest of us, but that they CHOOSE NOT TO perform miracles. You see, somehow it would be so much better for us all to have Faith without Wonders than Faith with Wonders. They never seem to worry that Without Wonders we end up having no Faith at all.

Anyway, when I heard of that Big Spiritual Convention in Japan, and its utter failure, it made me think of my friends' assertion, in the ironic light that now the Asians were seeming to have just as much trouble with Spirituality as their Western counterparts. And these were the days before everybody was speaking so much about Globalization, the Triumph of the West, and the End of History. But it wasn't before one could buy a Pepsi or a Coke anywhere in the World. The Spiritual Draught had started in the West but had spread to the East, perhaps in the soda pop bottles. Maybe there is something about carbonated drinks that is messing us all up.

But what else could it be? Up until the End of Christian Civilization, there had been a great many Enlightened Saints. One of the best stories involves Saint Bernard. Well, Saint Bernard ran one of the strictest and most ascetic Religious Orders, and what we find is that his Followers obviously expected some kind of Spiritual Results from all of their pains and troubles. For instance, once when one of the Monks complained to Bernard that the Holy Spirit was still rather conspicuous by its absence, Bernard give him credit for not blaming his young Monk for his 'lack of faith', told the young Monk that he had been doing everything right and needed only to be a bit more patient. Well, as the story goes, time passed and the Young Monk, grown a few years, goes off on a Supply Run and coming back, all of a sudden, becomes Enlightened, the Holy Spirit descends upon him, to use his terms. And Bernard, out on a walk, sees the young Monk and the supply train still about a mile away, and Bernard is able to see that the Young Monk had attained to Enlightenment.

The Story is very similar to a Zen Story I had once read.

Anyway, what had happened to end all that Saintliness? Much of it might be simply terms of changes to Personal Identification - how people see themselves. When there was still a Christendom, people thought of themselves as Christians, that is, members of a Universal Spiritual Community. But when Christendom disintegrated into a Warring States Period, which still continues, by the way, people became Political Animals, Countryman, Patriots. The Skepticism of Post-Catholic Europe probably didn't help. But the larger problem may have been the suppression of Collective Identities in the Social and Economic Spheres. There had been Religious Orders and Worker's Guilds. These were Cooperatives and people functioned in Groups. Maybe they thought in terms of 'We' instead of our modern 'I' and 'Me', or at least enough so that some of the old Spiritual Possibilities remained open. But, when Catholicism was suppressed, so were the Collective Organizations. The Barons and the Rising Capitalist Entrepreneurs were employing a Divide and Conquer Strategy, to take away the People's ability to bargain en masse, to make individuals of everybody and get them at their weakest.

Anyway, it makes one wonder whether the Collapse of a complete Civilization, and the destruction of so many Collective Institutions had somehow run afoul within the workings of the Collective Consciousness.

Maybe there is no REAL Individual Enlightenment. Maybe all Enlightenment had sourced out of a Spiritually Viable Collective Consciousness. But when the Barbarians finally achieved their Total Victory, well, the Collective Consciousness became dysfunctional, pathological.

Oh, there is also the possibility that Spiritual Enlightenment may have been deliberately targeted and suppressed by those of the Secular Enlightenment - Doctors and Scientists from out of the Traditions of the French Revolution, Reign of Terrors and 'Off with their Heads!' These Secular Priests of the New Materialist Regime exercised their Official Prerogatives of re-labeling the Spiritually Enlightened as 'Psychotic', 'schizophrenic', or whatever dismissive term they could popularize in their day. You can imagine how one would be treated if one were to go in for a 'Psych Evil' and admit that one often visited the Presence of God and was served by the Angels. Such people are given their Label and it follows them everywhere. The Churches and Spiritual Organizations are so intimidated nowadays by the Secular Authorities that even when all of the Visionary Content applies to their own Spiritual Traditions, they distance themselves from their own Visionaries. Science is the New High Religion and all of the old Religions are afraid to run afoul of it. They do have a point. The Protestants and Secular Materialists had murdered millions of people in their Wars of Conquest, the Fear they inspire is well earned and well deserved.

Could all this possibly be true? They have us convinced that Crazy People are just Crazy People and, well, it does seem that they do indeed look and sound 'Crazy'. Well, let's consider whether it would make a significant difference in how a Crazy Person is treated. Take a Crazy Person and VALIDATE his Visions - respect and admire the Heavenly and Angelic Visions and Experiences and commiserate with the occasional Demonic Attacks. Responsible Caretakers could feed and dress the Crazy Person so that his appearance is not as deplorable as is now customarily allowed. Given such Respect and Validation, the Behavior of the 'Crazy Person' might go in an entirely different direction, they could act the part of Saints and Enlightened People.

But the Modern Secularists are dismissive to the point of insult and abuse. It is really as though the Modern Scientific Community is intentionally punishing these poor souls caught in their Vast Secular Powers, for not being conscientiously materialistic enough. Well, at least they stopped cutting people's heads off. We should be grateful for everyday that goes by without a Bloodbath.

Oh, and the way Crazy People are treated has changed, and rather dramatically. Just several decades ago they used to Institutionalize 'Crazy People'. And some Doctors, who apparently didn't pay enough attention in Medical School so that they had not become Absolutely Evil, heard things and saw things and noticed trends with the Crazy People that they found fascinating. From time to time one would hear of Doctoral Treatises and Studies regarding Religious Content in Psychotic Delusions or whatever. Then, coincidentally of course, all these 'Subjects of Study', because they were not considered 'dangerous to themselves or others', were released, tossed out on the streets to fend for themselves.

Oh, remember, we were all properly prepared with just the right Propaganda Campaign - remember 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest', all those poor oppressed Insane People who just needed to be FREE! Mental Hospitals were presented as the Worst Evil of our Enlightened Society. So the Institutions were shut down and the doors thrown open. All the Studies into the Religious Content of Psychotic Delusion were cut off in the middle.

So, we might actually have plenty of Saints and Enlightened People, we just need to rescue them and give them back their dignity. They certainly won't open up to us if we continue to label them all as crazy.

Is so unfortunate. If we could only get about a hundred 'Delusionals', not so far gone that they can't communicate, back into an Institutional Setting where they would be shown honor and respect enough to draw them out and encourage their sharing, then we could attempt to discern some pattern or clue in the Collective Consciousness that could be of Spiritual help to us all.

Until then we only have whatever Guru Oprah Winfrey is willing to share with us.

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