426. Rick Archer on the "Ethics of Enlightenment"

0 Shares

Presentation at the Science and Nonduality Conference.

Many well-known spiritual teachers and gurus have been accused, credibly, of sexual, financial, and behavioral abuse, despite their own spiritual attainment having seemed significant, and their teachings beneficial. As a result, some people have concluded that higher consciousness and ethical behavior are not correlated, that we are governed by our genetics and conditioning, or by “nature”, and that we have no free will and thus no control over or responsibility for our actions. That logic has been used as an alibi by some misbehaving spiritual teachers.

Others have become cynical about the motives of all gurus and teachers, and some have even lost faith in spirituality altogether.

Yet, every spiritual tradition includes codes of ethics that apply to both teachers and students. Ethical behavior has been regarded not only as a reflection of spiritual development but as a prerequisite to it.

To some extent, ethical values vary from culture to culture. But perhaps the contemporary spiritual community can agree upon some universal values. Can we agree that it’s not all right to misrepresent ourselves? If we claim or imply that we have realized our true nature, and are offering to help others do the same, is it consistent for us to behave deceitfully, perversely, selfishly, or cruelly?

Is it possible to be an enlightened scoundrel? Are purity and saintliness characteristic of higher levels of spiritual development, or unrelated to them? These are important questions. Because we need spiritual teachers and teachings in this critical time in humanity’s maturation, we need to understand what genuine spiritual attainment should look like, irrespective of personality differences. If such understanding were more commonplace, most abusive teachers and cults would be unable to get much traction.

I discuss these points and others in this talk.

Discussion about this talk in the Batgap Community Facebook Group.

Transcript of this interview

Other talks by or interviews of Rick on BatGap:

Recorded October 21, 2017.

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

YouTube Video Chapters:

00:00:00 – Introduction to the Ethics of Enlightenment
00:01:20 – The Ethics of Enlightenment
00:02:33 – Understanding Ethical Behavior
00:03:50 – Relativism and Ethical Standards
00:04:56 – Female genital mutilation and ethical behavior
00:06:08 – The inclusive perspective in enlightenment
00:07:12 – Shocking Behavior and Misunderstanding of Maya
00:08:26 – Different Perspectives on the World
00:09:25 – Spontaneous Right Action and Ethical Moorings
00:10:55 – Questioning Hypocrisy
00:12:09 – Ethics and Regulations in Ayahuasca Practices
00:13:09 – Evaluating and Enforcing Teacher Behavior
00:14:15 – The correlation between higher consciousness and ethical behavior
00:15:53 – The Continuous Journey of Self-Realization
00:17:07 – Development and Awakening
00:18:10 – The Illusion of Enlightenment and the Asura Titan Syndrome
00:19:15 – The Deflected Rising of Kundalini
00:20:21 – The Search for a Teacher of Supreme Truth
00:21:36 – Enlightened behavior and discernment
00:22:45 – Compassion and Confronting Wrongdoing
00:23:47 – Challenges of Assuming the Role of a Spiritual Teacher
00:24:44 – Thich Nhat Hanh and his Teaching Philosophies
00:25:57 – Holy Fools and Crazy Wisdom
00:27:07 – Living Nonduality and Ethical Guidelines
00:28:23 – Observations on Higher State of Consciousness and Unethical Behavior
00:29:09 – The Holistic Development of Enlightenment
00:30:25 – Unintentional Harm in Enlightenment
00:31:38 – Skillful Action with Harmlessness
00:32:50 – Shifting into a Persistent Nondual State
00:34:08 – Authentic Choices and Spiritual Alignment
00:35:21 – Cultivating Inner Alignment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

0 Shares