426. Rick Archer on the “Ethics of Enlightenment”

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.

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.

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