My grandmother has benches in the village in the courtyard where old women gather and discuss everything. Once one of the grandmothers said: “You see, there are three logs in the shed. And when one of them fell to the ground, such and such a grandmother died. And when the next firewood falls, such and such a grandmother will die."
Isn't that strange logic? What is the connection between the firewood on the roof and the life and death of people? No connection. It's just that my grandmother fell into insanity.
But if you think about it, half of Russia has fallen into insanity. For example, what is the connection between the position of the stars and your luck, your mood. It seems, too, none, but millions of people read horoscopes and believe in them. Even scientists in a country are seriously interested in astrology. They took a group of 240 people who were born on the same day and watched over them for 25 years. These people were all different. And they did not show any signs of similarity, belonging to a particular sign of the zodiac.
By the way, not only ordinary people are subject to this strange logic. In the early 90s, Grobovoy was in the Kremlin, like a court magician, and could cancel important government meetings if the stars were not available. Then Yeltsin had to refuse his services.
So, what I wanted to warn you about: the path of self-development is very wide, and there are pitfalls along this path.
If this blog was dedicated to business, making money, I would write an article about what financial pyramids are, that you cannot invest in companies like MMM. That is, in any field there are scammers who profit from the desire of people to buy something. And in the sphere of self-development there are also scammers. They promise mountains of gold, nirvana, pranoyama, drahmapudra and all that. But in reality, a person loses his last brains.
As you probably already guessed, I want to tell you about the mystical path of self-development and try to prove that it is false, that it is a trap, and leads to the abyss, financial, mental, moral.
I will not name here the names of various sects and authors of esoteric books, so as not to create advertising or anti-advertising for them. I will summarize this knowledge and highlight the main ideas of this path.
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So, if you embarked on the mystical path of self-development, for example, began to get involved in astrology, joined a sect, or just started reading a book by some author on esotericism, then:
1) First of all, you will be taught that a person is not the master of his fate, his health, his affairs, successes and failures. This is all controlled by some forces that are higher than a person.
Why is this idea bad? This idea is bad in that it turns a person into a plant. For example, in India, the whole culture is built on making a slave out of a person. Born poor - this is karma, this is for your sins, so live and do not try to do something and change. Sit under the tree and meditate. And a person who believes in this idea simply gives up doing something. After all, he is in a prison where there is no freedom, where he is commanded by superior forces.
2) A lot of false knowledge, false understandings will appear in your head.
What is false understanding?
Let me give you an example from the movie Men in Black. The hero of the film came to the office to get a job. And he just can't understand what he is doing here. Asks the chief. And he makes it possible for the military to answer this question. The soldier jumps up and shouts:
“We're here because you want the best of the best, sir.
And then the hero of the film became funny. Because this military man really absolutely does not understand what he is doing here. That is, the military man had a false understanding of what he was doing here.
False understanding is when a person speaks with confidence about things in which he absolutely does not understand, but still speaks.
Well, all knowledge of esotericism is false. For example, we have all heard such words from the humorist Zadorny: "karma", "chakra". But do you understand what it is? And Zadornov himself understands what it is ???
People who are fond of esotericism can communicate on these topics for hours, but if you approach them and ask them to explain what it is, they begin to excuse themselves: "Well, they say, I'm new to this business, I still don't understand a lot." And why do you, then, a beginner, give the impression of a professional in these things and speak so beautifully about them?
Why false knowledge is bad
a) They just fill the space in the head, like viruses on a hard drive. Or just useless information.
b) They can cause various phobias in people. For example, Don Quixote and Sancho Panso heard a creak in the dark. They did not know what it was that creaks there, but, thinking it was a giant, they began to feel fear and tremble.
So the majority of people do not know what the evil eye, damage, the crown of celibacy, energy vampirism are. But deciding that they were jinxed or that they were attacked by an energy vampire, they begin to fear this.
3) If you have taken the path of mystical development, then you are likely to become a drug addict.
What is the connection between drugs and esoteric self-development? And the most direct one. I said at the beginning that I will not name names. But I will name one. Carlos Castaneda. In practice, Carlos Castaneda's books have proven to be very good advertisements for drugs. Thanks to these books, 50% of Americans tried drugs in the 60s. Carlos Castaneda's books have been called the Bible for drug addicts. By the way, these books are now banned in America.
So, if your friend or girlfriend began to read books on esotericism, then sooner or later they will get to the books of Castaneda, and in these books they will be inspired that without trying the drug, you have lost half your life, because these are not just mushrooms, they are a portal to another dimension, and who doesn't want to visit another dimension?
In general, passion for esotericism leads to drug addiction.
4) The fourth and probably the most terrible thing is the loss of your own self.
A person has two types of knowledge: his own and acquired from the outside. Own - this is when a person with his brains thinks about something and draws conclusions, and acquired - this is when he repeats other people's phrases.
Here is an example from the movie "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears". The heroine of this film at her friend's wedding says to the newlyweds: "The first thing you need to do is buy a TV, because soon there will be nothing at all: no cinema, no newspapers, no theater, - one continuous television." Do you think these are her own conclusions, which appeared as a result of reflections, facts, observations? Or is she just stupidly repeating other people's words, passing them off as hers, without even thinking about them?
Basically, there is nothing wrong with the acquired knowledge if you understand it well. Psychologists say this: the acquired knowledge must be assimilated, that is, become your own. To do this, you must learn to understand them well, then accept, if you want, or reject them. And if someone else's knowledge does not work out, then they need to be turned away, thrown out of the head.
Well, esoteric knowledge can never be assimilated in the head, because esotericism, mysticism is not science, it is a kind of faith, religion - or anti-religion, it is a kind of specific view of the world. That is, this knowledge is not from the category "I understand or do not understand." This knowledge is of the "believe or not believe" category. You can believe, but never understand. If mysticism could be understood, it would not be mysticism.
A person who is fond of esotericism for a long time accumulates SUCH a load of unassimilated knowledge that there is no longer any room for his own thoughts. He turns into a zombie who stupidly repeats other people's words, not even thinking about them, not understanding them. When you communicate with an esotericist, you are not communicating with him, you are communicating with all his spiritual teachers combined. Because he no longer has his personal knowledge. He is just a guide between you and his teachers. He just stupidly repeats their words.
Psychologists say that a person who has fallen into a sect loses the ability to think critically. I would clarify - he generally loses the ability to think. He generally loses everything, himself, there is nothing left in him. He's just a parrot.
In general, the conclusion from all this is this:
Bypass the esoteric mystical path of development. And if you already got on it, then forget it like a bad dream, throw this knowledge out of your head. And let me repeat the advice of smart people that assimilated in my head:
Go to the clinic for treatment, and go to church to develop spiritually. And to get smarter, study hard sciences like mathematics.