Robert K.C. Forman's Blog, page 2

40 Year Anniversary

Today is the 40 year anniversary of the final zlooping of those strange tubes in the back of my head.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, read the book!  (Sorry, a too-easy plug, eh?) It's a wierd thing to celebrate, I must say, but a bookstore in England asked me for anniversary dates, [...]

Invitation to Jazz in the Soul

Merry Christmas.  Though I'm not a Christian, I love the holiday.  I see it as the celebration of the possibility of the birth of the infinite  in us.  So that we have the capacity to become "fully God and fully Man" as the Nicean creed has it.  It is in that spirit I say, hey, [...]

Thanks for Playing, and for wondering

Hi, I just wanted to say thanks for all the people at Goodreads.com who entered the contest to receive a free copy of Enlightenment Ain't What It's Cracked Up To Be.  The thing that I was most gratified to see is that of the 570 who entered the contest (570!!) some 71 put it on [...]

"The" Mystery in a Book?

I'm just back from a wonderful trip to California.  Gave 12 talks in 14 days.  Met many, many wonderful people.  Even had a stunning motorcycle ride!    Some of the folks I met had already read Enlightenment Ain't What It's Cracked Up To Be.  I heard lots of mentions about the book's honesty, vulnerability and [...]

Did Our Gurus Lie, Reconsidered

Two days ago, I put out this question:  if our Gurus mislead us about enlightenment, were they intentionally lying?  When they promised neon lights and an easy perfection, were they pulling the silk over our eyes intentionally? What I answered, basically, was that they were speaking about the shift in abstract or metaphysical ways, but [...]

Did Our Gurus Lie?

Maharishi, Muktananda, Eido Roshi all extolled enlightenment as, in the words of one of them, "no mistakes, no weakness, no shortcoming—success everywhere, fulfillment of desire everywhere. That is enlightenment."  "No hindrances, no fears,"  said a famous Buddhist text. Were they charlatains, promising us lives that were utterly happy and successful? Were they lying outright to [...]

The Way Spirit Talks

There's a pattern emerging in the feedback I'm hearing about Enlightenment Ain't What It's Cracked Up To Be. I keep hearing there's something about this book that invites readers on a journey along with it.  I'm hearing this informally a lot; but here's from the reviews on Amazon: Amy Wilen writes: This is the only [...]

Effortless Enlightenment; Effortless Honesty

I'm starting to get my first feedback on Enlightenment Ain't What It's Cracked Up To Be.  The book is out now.  What I'm hearing over and over is that folks seem to be able to feel themselves in the story.  The book seems to allow people to engage their own journey as I engage mine.  [...]

Sex and the Single guru

It's happened again.  Another guru's been caught with his pants down! I needn't go into names or gory details. This one was Jewish, but no matter the flavor, we all know the story:  charismatic spiritual leader.  Attractive woman.  Bingo-bango-boggin.  I assume the spiritual leader in question has gained something like enlightenment.  Let's hope so.  But [...]

What is this Beast, "Enlightenment", Anyway?

What is this experience that is so lionized as mokṣa, Eckhart's "birth of the son in the soul" (the geburt), nirvana, the "no self" and other evocations?  It is  "perfection." It is "absolute" and "eternal joy." It is the dawn of "the immovable."  With it "all suffering ends" and it is, in the immortal words [...]