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Humor Suddenly Returns: Essays on the Spiritual Teaching of Master Da Free John : A Scholarly Tribute
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218 pages, Paperback
Published December 1, 1984
About the author
Georg Feuerstein
128 books103 followersGeorg A. Feuerstein was an Indologist and, according to his associate Ken Wilber, among the foremost Westerns scholar-practitioners of yoga. After doing his postgraduate research at Durham University in England, he moved to the United States, eventually settling in Canada with his wife and sometime co-author Brenda.
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September 16, 2024
A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS ABOUT DA FREE JOHN (NOW "ADI DA")
Editor Georg Feuerstein wrote in the Introduction to this 1984 collection, "I am writing as a spiritual practitioner who happens to have scholarly proclivities and no longer as a scholar trying to study spirituality objectively. There is an important difference between the two approaches." (Pg. 3)
His biography states, "he joined, in 1981, the northern California community of practitioners of the Way Taught by Master Da Free John. Since then he has edited and written introductions for many of the Adept's works. He is currently Director of Publications for the Johannine Daist Communion." (Pg. 29) The book contains essays by eight individuals (including Fred Alan Wolf), as well as some writings of Da Free John (more recently "Adi Da") and some supplementary material.
Feuerstein states, "[Scientists'] quest for certainty in comprehending Nature has all the trappings of a religious odyssey. Therefore, one must presume in them a basic openness to the truth, if it were presented without the accoutrements of religious dogmatism. It is on the basis of this positive presumption that the Adept Da Free John is offering his trenchant critique of scientism... with the prophetic fierceness of one who has gone beyond all religious and scientific games---that is, from the vantage point of accomplished spirituality." (Pg. 9)
He adds, "How many fully Realized Adepts are there on our planet today, who have come equipped to make an impact on both East and West? I confess I know of only one: the great Teacher who, over the past twelve years, has demonstrated to over a thousand practitioners the Blessing Power of his Enlightenment." (Pg. 19)
Another writer states that "Master Da Free John is also the most ARTICULATE of teachers. For this we should be especially grateful. While he has stripped away everything else, he has not stripped away language. What links him to the rest of the world... is most of all his language---his incomparable language. He was first the Laughing Master, and then the Crazy Wisdom Master, but all along he has been the Talking Master. Since his Enlightenment in 1970, he has never stopped talking and writing... The extraordinary thing is that they are all fresh and alive and have something new and important to say." (Pg. 72)
Another essayist notes, "egoic life can be directly transcended through genuine spiritual practice, which is not about egoic effort but rather is about self-surrender into Reality itself. Such a process is made available to mankind through the Teaching and Influence of the great spiritual Adepts, who have themselves endured the required transformation. Master Da Free John is such an Adept, and as the first Adept to appear in contemporary Western society, he has offered criticisms of current cultural and personal elaborations of egoic life that are singularly germane to the issue of world hunger." (Pg. 180)
The quality of the essays is somewhat uneven, but those devotees and other supporters of Adi Da may still enjoy this collection.
Editor Georg Feuerstein wrote in the Introduction to this 1984 collection, "I am writing as a spiritual practitioner who happens to have scholarly proclivities and no longer as a scholar trying to study spirituality objectively. There is an important difference between the two approaches." (Pg. 3)
His biography states, "he joined, in 1981, the northern California community of practitioners of the Way Taught by Master Da Free John. Since then he has edited and written introductions for many of the Adept's works. He is currently Director of Publications for the Johannine Daist Communion." (Pg. 29) The book contains essays by eight individuals (including Fred Alan Wolf), as well as some writings of Da Free John (more recently "Adi Da") and some supplementary material.
Feuerstein states, "[Scientists'] quest for certainty in comprehending Nature has all the trappings of a religious odyssey. Therefore, one must presume in them a basic openness to the truth, if it were presented without the accoutrements of religious dogmatism. It is on the basis of this positive presumption that the Adept Da Free John is offering his trenchant critique of scientism... with the prophetic fierceness of one who has gone beyond all religious and scientific games---that is, from the vantage point of accomplished spirituality." (Pg. 9)
He adds, "How many fully Realized Adepts are there on our planet today, who have come equipped to make an impact on both East and West? I confess I know of only one: the great Teacher who, over the past twelve years, has demonstrated to over a thousand practitioners the Blessing Power of his Enlightenment." (Pg. 19)
Another writer states that "Master Da Free John is also the most ARTICULATE of teachers. For this we should be especially grateful. While he has stripped away everything else, he has not stripped away language. What links him to the rest of the world... is most of all his language---his incomparable language. He was first the Laughing Master, and then the Crazy Wisdom Master, but all along he has been the Talking Master. Since his Enlightenment in 1970, he has never stopped talking and writing... The extraordinary thing is that they are all fresh and alive and have something new and important to say." (Pg. 72)
Another essayist notes, "egoic life can be directly transcended through genuine spiritual practice, which is not about egoic effort but rather is about self-surrender into Reality itself. Such a process is made available to mankind through the Teaching and Influence of the great spiritual Adepts, who have themselves endured the required transformation. Master Da Free John is such an Adept, and as the first Adept to appear in contemporary Western society, he has offered criticisms of current cultural and personal elaborations of egoic life that are singularly germane to the issue of world hunger." (Pg. 180)
The quality of the essays is somewhat uneven, but those devotees and other supporters of Adi Da may still enjoy this collection.
Displaying 1 of 1 review