| Rawat manipulates followers to disregard his sons reports of being molested |
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After Hans Rawat reporting publicly on social media that he was sexually molested by his father when he was a child, Prem Rawat has been using the following gaslighting and spiritual manipulation technique included in his recent talks: If someone recalls and reports something bad happened to them it means they are not “focused on the present” (which is according to the “knowledge” religious worldview the purpose of each human being) He mentioned in one of his talks that we should focus on our breath because our breath comes to us each moment fresh and “not used not abused”. For the person who is responsible for the abuse to say that, is a horrible gaslighting technique. In Rawat’s case the abuser has taken on the role of a “master” so he is using his “spiritual guidance” to make his followers feel guilty on a deep existential level if they consider the reports about Prem abusing his son , or report child abuse or any other abuse talking place in the organization. Given that Rawat has access to children all over the world and most and foremost to his grand children, the abuse does not concern only the past but the present. That makes his strategy to make people not care about abuse even more dangerous because it allows him not only to get away with his past crimes but continue them in the present uncontrolled.
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As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.
Albert Einstein
Avoiding a problem does not make it go away, avoiding feeling does not make it go away either. (me)
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Focussing on the present sounds like a spiritual good thing. And maybe if you can't get over something that happened in the past and you're becoming obsessed by it, it might not be a bad idea. Or if you're obsessively worrying about the future, a bit of here and now might be restorative.
But it's a bit Truthy, focussing on the present, being here now.
Too much focussing on the present curtails any analysis of the past, which is essential to make a judgement.
I'm currently writing some code for an irrigation app. I've got to make two calls to a weather API - one to get the current conditions, and another to get the historical conditions. Just the current conditions isn't much use in deciding whether the irrigation should switch on. In fact, if I could only make one of the calls, the historical data would be more valuable.
It's like the stage magician, making you look here now, when if you want to see how the trick is done, you really need to look anywhere but where he suggests and try to keep a track of what has gone on.
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Not sure if I talked about this already but it is really interesting I think. What makes humans unique as living creatures on earth as far as we know is our amazing prefrontal cortex. This gives us the ability to make simulations into the future to then optimise outcomes. And also take cues from the past as well of course. Other animals live for the most part in the present.
The negative aspect is that this can cause us stress about things that haven't even happened yet or have happened long ago. So this "Be Here Now" philosophy does touch on something uniquely human and is something that we need to control, but not eliminate. That is truly crazy.
Example: I have someone dear to me who suffers from a kind of brain disorder where their prefrontal cortex does not work as it should. This person is like the perfect Buddha, always living in the present. Please believe me, this is not something to wish for and it causes them extreme problems in life. It is a wishful thinking fantasy that has nothing to do with human existence.
Modified by aunt bea at Thu, Mar 21, 2024, 07:15:10
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Aunt Bea - consider all the dogs shivering from abuse they have suffered at the hands of human owners. Try telling them they don't remember the past.
Be Here Now - the notion is completely ridiculous when you think of learning how to do better. Learning not to eat the poisonous mushrooms and to look ahead up the path to make sure you don't step on a sunbathing snake. But it is a fakir's trick that is sold as a wisdom of the ages in yoga studios around the world.
It's no excuse for not facing up to what Hans is telling us.
Shriven or riven - it is a real choice we have to make at times and perhaps the cruellest of ironies is when it is with one of these holiest of holy men.
Modified by lesley at Thu, Mar 21, 2024, 16:07:31
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This "now" philosophy hurt many premies; I believe it is not just used in this horrible way but it is also somewhat responsible for some of the premies' lack of planning for their retirement and health care needs.
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Yes indeed. Spontaneity and lack of planning ahead were a premie badge of pride. Ironic really that Rawat appears a control freak and a micromanager. PEP, PEAK etc. are hardly a spontaneous expression of anything but just a pale imitation of something corporate.
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According to the woman who knows him best, Monika Winslow his trusted right hand woman who runs Intelligent Existence and sometimes uses her left hand as well, he is spontaneous. So he comes up with new spontaneous ideas and then micro-manages them into the ground.
Um it's not like we, it's not like Prem Rawat you know does something and rehearses it and plans for it and does you know projections for us, you know, that's not how he operates. He's incredibly spontaneous. He does live in the moment and he's creative, he's incredibly creative so we are following, you know I am following his lead on on with Intelligence Existence and it's a blast. I mean it's it's a wild it's it's different but it's so much fun just to support what he's doing right now and so (giggles) excuse me if I don't have all the answers all the time but this is the ride we're on and it's super fun and let it unfold and you won't miss anything, just stay in touch all you gotta do is stay in touch.
I'm sure she's staying in touch as much as possible, after all Prem is her meal ticket.
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As I read that, I was sure I heard it somewhere before. Then I remembered! From the stage of every festival in the seventies during those long, tedious, sleepy hours before the main act: "Um, it's not that Maharaji, you know, does something and rehearses it and plans for it. He's incredibly spontaneous. He lives in the moment and he's so creative! He's incredibly creative... so we are following, you know, his lead... and it's so beautiful! I mean, it's different, but it's so much fun! Just to support what he's doing right now. And so this... this ride we're on.. and it's just so beautiful to let it unfold... and you won't miss anything! Just stay connected. All you gotta do is stay connected."
So much for Monika's creativity. And now, more than forty years later, we know exactly how creative Prem Rawat was and where his lead took everyone:
Scrambling to find ways to defend a child sexual abuser who thinks such victims can make it all go away by focusing on their breath.
Modified by lakeshore at Fri, Mar 22, 2024, 07:56:55
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If you're thinking about the future or the past or fantasising or concentrating on your breath or watching reality tv or reading Be Here Now or A Brief History of Time you're always in the present, whatever time or space-time, whether you have any ideas about past, present, future and time. You're always in the present, focussed or not. What's the big deal?
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Yep. Even when we are contemplating the past or the future, we are nowhere but now.
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Thank you Maria77. Your topic says it all, as well as your post and all the replies.
After one of Prem Rawat's sons stated publicly on social media that his father sexually abused him as a child, I had a lingering suspicion that we still hadn't heard the worst of it. Apparently, my suspicions were justified.
"If someone recalls and reports something bad happened to them it means they are "not focused on the present."
If Prem Rawat said or implied that, he said something similar in Mexico City recently. Loosely paraphrased, he said something like a person feeling vengeful has the choice of focusing on the present instead. (When I looked for the video clip, it said "This content isn't available right now." )
In other words, if something bad happens to a person and they feel bad about it, that person is defective. They made a poor decision. Instead of choosing to be in the moment and making it all disappear, they allow themselves to be affected by it. It's their own fault if they feel bad about it.
If someone reports that they've been sexually abused in part because they feel bad about it, that person is defective. They made a poor decision. Instead of choosing to be in the moment and making it all disappear, they allow themselves to be affected by it. It's their own fault if they feel bad about it.
Prem Rawat might as well have said "I can't be held accountable for how what I did affected him because I've offered a solution. It's not my fault if he chooses not to apply it. It's his fault if he feels bad about it."
And many of his followers are so compromised by their devotion to him and their adherence to his so-called Self-Knowledge that they'll believe and support him instead of the victim. They can't afford to look up from their breath for even a moment because the truth might reappear. Many of them have gone so far as to pile on in their attempts to discredit the victim, going so far as to say vile things about him and his wife.
In addition to sexually abusing his own son, what may be Prem Rawat's attempts to gaslight or manipulate his followers reaction to the news (that he surely knows is spreading) amounts to an abuse of his followers, an abuse of his power over them and further abuse of the victim: abuse upon abuse upon abuse upon abuse. Outside the insular circle of that cult, the entire planet would rightly view his behavior as a deeply alarming level of sociopathic sickness.
As others have alluded to, beyond the limited practical benefits, focusing on the present, on one's breath, especially in the context of some ultimate form of inner peace or "Self-Knowledge," is often an extreme and unhealthy form of self-denial, suppression and avoidance.
The evidence is painfully obvious.
Modified by lakeshore at Thu, Mar 21, 2024, 17:41:11
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This making the victim responsible for how they responded to abuse was also used by Keith Raniere.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/10/us/nxivm-trial-week-1-wrap/index.html
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Spot on. Excellent post (again)
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It is immature not to own up to the consequences of your actions or to try and avoid feeling shame.
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I think you are right that Prem is messaging to his followers how to cope with what has been said. I think behind the scenes too, that what we have been reading the premies are saying reflects some use of the premie rumor mill, as some reactions seem to be parroted with such similar language that it reminds me of seeing the CNN interview and doing that google search with such certainty that Sara Sidner must have a connection to the world of premies. I still can't fathom the lack of response there. Her mother is an instructor and it is such a flagrant conflict to not disclose to the viewing audience.
I agree with you that this nothing is real but "now" philosophy is dangerous especially given what we know now.
Thank you for continuing to use your voice here.
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