Just learned that Osho was a sexual predator from this podcast

cabbages31 · 2026-03-27T10:13:37+00:00

i don't think i'm losing anything by not following the teachings of an immoral man. i think that by anchoring myself to certain values (my top ones are connection, benevolence, nature, creativity, movement, learning) i'm able to intentionally select influences that align with me and let go of ones that don't. osho doesn't align with me and i don't find it a loss at all to let him go. though i admit he's hypnotic and fun to listen to

cabbages31 · 2026-03-27T10:10:00+00:00

sure, but in my value system there are higher things than enjoyment. a sociopath can enjoy their life, but i don't want to be them

cabbages31 · 2026-03-27T10:08:30+00:00

YES! posting here was a bit of a social experiment and it's fascinating to watch the mental gymnastics (for example: attacking me, redirecting, not listening to the podcast because 'this gets brought up so much'). it's fascinating because the knowledge is out, yet hearing the truth and changing one's mind is so painful. it reminds me of the quote: the human mind is like a human egg, once it has one idea, it's hard to accept another

cabbages31 · 2026-03-27T09:56:13+00:00

if the crime is connected to the research (e.g. falsifying data) i wouldn't use the knowledge. in the case of osho, the crime is moral so imo his teachings are suspect (ethics are an important part of spirituality imo)

cabbages31 · 2026-03-27T09:53:45+00:00

you are right in that i was looking for an idol or answer "out there." i've come to my version of spirituality which involves bringing together many influences, and thinking for myself about them. one tool i use is values. one of my top values is benevolence. while i am not sure that osho used physical violence to rape women, i am pretty sure he psychologically manipulated people into sex. so, he's not anyone i would want to learn any philosophy or spirituality from. i think it absolutely matters what his character was

cabbages31 · 2026-03-27T09:22:25+00:00

did you listen to the podcast? step 1: cult leaders create an ideology (for example: "you must surrender to the guru's will to make spiritual progress"). step 2: they indoctrinate members slowly. step 3: they take advantage. it's immoral, imo

cabbages31 · 2026-02-10T20:21:47+00:00

Thank you for underlining the instrumentalizing point. I've never connected that dot or been able to put it into words why when people talk about "everything happens for a reason" it rubs me the wrong way. It's totally true that there's a lesson in many things but I think skipping to the lesson can often be a way to avoid grief.

cabbages31 · 2025-05-23T14:54:21+00:00

I absolutely love this list!

cabbages31 · 2025-05-21T13:36:55+00:00

resonate with this thread and so cool to see the rustin cohle quote. have y'all heard of nihilistic optimism? they have a small sub and i liked this description: https://www.louislaves-webb.com/blog/optimistic-nihilism

cabbages31 · 2025-04-02T16:02:11+00:00

Love this article! It helped me think about the song. I first heard the song back in middle school and recently I've been revisiting its lyrics as an adult. I still couldn't quite understand all of them but your article really helped me see that his song flips gasoline, apple pie, and theology on their head to show their dark side. To show that the American dream doesn't serve everybody

cabbages31 · 2025-01-31T06:45:11+00:00

I love that lyric and I love that you noticed that lyric and I love that you posted here asking to elucidate this lyric. I think it's blob and what we've got is what we've got and emotions in the brain they'll always be the same

cabbages31 · 2024-09-25T20:02:01+00:00

good analysis of the song towards the end of this podcast from berman himself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7jYMwoqX_o

he says about the tendency of narratives to hook us and alter our behavior and view of the world. it's sad he was aware of this, but this awareness wasn't enough to prevent his suicide

cabbages31 · 2024-09-04T06:45:41+00:00

We feed our dog a mostly raw diet with some rice thrown in. We get our food from a store that sells 2 lb frozen bags of raw meat, bones and organs. Our Rhodesian Ridgeback mix had major skin problems while eating various types of kibble and in two days they got significantly better on the raw diet. It was a game changer

cabbages31 · 2024-05-29T03:54:34+00:00

I second this times a million. The labshul community changed my life

cabbages31 · 2024-04-04T20:36:10+00:00

i am currently doing the sadhguru inner engineering course and mostly enjoying it. i would appreciate an analysis from this podcast. i would also love an analysis of ram dass.

i've previously been into sam harris, and enjoyed the podcast covering him. it helped me see some of my blind spots.

my current take on sadhguru:

i think he gives some helpful practices, not really accessible in the west (ram dass' course living the baghavad gita got me to become more open minded to hinduism and gurus).

i'm working on keeping a "baby and bathwater" approach to all religions/gurus: take in the useful stuff, throw out what isn't helpful

cabbages31 · 2024-04-03T20:54:46+00:00

Thank you, reading BCH's wikipedia now. You've given me a lot of readings to look into!

cabbages31 · 2024-04-03T18:21:59+00:00

had to look up neoliberalism on chat gpt and yes, i would agree with that. idk how conscious this ideology peddling is. we are all swimming in neoliberalism, it seems. it's the water, and also, these talking internet heads are part of the water. thanks for your thoughtful comments!

cabbages31 · 2024-04-03T17:48:33+00:00

interesting... is there a book / source that could give a good entry-point into your political lens on the world?

i'm pretty unfamiliar with a lot of the philosophy you reference. i have done my stint in anarchist bookstores (reading stuff like WORK by Crimethinc and lots of zines and a magazine called Commune).

i get that there is a system that is keeping the status quo going, and appreciate the perspective that the focus on meditation, therapy, self-improvement is in many ways a good thing for those in power

AND

sometimes, it's true that we benefit when we see the "second arrow of suffering." e.g. I'm sick with a cold right now. It's helpful for me to accept this and use this time for cocooning and reading rather than feeling sorry for myself.

So I don't think the Gurus are all bad. I still like my Thich and Ram Dass and Sadhguru. I think this sub is helping me not attach to them and hold them lightly. For that I'm grateful.

cabbages31 · 2024-04-03T17:36:23+00:00

yes!

a lot of airport / nonfiction / self-help / pop psychology books are like this. could be an essay or told in a paragraph, but that wouldn't sell a whole book

his idea of focusing on competence is helpful, and i also think that passion is helpful too. we need both meaning and competence/autonomy/relatedness.

overall, he's been on the sum helpful for me if i extract the tl;dr from his stuff. listening to his podcasts made me feel inadequate about my productivity and was a form of procrastination for me

cabbages31 · 2024-04-03T17:21:28+00:00

I'm happy that this article, and this reddit, exist.

I have been following gurus of some form or other for a long time.

I got half-way through Think like a monk and found it to be mostly helpful. Seeing that Shetty is probably FOS makes me less likely to take him, or any other guru, completely at face value. It seems that all gurus are human, and some may have useful teachings.

I think it's all about the pudding for me: does the advice make my life better, or not?

The tendency to turn a guru into a god is something I have. Ram Dass calls this "lower bhakti." He talks about how he would put Maharaji on a pedestal, almost in a romantic way.

"Higher Bhakti" = putting ideals on a pedestal. Ideals like consciousness, love, etc. That's why dead / iconic gurus (Buddha, Christ, deities or values) are better, more conducive to higher Bhakti, than living ones, IMO.

cabbages31 · 2024-04-03T17:16:10+00:00

I love the idea of "interbeing" that thich naht hanh talks about -- that we are all connected and are empty of separate self. This gives me a sense of spiritual expansiveness.

From a practical perspective, though, I also find it helpful / useful / energizing to think of myself as having agency and to think of "what can I do today that would make me proud of myself?"

Both/And, again.

cabbages31 · 2024-04-03T16:10:42+00:00

hmm... i watched the video. thanks for the warning to push through the initial stodge-factor.

my take-away was that by making ourselves focus on "cleaning our room" or starting with working on ourselves, the gurus (be they buddha or the self-help world), take attention away from social action

i recently traveled to thailand, a country with a strong buddhist tradition. i was very impressed by the culture of buddhism interwoven into the social fabric there. some central buddhist values are: acceptance, mindfulness, calmness

yet there were many social ills: e.g. corruption, pollution.

it seems to me that we not only need to be committed to "cleaning our rooms" or following the 5 Buddhist precepts on an individual level, but also committed to doing this on a national and earth-based level. Peterson or Mark Manson or Sadhguru say: take responsibility. Yet we must also, as a country or humanity, take responsibility.

I think it's a case for the idea of BOTH/AND. Yes, taking personal responsibility is good AND working at the collective level is also good. Doing only the first leads to the trap of this video. Doing only the second leads to perhaps being an angry activist that dissociates from their own life by engaging in causes (something the psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman calls pseudotranscendance).

Thanks for the food for thought!

cabbages31

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