Ten-year goals a decade is a long time. In our fast-paced, modern world, things may be almost unrecognizable ten years out. Technology, politics and world events are sure to change the landscape. Yet, if we are going to have a say in our lives, we need to plan for this uncertain future. One thing about a ten-year time frame is the ability to master an area of our lives. If we play the guitar, for instance, we can become really good over a decade. We can master the craft. The same goes for our careers, our family life, and building a business.

Malcolm Gladwell in his book, Outliers, delivers the researched conclusion that mastering talent in our lives takes on average, 10,000 hours. Given a forty hour work week, this works out to 4.8years of dedicated practice, working full time. Ten years then, it would seem, would give us plenty of time to become proficient at our desired occupations and worthwhile ventures.

In our overall goal setting model, it makes sense to look at the big picture and see what areas we want to dedicateour hours of hard work and learning to as the years roll by. To give us a playing field, Ive taken four areas of life and enclosed them in a worksheet.

Lets take a look at the sheet and how we can use it as a guide.

As you can see we have divided up the sheeting into four broad categories across the top, with three horizontalstepsthat include our goal, our dedicated area of practice or learning, and the resulting modified plan. They are..

Lets take a look at each one and Ill include some examples from my own career.

Back in my early twenties, this would have been how my personal goals looked.

These are common goals for people in their twenties.Depending on your time of life, looking ten years out will be radically different based on your age.

By taking each of the primary goals and looking at areas of learning and practice, its easy to figure out some mastery areas. Looking back at my life, I wish I would have taken the time and spent the money to do more of these the first time around.

In my early twenties, this was my job-based reality and how I saw my career progressing

I went to college anddid a professional certificate program in Auto Repair. This is how my mastery list would have looked

Back in the day, auto repair was a great business. In my college program, I learned how cars worked and how to fix them. I also took classes in sales and management. Thankfully, I talked with a business coach and decided against opening my own shop. But I did get certifications from an industry professional group, which led to higher pay and a management position.

As a trade, working on high-end European cars paid well and allowed my to buy a house after a few years on the job. Unfortunately, auto repair itself took its toll on my body after a while. Thankfully, I was able to eventually move into sales and management which saved my back.

Health and fitness goals are important to consider, depending on your age and occupation. In my case, working in auto repair in my twenties, I had the following goals

I knew that I needed more arm strength for lifting heavy items like transmissions and other large metal parts. Since I was planning on marriage, I had heard that you gain at least 10 to 15 pounds once you tie the knot. Given the solvents used in cleaning parts, I knew I wanted to stay away from too much contact. Here is how my health list would have looked after a few years on the job.

After messing up my lower and upper back a few times, I decided that I would pursue a management track, which would take me out of the repair stall and into the front office. Once I got married, the 10+ pounds magically appeared, and a change in eating habits was necessary. I invested in a pair of chemical-resistant gloves which helped save my hands.

Financial goals are crucial to consider, both on the saving and spending sides. Here are some of my financial goals when I was twenty.

I had three really big goals when I was in my early twenties. After finishing college, I needed a good job. Unfortunately, I didnt have any experience in my field.

To master my financial situation, I found that going backto school and getting industry certifications was a big help. Repair shops and dealerships were looking for people who had the latest certs so they would be qualified to do more technical work. Within a year, I was making good money on my first job. Once I started getting a paycheck, I started saving money for a house and getting married. Since I still lived at home with my parents, this was easier than if I had gone out on my own. I started having regular amounts taken from each paycheck, which made the process much easier.

Once I had saved for a couple of years, my girlfriend and I started looking in the local housing market. We found that we would need to move to the suburbs and combine both of our incomes to qualify. We found a house, decided to get married and used our savings to get started.

By investing in something, we could afford and setting up an automatic savings program helped. We soon had a rainy day fund set up.

By using the worksheet above its easy to see your goals, add in the areas to need to master, and then write out a plan to achieve them. Here is how the last row might have looked in my twenties.

Looking out ten years can be a little daunting at first, but talking with others, getting counseling, and working with a mentor can help. I wish I would have had this worksheet and a little foresight when I was in my twenties. It would have saved me a lot of mistakes and helped me be more diligent about what was vital.

Download the worksheet below and take some time filling out the goal section at the top. Then write in the middle section with areas that youll need to master and milestones youll need to reach to make your ten year dreams a reality. Once you are done, create a simple written plan to achieve them. Use our examples above as a guide.

10 Year Goal Worksheet

In our next step, well take a look at five-year goals and see how we can have foresight into the future, and set significant milestonesthat wont disappoint.

More here:
10 Year Goals: Create a Personal 10 Year Life Plan For Success

The English term enlightenment is the western translation of the term bodhi, "awakening", which was popularised in the Western world through the 19th century translations of Max Mller. It has the western connotation of a sudden insight into a transcendental truth.

The term is also being used to translate several other Buddhist terms and concepts used to denote insight (prajna, kensho and satori); knowledge (vidhya); the "blowing out" (Nirvana) of disturbing emotions and desires and the subsequent freedom or release (vimutti); and the attainment of Buddhahood, as exemplified by Gautama Buddha.

What exactly constituted the Buddha's awakening is unknown. It may probably have involved the knowledge that liberation was attained by the combination of mindfulness and dhyna, applied to the understanding of the arising and ceasing of craving. The relation between dhyana and insight is a core problem in the study of Buddhism, and is one of the fundamentals of Buddhist practice.

In the western world the concept of (spiritual) enlightenment has taken on a romantic meaning. It has become synonymous with self-realization and the true self and false self, being regarded as a substantial essence being covered over by social conditioning.[pageneeded], [pageneeded], [pageneeded], [pageneeded]

Robert S. Cohen notes that the majority of English books on Buddhism use the term "enlightenment" to translate the term bodhi. The root budh, from which both bodhi and Buddha are derived, means "to wake up" or "to recover consciousness". Cohen notes that bodhi is not the result of an illumination, but of a path of realization, or coming to understanding. The term "enlightenment" is event-oriented, whereas the term "awakening" is process-oriented. The western use of the term "enlighten" has Christian roots, as in Calvin's "It is God alone who enlightens our minds to perceive his truths".

Early 19th century bodhi was translated as "intelligence". The term "enlighten" was first being used in 1835, in an English translation of a French article, while the first recorded use of the term 'enlightenment' is credited (by the Oxford English Dictionary) to the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (February, 1836). In 1857 The Times used the term "the Enlightened" for the Buddha in a short article, which was reprinted the following year by Max Mller. Thereafter, the use of the term subsided, but reappeared with the publication of Max Mller's Chips from a german Workshop, which included a reprint from the Times-article. The book was translated in 1969 into German, using the term "der Erleuchtete". Max Mller was an essentialist, who believed in a natural religion, and saw religion as an inherent capacity of human beings. "Enlightenment" was a means to capture natural religious truths, as distinguished from mere mythology.[note 1]

By the mid-1870s it had become commonplace to call the Buddha "enlightened", and by the end of the 1880s the terms "enlightened" and "enlightenment" dominated the English literature.

Bodhi (Sanskrit, Pli), from the verbal root budd, "to awaken", "to understand", means literally "to have woken up and understood". According to Johannes Bronkhorst, Tillman Vetter, and K.R. Norman, bodhi was at first not specified. K.R. Norman:

It is not at all clear what gaining bodhi means. We are accustomed to the translation "enlightenment" for bodhi, but this is misleading ... It is not clear what the buddha was awakened to, or at what particular point the awakening came.[18]

According to Norman, bodhi may basically have meant the knowledge that nibbana was attained, due to the practice of dhyana. Originally only "prajna" may have been mentioned, and Tillman Vetter even concludes that originally dhyana itself was deemed liberating, with the stilling of pleasure of pain in the fourth jhana. Gombrich also argues that the emphasis on insight is a later development.

In Theravada Buddhism, bodhi refers to the realisation of the four stages of enlightenment and becoming an Arahant. In Theravada Buddhism, bodhi is equal to supreme insight, and the realisation of the four noble truths, which leads to deliverance. According to Nyanatiloka,

(Through Bodhi) one awakens from the slumber or stupor (inflicted upon the mind) by the defilements (kilesa, q.v.) and comprehends the Four Noble Truths (sacca, q.v.).

This equation of bodhi with the four noble truths is a later development, in response to developments within Indian religious thought, where "liberating insight" was deemed essential for liberation. The four noble truths as the liberating insight of the Buddha eventually were superseded by Prattyasamutpda, the twelvefold chain of causation, and still later by anatta, the emptiness of the self.

In Mahayana Buddhism, bodhi is equal to prajna, insight into the Buddha-nature, sunyata and tathat. This is equal to the realisation of the non-duality of absolute and relative.

In Theravada Buddhism pann (Pali) means "understanding", "wisdom", "insight". "Insight" is equivalent to vipassana', insight into the three marks of existence, namely anicca, dukkha and anatta. Insight leads to the four stages of enlightenment and Nirvana.

In Mahayana Buddhism Prajna (Sanskrit) means "insight" or "wisdom", and entails insight into sunyata. The attainment of this insight is often seen as the attainment of "enlightenment".[need quotation to verify]

Kensho and Satori are Japanese terms used in Zen traditions. Kensho means "seeing into one's true nature." Ken means "seeing", sho means "nature", "essence", c.q Buddha-nature. Satori (Japanese) is often used interchangeably with kensho, but refers to the experience of kensho. The Rinzai tradition sees kensho as essential to the attainment of Buddhahood, but considers further practice essential to attain Buddhahood.

East-Asian (Chinese) Buddhism emphasizes insight into Buddha-nature. This term is derived from Indian tathagata-garbha thought, "the womb of the thus-gone" (the Buddha), the inherent potential of every sentient being to become a Buddha. This idea was integrated with the Yogacara-idea of the laya vijna, and further developed in Chinese Buddhism, which integrated Indian Buddhism with native Chinese thought. Buddha-nature came to mean both the potential of awakening and the whole of reality, a dynamic interpenetration of absolute and relative. In this awakening it is realized that observer and observed are not distinct entities, but mutually co-dependent.

The term vidhya is being used in contrast to avidhya, ignorance or the lack of knowledge, which binds us to samsara. The Mahasaccaka Sutta[note 2] describes the three knowledges which the Buddha attained:

According to Bronkhorst, the first two knowledges are later additions, while insight into the four truths represents a later development, in response to concurring religious traditions, in which "liberating insight" came to be stressed over the practice of dhyana.

Vimutti, also called moksha, means "freedom", "release",[note 3] "deliverance". Sometimes a distinction is being made between ceto-vimutti, "liberation of the mind", and panna-vimutti, "liberation by understanding". The Buddhist tradition recognises two kinds of ceto-vimutti, one temporarily and one permanent, the last being equivalent to panna-vimutti.[note 4]

Yogacara uses the term raya parvtti, "revolution of the basis",

... a sudden revulsion, turning, or re-turning of the laya vijna back into its original state of purity [...] the Mind returns to its original condition of non-attachment, non-discrimination and non-duality".

Nirvana is the "blowing out" of disturbing emotions, which is the same as liberation.[web 1] The usage of the term "enlightenment" to translate "nirvana" was popularized in the 19th century, due, in part, to the efforts of Max Muller, who used the term consistently in his translations.

Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, is said to have achieved full awakening, known as samyaksabodhi (Sanskrit; Pli: sammsabodhi), "perfect Buddhahood", or anuttar-samyak-sabodhi, "highest perfect awakening".

The term buddha has acquired somewhat different meanings in the various Buddhist traditions. An equivalent term for Buddha is Tathgata, "the thus-gone". The way to Buddhahood is somewhat differently understood in the various buddhist traditions.

In the suttapitaka, the Buddhist canon as preserved in the Theravada-tradition, a couple of texts can be found in which the Buddha's attainment of liberation forms part of the narrative.[40][note 5]

The Ariyapariyesana Sutta[note 6] describes how the Buddha was dissatisfied with the teachings of Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta, wandered further through Magadhan country, and then found "an agreeable piece of ground" which served for striving. The sutra then only says that he attained Nibbana.

The Mahasaccaka Sutta[note 7] describes his ascetic practices, which he abandoned. There-after he remembered a spontaneous state of jhana, and set out for jhana-practice. After destroying the disturbances of the mind, and attaining concentration of the mind, he attained three knowledges (vidhya):

According to the Mahasaccaka Sutta these insights, including the way to attain liberation, led the Buddha himself straight to liberation. called "awakening."

Schmithausen[note 8] notes that the mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the Rupa Jhanas, is a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36. Bronkhorst notices that

...the accounts which include the Four Noble Truths had a completely different conception of the process of liberation than the one which includes the Four Dhyanas and the destruction of the intoxicants.

It calls in question the reliability of these accounts, and the relation between dhyana and insight, which is a core problem in the study of early Buddhism. Originally the term prajna may have been used, which came to be replaced by the four truths in those texts where "liberating insight" was preceded by the four jhanas. Bronkhorst also notices that the conception of what exactly this "liberating insight" was developed throughout time. Whereas originally it may not have been specified, later on the four truths served as such, to be superseded by pratityasamutpada, and still later, in the Hinayana schools, by the doctrine of the non-existence of a substantial self or person. And Schmithausen notices that still other descriptions of this "liberating insight" exist in the Buddhist canon:

"that the five Skandhas are impermanent, disagreeable, and neither the Self nor belonging to oneself";[note 9] "the contemplation of the arising and disappearance (udayabbaya) of the five Skandhas";[note 10] "the realisation of the Skandhas as empty (rittaka), vain (tucchaka) and without any pith or substance (asaraka).[note 11]

An example of this substitution, and its consequences, is Majjhima Nikaya 36:42-43, which gives an account of the awakening of the Buddha.

In Theravada Buddhism, reaching full awakening is equivalent in meaning to reaching Nirva.[web 2] Attaining Nirva is the ultimate goal of Theravada and other rvaka traditions.[web 3] It involves the abandonment of the ten fetters and the cessation of dukkha or suffering. Full awakening is reached in four stages.

In Mahyna Buddhism the Bodhisattva is the ideal. The ultimate goal is not only of one's own liberation in Buddhahood, but the liberation of all living beings.

In time, the Buddha's awakening came to be understood as an immediate full awakening and liberation, instead of the insight into and certainty about the way to follow to reach enlightenment. However, in some Zen traditions this perfection came to be relativized again; according to one contemporary Zen master, "Shakyamuni buddha and Bodhidharma are still practicing."

But Mahayana Buddhism also developed a cosmology with a wide range of buddhas and bodhisattvas, who assist humans on their way to liberation.

In the western world the concept of enlightenment has taken on a romantic meaning. It has become synonymous with self-realization and the true self, being regarded as a substantial essence being covered over by social conditioning.

The use of the western word enlightenment is based on the supposed resemblance of bodhi with Aufklrung, the independent use of reason to gain insight into the true nature of our world. In fact there are more resemblances with Romanticism than with the Enlightenment: the emphasis on feeling, on intuitive insight, on a true essence beyond the world of appearances.

The equivalent term "awakening" has also been used in a Christian context, namely the Great Awakenings, several periods of religious revival in American religious history. Historians and theologians identify three or four waves of increased religious enthusiasm occurring between the early 18th century and the late 19th century. Each of these "Great Awakenings" was characterized by widespread revivals led by evangelical Protestant ministers, a sharp increase of interest in religion, a profound sense of conviction and redemption on the part of those affected, an increase in evangelical church membership, and the formation of new religious movements and denominations.

The romantic idea of enlightenment as insight into a timeless, transcendent reality has been popularized especially by D.T. Suzuki.[web 4][web 5] Further popularization was due to the writings of Heinrich Dumoulin.[web 6] Dumoulin viewed metaphysics as the expression of a transcendent truth, which according to him was expressed by Mahayana Buddhism, but not by the pragmatic analysis of the oldest Buddhism, which emphasizes anatta. This romantic vision is also recognizable in the works of Ken Wilber.

In the oldest Buddhism this essentialism is not recognizable.[web 7] According to critics it doesn't really contribute to a real insight into Buddhism:[web 8]

...most of them labour under the old clich that the goal of Buddhist psychological analysis is to reveal the hidden mysteries in the human mind and thereby facilitate the development of a transcendental state of consciousness beyond the reach of linguistic expression.

A common reference in western culture is the notion of "enlightenment experience". This notion can be traced back to William James, who used the term "religious experience" in his book, The Varieties of Religious Experience. Wayne Proudfoot traces the roots of the notion of "religious experience" further back to the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834), who argued that religion is based on a feeling of the infinite. Schleiermacher used the notion of "religious experience" to defend religion against the growing scientific and secular critique.

It was popularised by the Transcendentalists, and exported to Asia via missionaries. Transcendentalism developed as a reaction against 18th Century rationalism, John Locke's philosophy of Sensualism, and the predestinationism of New England Calvinism. It is fundamentally a variety of diverse sources such as Hindu texts like the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, various religions, and German idealism.

It was adopted by many scholars of religion, of which William James was the most influential.[note 12]

The notion of "experience" has been criticised. Robert Sharf points out that "experience" is a typical western term, which has found its way into Asian religiosity via western influences.[note 13]

The notion of "experience" introduces a false notion of duality between "experiencer" and "experienced", whereas the essence of kensho is the realisation of the "non-duality" of observer and observed.[dead link] "Pure experience" does not exist; all experience is mediated by intellectual and cognitive activity. The specific teachings and practices of a specific tradition may even determine what "experience" someone has, which means that this "experience" is not the proof of the teaching, but a result of the teaching. A pure consciousness without concepts, reached by "cleaning the doors of perception" as per romantic poet William Blake[note 14], would, according to Mohr, be an overwhelming chaos of sensory input without coherence.

Sakyamuni's Buddhahood is celebrated on Bodhi Day. In Sri Lanka and Japan different days are used for this celebration.

According to the Theravada tradition in Sri Lanka, Sakyamuni reached Buddhahood at the full moon in May. This is celebrated at Wesak Poya, the full moon in May, as Sambuddhatva jayanthi (also known as Sambuddha jayanthi).[web 9]

According to the Zen tradition, the Buddha reached his decisive insight on 8 December. This is celebrated in Zen monasteries with a very intensive eight-day session of Rhatsu.

It rests upon the notion of the primacy of religious experiences, preferably spectacular ones, as the origin and legitimation of religious action. But this presupposition has a natural home, not in Buddhism, but in Christian and especially Protetstant Christian movements which prescribe a radical conversion.

See Sekida for an example of this influence of William James and Christian conversion stories, mentioning Luther and St. Paul. See also McMahan for the influence of Christian thought on Buddhism.

[T]he role of experience in the history of Buddhism has been greatly exaggerated in contemporary scholarship. Both historical and ethnographic evidence suggests that the privileging of experience may well be traced to certain twentieth-century reform movements, notably those that urge a return to zazen or vipassana meditation, and these reforms were profoundly influenced by religious developments in the west [...] While some adepts may indeed experience "altered states" in the course of their training, critical analysis shows that such states do not constitute the reference point for the elaborate Buddhist discourse pertaining to the "path".

See the original post:
Enlightenment in Buddhism - Wikipedia

Thu 5 Apr 2018Conway HallThe Night Shift Mozarts Horns

Mozart Horn Concerto no.1Mozart Horn Concerto no. 4

Roger Montgomery horn

Mozarts horn concertos in the original home of freethought.

Sun 1 Apr 2018Opra de Monte-CarloMozart: Master of Deception, with Sir Roger Norrington

Mozart Symphony No. 33Mozart Horn Concerto No.4Mozart Horn Concerto No.1Mozart Symphony No. 36

Sir Roger Norrington conductorRoger Montgomery horn

More from the ultimate musical game-player

There is more to Mozart than meets the eye. His repertoire is replete with surprises and deceptions.

Sat 31 Mar 2018The Anvil, BasingstokeBachs St Matthew Passion

Bach St Matthew Passion

Mark Padmore director/EvangelistRoderick Williams ChristusClaudia Huckle contraltoHugo Hymas tenorLouise Kemny sopranoJessica Cale sopranoEleanor Minney mezzo-sopranoMatthew Brook bassChoir of the Age of Enlightenment

A powerful depiction of the Easter Story.

Commemorate Easter with BachsSt Matthew Passion, featuring an all-star line-up of singers, led by Mark Padmore.

Fri 30 Mar 2018ICE Krakow Congress CentreBachs St Matthew Passion

Bach St Matthew Passion

Mark Padmore director/EvangelistRoderick Williams ChristusClaudia Huckle contraltoHugo Hymas tenorLouise Kemny sopranoJessica Cale sopranoEleanor Minney mezzo-sopranoMatthew Brook bassChoir of the Age of Enlightenment

A powerful depiction of the Easter Story.

Commemorate Easter with BachsSt Matthew Passion, featuring an all-star line-up of singers, led by Mark Padmore.

Bachs St Matthew Passion ProgrammeMon 26 Mar 2018

Heresthe programme for our performance of Bachs St Matthew Passion on Monday 26 March at Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre. You can pick up a physical copy free of charge on the night itself.

Mark Padmore explores Bachs St Matthew PassionMon 26 Mar 2018

Its designed to disturb. It should get under the skin and worry us.

Mark Padmore explores Bachs St Matthew Passion, and the advantages of performing it without a conductor.

Performing the St Matthew PassionFri 23 Mar 2018

Leader Matthew Truscott tells us what its like to perform Bachs St Matthew Passion without a conductor, but instead following the breathing of singer and director, Mark Padmore.

Bachs B minor Mass (1748)

Following much-praised accounts of the St John Passion and Christmas Oratorio, conductor Stephen Layton now turns to Bachs mighty B minor Mass.

Mark Padmore on Bachs St Matthew PassionMon 5 Mar 2018

Mark Padmore explains his view of the St Matthew Passion, and the role of the Evangelist

The Corridors of Power programmeMon 26 Feb 2018

Heresthe programme for ourThe Corridors of Power concert on Tuesday 27 February at Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre. You can pick up a physical copy free of charge on the night itself.

After Beethoven?Tue 20 Feb 2018

After ten concerts in three different countries, our Beethoven tour with Nicola Benedetti came to an end in Abu Dhabi yesterday. If youre at risk of Beethoven withdrawal, we asked our Co-Principal Viola Max Mandel for more Beethoven that you might want to read, watch or listen to next.

The Corridors of Power: playlist previewWed 7 Feb 2018

One of the more unusual concerts in our 2017/18 Visions, Illusions and Delusions season is The Corridors of Power, a mixture of Haydn and Mozart conducted by our old frienddm Fischer.

Behind the scenes with Nicola BenedettiMon 5 Feb 2018

Challenging in different ways but so enjoyable.

Nicola Benedetti chats about performing Beethoven on period instruments as she joins us on tour around the UK and US.

Marin and Nicola join our pre-concert talkFri 2 Feb 2018

If youre coming to our concert with Marin Alsop and Nicola Benedetti at Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, on Sunday, get there early for the pre-concert talk at 6pm.

Were delighted both Marin and Nicola have agreed to join us for the discussion alongside our Principal Flute, Lisa Beznosiuk.

The talk is free in the Clore Ballroom from 6pm to 6.30pm.

Marin Alsop and Nicola Benedetti programmeFri 2 Feb 2018

Heresthe programme for ourMarin Alsop and Nicola Benedetti concert on Sunday 4 February at Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre (but its also good if youre going to one of the other performances). You can pick up a physical copy free of charge on the night itself.

If you cant see it, just clickhere.

In depth: A new cadenza by Nicola BenedettiThu 1 Feb 2018

In the classical era, composers such as Mozart and Beethoven often included passages called cadenzas towards the end of their concertos. These were either improvised or pre-composed, and gave the soloist the chance to show off the full range of her or his skills.

For Nicola Benedettis performances of Beethovens Violin Concerto with us, shes worked with composer Petr Limonov to write a new cadenza premiered on this tour, for which shell be accompanied by our Principal Timpani, Adrian Bending.

What does it mean to be free?Tue 30 Jan 2018

Today were announcing the concerts in our 2018/19 season as Resident Orchestra at Southbank Centre.

Its called Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, and its the second in ourSix Chapters of Enlightenment, six years of concerts celebrating the thought that made the modern world.

Fresh Night Shifts for 2018Wed 10 Jan 2018

Classical music hasnt always been about sitting silently in a concert hall, glugging down a pre-poured glass of wine in the interval and polite applause.

With The Night Shift, we take classical music back to its lively, informal roots with gigs in pubs, night clubs and other venues where you like to spend your time. Enjoy two half hour sets of classical music, played by some of the finest players in the business, without the usual rules.

Symmetry in music: Particle physicist Tara ShearsThu 4 Jan 2018

Professor Tara Shears came to talk to us about antimatter as part of our Bach, the Universe and Everything series atKings Place. We learnt there is more connecting Bach and particle physics than you might imagine.

Name us a Handel concertTue 12 Dec 2017

Its been a while, but the time has come for you to put your musical thinking caps on for a our traditional name a concert feature.

We need a name for the following concert coming up in 2018. Think Handel, Telemann, organs and, possibly, feasts.

Original post:
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment - Home

The Spiritual Counterfeits Project (SCP) is a Christian discernment ministry, and thus involved in the fields of Christian apologetics and countercult education.

The organization, based in Berkeley, California, has its roots in the Jesus People movement of the late 1960s, but the Spiritual Counterfeits Project itself was formed in 1973.

While it addresses a wide range of apologetics and countercult issues, SCP has a strong focus on the occult and on the New Age movement.

Since 1973, the SCP has been a frontline ministry confronting the occult, the cults, and the New Age movement and explaining why they are making an impact on our society.

In the name of truth, sophisticated lies are fed to unwary people who live in and shape our world. SCPs mandate is to communicate with our generation by creating crossover material that alerts and informs about the very real dangers of the latest deceptions. It is a critical mission at a critical time.

SCP has been involved in two high-profile lawsuits:

Transcendental Meditation

Malnak v. Yogi, was SCPs legal challenge to Transcendental Meditation (TM) in the public school [See Malnak v. Yogi, 440 F. Supp. 1284 (1977) and appeals court opinion: 592 F. 2nd 197 (1979)].

TM represented itself as a non-religious activity and was promoted as the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI). According to SCP, TM was not religiously neutral and SCI was based on Maharishi Mahesh Yogis Hindu faith. The judge concluded that TM/SCI are religious in nature within the context of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, and the teaching thereof in the New jersey public schools is therefore unconstitutional.

The Local Church

Witness Lee et al v. Neil Duddy et al, was a religious defamation case brought by the so-called Local Church which theologically is a cult of Christianity against the author of a book titled, The God-Men and against SCP. While the book was published by InterVarsity Press, author Neil Duddy was said to have relied in SCPs research.

The Local Church was of the opinion that Neil Duddy, and by extension SCP, had committed libel by declaring its teachings to be heretical.

The legal tactics employed by the church depleted SCPs financial resources to such an extend that it was unable to pay its defense lawyers. When the latter withdrews from the case, SCP decided to file for a reorganizational bankruptcy. This resulted in SCP being officially cancelled out as a defendant in the lawsuit. When the case was heard, in May 1985, it was uncontested by any of the defendants, none of whom appeared in court. The judge awarded the case to the Local Church, with damages against the defendants.

Brooks Alexander, at the time SCPs president, addressed the case in an article titled, When Talk Isnt Cheap and Speech Isnt Free: The Abuse of Libel Law.

Among the expert witnesses who testified on behalf of the Local Church was J. Gordon Melton, a United Methodist minister, is the Director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion. His input in this case contributed to Meltons reputation as a cult apologist, and demonstrated his self-professed inability to discern between heresy and orthodoxy.

Spiritual Counterfeits Project is the only major apologetics ministry to provide a free-of-charge telephone hotline to the public: (510) 540-5767.

The Access Line is open to the public at no charge three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. West Coast Time (or 5-8 Eastern Standard Time). It is only one of our ministries interfacing with public need and making available our over 6,000 files on different cults and groups around the world. But we are more than just information brokers. Most of those of us on staff became Christians after having gone through any number of New Age and cultic alternatives. So we can speak from experience with insight. Source: Access Counseling Hotline, SCP website

The Spiritual Counterfeits Project publishes both the SCP Newsletter and the the acclaimed SCP Journal.

Other materials, such as books, audio/video, and information packets are also available.

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Spiritual Counterfeits Project | Apologetics Index

The Enlightenment was a seventeenth- and eighteenth-century international movement in ideas and sensibilities, emphasizing the exercise of critical reason as opposed to religious dogmatism or unthinking faith. It developed along with the rise of scientific thinking independent of religious thought and stressed the importance of nature and the natural order as a source of knowledge. In reaction to the religious wars of Europe, Enlightenment thinkers defended religious tolerance and religious freedom. Their emphasis on intellectual freedom and human rights led to a conflict between the advocates of these new ideas and the political and religious establishments in Europe, most dramatically in France.

The Enlightenment in America, more moderate than in Europe, influenced both religious and political thought throughout the colonies. Many would argue that its approach to religious tolerance rose to prominence in America in large part because no single religious group could garner the necessary votes to impose themselves upon the fledgling republic. Leaders such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were considered paragons of Enlightenment thought, and the freedom-loving religious rationalism of their ideas helped to lay the foundations of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.

The Enlightenment also bred religious controversy. Many of its advocates, many of whom were themselves Christian, often dismissed the new revivalist religion of the Great Awakening as emotionally excessive. Evangelical Protestants, on the other hand, often viewed rationalism, religious tolerance, and other enlightenment ideals as dangerous to piety and national solidarity in the budding republic. Historians have usually cast this controversy in terms of a conflict between those who favored rational religion and those who opposed them by defending an emotional religion of the heart. But the Enlightenment was so pervasive in the colonies that few Americans remained wholly untouched by its spirit.

Both the emotionalism of revivalist religion and the reasoned ideals associated with the Enlightenment played important roles in the American Revolution. Revolutionaries were drawn from all religious camps and most of them shared a common commitment to freedom of religion. Mostthough certainly not allrevolutionaries, however, fought not for religious freedom for all, but rather for their particular sects or denominations. Nonetheless, the impact of the Revolution and the subsequent adoption of the Constitution on American Christianity cannot be overstated. This period laid the foundation for a bold experiment in religious freedom unlike any understandings of state-religion relations at the time.

The Constitution banned the establishment of religion by the state, thus forcing both Anglicans and Congregationalists to abandon their traditional prerogatives of state support, a bold departure from tradition. All churches and other religious organizations that had arisen during the colonial period necessarily reconstituted themselves under the new constitutional guidelines. This, however, until as late as the 1830s, was understood to apply to the federal government alone; states were allowed to decide for themselves whether or not to have state-supported churches. In any case, this outlook, which considered all churches equal before federal law, more or less asserted that churches are voluntary organizations with no formal coercive authority over those who did not wish to belong to them.

The Revolution and the Constitution became part of the myth of America, the powerful foundational story told about Americas origins. This story begins with the vision of creating a new Christian society on American soil and moves to the idea of a society based on commitment to religious freedom. Still, the transcendent and purposeful vision of Americas destiny remained. This vision fostered the development of what has come to be called Americas civil religion: a belief in Americas special mission as a society based on equality before the law, freedom of conscience, religious tolerance, and the spirit of voluntary service.

Link:
Enlightenment and Revolution | The Pluralism Project

Its been 134 years since FriedrichNietzsche declared: God is Dead (or Gott ist tot, in German), giving philosophy students a collective headache thats lasted from the 19th century until today. It is, perhaps, one of the best known statements in all of philosophy, well known even to those who have never picked up a copy of The Gay Science, the book from which it originates. But do we know exactly what he meant? Or perhaps more importantly, what it means for us?

Nietzsche was an atheist for his adult life and didnt mean that there was a God who had actually died, rather that our idea of one had. Afterthe Enlightenment,the idea of a universe that was governed by physical laws and not by divine providence was now reality. Philosophy had shown that governments no longer needed to be organized around the idea of divine right to be legitimate, but rather by the consent or rationality of the governed that large and consistent moral theories could exist without reference to God. This was a tremendous event.Europe no longer needed God as the source for all morality, value, or order in the universe; philosophy and science were capable of doing that for us.This increasing secularization of thought in the West led the philosopher to realize that not only was God dead but that human beings had killed him with their scientific revolution, their desire to better understand the world.

The death of God didnt strike Nietzsche as an entirely good thing. Without a God, the basic belief system of Western Europe was in jeopardy, as he put it inTwilight of the Idols: When one gives up the Christian faith, one pulls the right to Christian morality out from under one's feet. This morality is by no means self-evident Christianity is a system, a whole view of things thought out together. By breaking one main concept out of it, the faith in God, one breaks the whole.

simon-critchley-examines-friedrich-nietzsche

Nietzsche thought this could be a good thing for some people, saying:... at hearing the news that 'the old god is dead', we philosophers and 'free spirits' feel illuminated by a new dawn.A bright morning had arrived. With the old system of meaning gone a new one could be created, but it came with risksones that could bring out the worst in human nature.Nietzsche believed that the removal of this system put most people at the risk of despair or meaninglessness. What could the point of life be without a God? Even if there was one, the Western world now knew that he hadnt placed us at the centre of the universe, and it was learning of the lowly origin from which man had evolved. We finally saw the true world. The universe wasnt made solely for human existence anymore. Nietzsche feared that this understanding of the world would lead to pessimism,a will to nothingnessthat was antithetical to the life-affirming philosophy Nietzsche prompted.

His fear of nihilism and our reaction to it was shown inThe Will to Power,when he wrote that:"What I relate is the history of the next two centuries. I describe what is coming, what can no longer come differently: the advent of nihilism... For some time now our whole European culture has been moving as toward a catastrophe."He would not have been surprised by the events that plagued Europe in the 20th century. Communism, Nazism, Nationalism, and the other ideologies that made their way across the continent in the wake of World War I sought to provide man with meaning and value, as a worker, as an Aryan, or some other greater deed;in a similar way as to how Christianity could provide meaning as a child of God, and give life on Earth value by relation to heaven. While he may have rejected those ideologies, he no doubt would have acknowledged the need for the meaning they provided.

Of course,asNietzsche saw this coming,heoffered us a way out. The creation of our own values as individuals. The creation of a meaning of life by those who live it. The archetype of the individual who can do this has a name that has also reached our popular consciousness:thebermensch. Nietzsche however, saw this as a distant goal for man and one that most would not be able to reach.Thebermensch,which he felt had yet to exist on Earth, would create meaning in life by their will alone, and understand that they are, in the end, responsible for their selection. As he put it in Thus Spoke Zarathustra:"For the game of creation, my brothers, a sacred yes is needed: the spirit now wills his own will."Such a bold individual will not be able to point to dogma or popular opinion as to why they value what they do.

Having suggested the rarity and difficulty in creating the bermensch, Nietzsche suggested an alternative response to Nihilism, and one that he saw as the more likely to be selected; The Last Man. Amost contemptible thingwho lives a quiet life of comfort, without thought for individuality or personal growth as:"'We have discovered happiness,'-- say the Last Men, and they blink."Much to the disappointment of Zarathustra, Nietzsches mouthpiece, the people whom he preaches to beg him for the lifestyle of The Last Man, suggesting his pessimism on our ability to handle Gods death.

But you might ask, if God has been dead for so long and we are supposed to be suffering for knowing it, where are all the atheists? Nietzsche himself provided an answer:God is dead; but given the way of men, there may still be caves for thousands of years in which his shadow will be shown. Perhaps we are only now seeing the effects of Nietzsches declaration.

Indeed, atheism is on the march, with near majorities in many European countries and newfound growth across the United States heralding a cultural shift. But, unlike when atheism was enforced by the communist nations, there isnt necessarily a worldview backing this new lack of God, it is only the lack. Indeed, British philosopher Bertrand Russell saw Bolshevism as nearly a religion unto itself; it was fully capable and willing to provide meaning and value to a population by itself. That source of meaning without belief is gone.

As many atheists know, to not have a god without an additional philosophical structure providing meaning can be a cause of existential dread. Are we at risk of becoming a society struggling with our own meaninglessness? Are we as a society at risk for nihilism? Are we more vulnerable now to ideologies and conmen who promise to do what God used to do for us and society? While Americans are increasingly pessimistic about the future, the non-religious are less so than the religious. It seems Nietzsche may have been wrong in the long run about our ability to deal with the idea that God is dead.

values-without-religion

As Alain de Botton suggestsabout our values, it seems that we have managed to deal with the death of God better than Nietzschehad thought we would; we are not all the Last Men, nor have we descended into a situation where all morality is seen as utterly relative and meaningless. It seems that we have managed to create a world where the need for God is reduced for some people without falling into collective despair or chaos.

Are we as individuals up to the task of creating our own values? Creating meaning in life by ourselves without aid from God, dogma, or popular choice? Perhaps some of us are, and if we understand the implications of the death of God we stand a better chance of doing so. The despair of the death of God may give way to new meaning in our lives; for as Jean-Paul Sartre suggested"life begins on the other side of despair."

--

Sources:

Abrams, Daniel, Haley Yaple, and Richard Wiener. "ArXiv.org Physics ArXiv:1012.1375v2." [1012.1375v2] A Mathematical Model of Social Group Competition with Application to the Growth of Religious Non-affiliation. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Aug. 2016.

"Americans Overwhelmingly Pessimistic about Country's Path, Poll Finds." Mcclatchydc. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Aug. 2016.

"America's Growing Pessimism." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 10 Oct. 2015. Web. 04 Aug. 2016.

"CNN/ORC Poll: 57% Pessimistic about U.S. Future, Highest in 2 Years." CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 04 Aug. 2016.

Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, and Walter Arnold Kaufmann. "The Meaning of Our Cheerfulness." The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs. New York: Vintage, 1974. N. pag. Print.

Press, Connie Cass Associated. "Gloom and Doom? Americans More Pessimistic about Future." Las Vegas Review-Journal. N.p., 03 Jan. 2014. Web. 04 Aug. 2016.

Russell, Bertrand. Bolshevism: Practice and Theory. New York: Arno, 1972. Print.

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In 1981, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, a spiritual leader from India, and thousands of his disciples moved to Wasco and Jefferson counties. On what had been the Big Muddy Ranch, the sannyasins set out to build a new city, a utopian community in the desert Rajneeshpuram.

Thousands of people from around the world gathered here to celebrate life. They worked hard and transformed the landscape. And more than a few hoped to spend the rest of their days at this place. But by 1986, they weregone.

If you live in the country you kinda like the country to remain the way it is, said Bernie Smith, a former Wasco County DistrictAttorney.

Many of the Rajneeshees came from overseas, and most from urban backgrounds. They were vegetarians, now living among ranch people and small-town retirees in Central Oregon cattle country. The two cultures were foreign to each other and ultimately theyclashed.

I think there were a lot of masters and maybe doctors degrees out there. It didnt mean they had any horse sense. They were pretty illogical about a lot of things, said Margaret Hill, former mayor of nearby Antelope,Oregon.

As the Rajneeshee planners began to slog their way through the rules and regulations of local government, problems arose. As the new people encountered the slow-grinding wheels of bureaucracy building codes, zoning restrictions and other land-use regulations the sannyasins patience grew thin. Confrontation and rude behaviorfollowed.

The Rajneeshees took over the town of Antelope. Their leadership declared the local people to be bigoted and threatening. And Bhagwans open disdain for Christianity did not play well in the new conservative, Christianenvironment.

At some point, people stopped talking and they just started screaming. Nothing is going to get done in that environment, and nothing got done, said former news videographer MiltRitter.

In the span of four-and-a-half years, Bhagwans people invested more than $50 million in Rancho Rajneesh. They made substantial improvements to the land. Many found real joy in being close to their spiritual master and part of the Rajneeshpuram community, but they ultimately walked away from it all.

Twenty-five sannyasins were convicted of crimes ranging from arson and wiretapping to immigration fraud, election fraud and attempted murder. Ten served time in prison.

At the end of it all, Wasco County Judge Bill Hulse predicted (correctly) that somebody would write a book about what had happened there: The people who read that book, he said, will think itsfiction.

Resources

Books

Kirk Braun, Rajneeshpuram: The UnwelcomeSociety

Max Brecher, A Passage to America e-book: http://maxbrechersbookstobuy.com/, 1993, revised and updated2013

Devananda Day, Revise Priorities Ahead! Life on a SpiritualPath

Articles

A Reporter at Large: Rajneeshpuram I, Rajneeshpuram II, by FrancesFitzgerald

The New Yorker, Sept. 22, 1986; Sept. 29,1986

Utopia and Bureaucracy: The Fall of Rajneeshpuram, by CarlAbbott

Oregon Pacific Historical Review,1990

Averting Apocalypse at Rajneeshpuram by Marion S.Goldman

Department of Sociology, 1291 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR97403

Second-Chance Family by Marion S.Goldman

Oregon Humanities magazine, Summer2011

Websites

Oregon HistoricalSociety

Special Collections, University of OregonLibraries

Osho International, publishing headquarters for Oshoswork

Rajneeshpuram wikipediasites

Rise and Fall of Rajneeshpuram A film by JustinWeiler

OregonLive: Rajneeshees inOregon

Broadcast Date: Nov. 19,2012

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Rajneeshpuram . TV | OPB

In 1979, Bennington College freshman Dara Burrows traveled to India over her winter break. She would never return to the school. In a postcard to her mother back home in New Jersey, Dara wrote: Im not coming home. Im happy and Ive become a sannyasin. A disciple.

Burrows had joined a cult. But not just any cult. The 18-year-old had become a follower of Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and started wearing Bhagwans photo around her neck. Over the next few years, Dara and thousands like her would travel to rural Oregon with Rajneesh, and build a sprawling commune in his name. The lure of the cult would fracture Daras already fragile family, and even now, some 33 years after I first met them, they are still healing.

On the surface a happy place with a Zen Connection bus terminal, Zorba the Buddha Rajneesh Deli and something called Nirvana Grove, Oregons Rancho Rajneesh metastasized into a dangerous organized crime ring. As Rajneesh indulged a fetish for diamond-studded watches and a caravan of Rolls-Royces, his hand-picked goon squad went to war with local detractors. Commune leaders sprayed salmonella on salad bars in a nearby town, poisoning at least 700 people in the largest bioterror attack in U.S. history. They plotted the assassination of the U.S. attorney for Oregon. And they organized countless fraudulent marriages to harbor foreign-born Rajneeshees, followers of the religion, in the U.S.

This outrageous yet underreported episode of American history is finally getting its due. On March 16, Netflix dropped a captivating six-hour docuseries called Wild Wild Country, directed by brothers Chapman and Maclain Way, with brothers Jay and Mark Duplass executive producing. The series, ambitious but flawed, has unearthed hours of home movies that the cult members shot themselves, in the fevered belief that they were building a true nirvana in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest.

Dara Burrows and hundreds of former cult members around the world are binge-watching now. On the pages of fan websites still dedicated to Rajneesh he died in 1990 and is now known as Osho the reviews are pouring in.

Watched four parts already. Even worse than I thought, former sannyasin Dorothee Bull writes on a pro-Rajneesh Facebook page. Bhagwan was a politician playing the power game.

As with most media coverage of the Ranch, this series seems to skip like a rock over water, landing briefly on the most controversial events ... former sannyasin Roshani Shay writes at OshoNews.com. Viewers of this series can learn a lot about how not to behave from its episodes.

Not often you get to see a sannyasin confessing to attempted murder on TV. I was left thinking that quite a few people running the show on the Ranch really did lose their minds in the worst of ways, an observer named Lokesh posted on the Sannyas News website.

I happily powered my way through all six hours of Wild Wild Country this weekend, too. In 1984, as a rookie reporter in Trenton, New Jersey, I convinced my editors to send me to Rancho Rajneesh on assignment. At the time, the Rajneeshees were slipping into Trenton and other cities and enticing hundreds of homeless men and women to move across the country to Bhagwans Oregon paradise. With promises of free food, free beer and a life free of crime, the Rajneeshees explained that they were just humanitarians helping to address Americas shameful homeless epidemic. In reality, as later reporting and the Netflix series revealed, the cult was simply importing the homeless to pack local voting rolls and control local elections.

In the winter of 1984, Rancho Rajneesh was bustling, with a private airport, a teeming shopping center, the 145-room Hotel Rajneesh and enough heated A-frame cabins to accommodate thousands of red-clad sannyasins. The Rajneeshees had selected this spot carefully, purchasing 100 square miles of rugged Oregon rangeland for the privacy and protection the former Big Muddy Ranch provided. Everywhere, the propaganda and groupthink was overwhelming. The Rajneeshees celebrated the coming of dawn and dusk by bowing to Bhagwan and singing for him, as he slowly cruised by in one of his 90+ Rolls-Royces. In the evenings, thousands gathered in rapt attention to watch two-hour-long videotapes of Bhagwans hypnotic discourses. His photos were plastered everywhere, and, in the commune bookstore, only one authors works were on sale.

I was escorted around the well-armed property by an outgoing spokeswoman, Ma Dhyan Rosalie, formerly Rosalie Rosenberg of Scottsdale, and allowed to interview formerly homeless New Jersey transplants. Soon after, I set out to locate Dara Burrows, the one-time Bennington College co-ed.

Just before my reporting trip, Daras mother, Sandra, sat with me in her historic home outside Princeton. Her story was devastating. First, her husband, David Burrows, left her. He had been a tenured literature professor at Rutgers University, and the couple had four children together. David met Rajneesh on a trip to India in 1978, and the experience was profound. Back on the Rutgers campus,David began dressing in orange, wearing a beaded necklace with Bhagwans photo on it and insisting that he be called Swami Das Anudas. University life soon lost its hold, and Davis moved to India to be with Bhagwan full-time.

Just as Sandra was recovering from that shock, David gave his daughter, Dara, a collection of Bhagwans speeches. Dara was hooked immediately by his promise of a new way of being, his rejection of the institutional, rigid ways of society, and she booked a trip to India to meet the guru.

Her father gave her the money. It just kind of happened, kind of quietly, without me being privy to the decision, Sandra told me, as I recounted in a New Jersey Monthly Magazine feature story in 1986.

Mere weeks later, the terse postcard arrived back home. Dara, the Princeton Day School graduate, had become Ma Prem Dara and joined her father in the cult. All through my childhood I thought I was the odd one, Dara told me back then. When I met Bhagwan he was just saying everything I was feeling all my life. It was like I could breathe ...

Sandra banded together with her two younger children, and especially her teenage son, Jamie. But she knew Dara was gone. It was a terrible shock. I wanted her to go back to school, if not Bennington then somewhere. But there was no way I was going to influence her, she said.

For five years, the Burrows children resigned themselves to the loss of their father and oldest sister. Then, in the summer of 1984, 22-year-old Jamie accepted an invitation to visit Rancho Rajneesh, where Dara and David had moved. Improbably, the Burrows youngest son also fell under the spell. When I interviewed Jamie, Dara and David together at the commune in 1984, Jamie was wearing the traditional Bhagwan mala necklace and introduced himself to me as Swami Anand Brahma. The all-American family, one sannyasin quipped, as she passed by our table.

Back home, Sandra was emotional, weeping at the dining room table, a family friend recalled. In desperation, Sandra called a cult psychologist to win her son back. I didnt know what I could do. Hes not a child. He hasnt been kidnapped, she told me for the New Jersey Monthly article.

Less than nine months after my visit, the cult imploded. Bhagwans top aide, the vicious Ma Anand Sheela, quit and ran off to Europe under a cloud. After a three-and-a-half-year period of self-imposed silence, an enraged Bhagwan gathered the media to denounce her. Sheela and her group tried to kill three people, Bhagwan said. These people are absolute criminals. Fearing arrest himself, Rajneesh boarded a Lear Jet and tried to flee the country. He was arrested and jailed, and pleaded guilty to immigration crimes in exchange for a big fine and deportation. State and federal investigators rushed in, and once-loyal insiders easily flipped. As The Oregonian reported in a 2017 series, Rajneeshees piled into court, admitting criminal conduct on behalf of the sect. The charges included attempted murder, assault, arson, immigration fraud, wiretapping and conspiracy. Sheela and the worst of the offenders did federal prison time.

Back at the commune, the residents of Rancho Rajneesh glumly packed their bags. The Rolls-Royces were auctioned off in Texas, and Jamie, Dara and David Burrows began planning for an uncertain future.

I reached out to the Burrows family last month, and all the old wounds still seemed fresh. I learned that Jamie works in finance now and didnt want to discuss his brief time at the commune. Dara married, raised a family and for 22 years has served as a senior editor for a scientific nonprofit. Shes made peace with her mother, for whom the abandonment is hard to forget. Ive come back into the fold, but she always fears I could leave, Dara said in a recent interview. Im making a really strong effort to be in constant contact with her and show her how much I really love her.

Dara agreed to talk for the first time in three decades because, she said, she has nothing to hide. When we spoke last week, she said she was looking forward to watching Wild Wild Country, but added that she and most Rajneeshees were unaware of the serious crimes that took place at the commune. I dont have shame about becoming a sannyasin or going to India or to the ranch, she said. But I do have shame about being associated with an organization that did such horrific things and hurt so many people.

Looking back, she admits that her fellow cult members spread the illusion of us versus them, and how dangerous it was to leave the ranch. The propaganda was relentless. I definitely experienced being brainwashed, Dara said. Its taken her decades to move on.

Wild Wild Country fails to explore the heartache of the thousands of families like Daras who were left behind when loved ones joined Bhagwan in the mountains. Its one of many flaws in an otherwise haunting series that exposes the brutal town-gown confrontation between the malicious and condescending sannyasins who took over tiny Antelope, Oregon, and the narrow-minded and often bigoted farmers and ranchers who opposed them at every turn. The directors of the series seem afraid to play referee, and viewers pay the price.

Consider this: Ma Anand Sheela, Bhagwans trusted assistant and the former CEO of all things Rajneesh, is accused in the series of ordering or participating in a dizzying array of felonies. Among them: poisoning an entire town with salmonella; stalking and attempting to gun down the then-U.S. attorney in Oregon, Charles Turner; setting a local government office on fire; illegally bugging friends and enemies; secretly pouring an anti-psychotic drug into kegs of free beer, to help control the thousands of homeless people Sheela had recruited to the ranch; and then dumping those same homeless people onto the streets of Oregon after they had served Sheelas twisted purpose. Oh, and injecting Bhagwans personal physician with poison and attempting to murder him.

Despite Sheelas frightening rsum, the makers of Wild Wild Country hand her the microphone and walk away. They never question or fact-check her self-serving version of events, or ask what Bhagwan knew about the criminal underworld operating feet from his throne. Did Sheela order the hit on Bhagwans doctor to prevent him from killing the master first, as Sheela has claimed? And did she wiretap the ranch and read through all incoming mail to protect her beloved Bhagwan, or merely to keep a close eye on her many rivals and shut down dissent? Viewers are left to wonder.

Three decades later, sales of Bhagwans books and tapes appear strong. Most of his current followers have accepted the canard that Bhagwan was manipulated by Sheela, and was an innocent dupe all along.

Daras father, David, was one of them. The university professor who once wore ties and wingtips and had a Peugeot sitting in the driveway quickly forgave his master. For a few years after the commune broke up, he wandered to Nepal, Japan, Texas, New York and Guatemala. Then, in 1988, he confided to Dara, he had begun pining for India. I dont think I have to explain why, he wrote. Burrows would live with Bhagwan once more.

Until his death last year at age 80, the man who became Swami Das Anudas had few regrets, even if it had become clear to most outside observers that Bhagwans cult didnt offer the deliverance Burrows had sought from the cynicism and small-mindedness of the world. Whatever happened at the ranch, it was still a lot better than what was happening in the rest of the world, David Burrows once wrote to Dara. The harder something is to go through, the more you learn as you come out of it.

Jim Popkin is a writer in Washington, D.C.Follow him on Twitter:@JimPopkin.

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I Covered The Rajneesh Cult. Heres What Wild Wild Country ...

Staff photo by E.J. Harris

Journalist Wil Phinney, the current editor of the Confederated Umatilla Journal, worked at The Dalles Weekly Reminder during the time the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh started a commune near the rural town of Antelope.

Staff photo by E.J. Harris

Journalist Wil Phinney holds a prayer necklace that has a photo of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh he collected while covering the events at Rajneeshpuram during the late 1980s.

Gary Kopperud

Contributed photo

The Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh takes his daily afternoon drive through Rancho Rajneesh in one of his 74 Rolls Royces.

Contributed photo

Followers of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh exult as the guru passes by in one of his 74 Rolls Royces.

Contributed photo

Ma Anand Sheela and her attorneys face reporters after a day in court.

Wild Wild Country paints a story as incredible as any futuristic fantasy flick.

Consider the following plot: A mystic and his followers construct a utopian city and paradise of spiritual existence in the Central Oregon high desert. All seems right, then things get sinister. The commune slams up against local law. The group co-opts a nearby town and eventually attempts to take over the entire country. Before its over, commune leaders face charges of biological warfare, attempted murder, wiretapping and immigration violations.

This twisty tale, however preposterous, is pure truth. The six-hour Netflix documentary chronicles the story of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his followers. Some who witnessed the rise and fall of Rajneeshpuram share their impressions in the paragraphs below.

Wil Phinney

Every so often, Wil Phinney pulls his Rajneeshpuram box down from the shelf, lifts the lid and journeys back in time.

Phinney, now editor of the Confederated Umatilla Journal in Mission, worked for The Dalles Weekly Reminder when the Bhagwan arrived at the ranch. A shot of Phinneys byline appears in episode four of Wild Wild Country. Over the next years, Phinney visited Rancho Rajneesh many times, got to know Rajneeshee leaders and chronicled the cults efforts to take over Antelope and Wasco County.

This week, he lifted the lid of the worn cardboard box once again and started removing items one by one, laying them on a long table in the East Oregonian conference room. He fingered a beaded necklace he got from a homeless person who had lived on the ranch. Inside a chunk of clear plastic, the Bhagwan smiled serenely from a tiny photo.

He pulled out a diary neatly penned by a Bhagwan follower.

I felt on holy ground, she had written. I felt Bhagwans presence spreading over every inch of this vast desert, permeating even the smallest twig by the roadside, his love and protection encompassing every bird and insect and even every blade of grass and every rock.

Black-and-white photos taken by Phinney show scenes from the compound, Antelope and The Dalles. The Bhagwan taking his daily drive around the ranch in one of 74 Rolls-Royces. Red-frocked followers lining the road, kneeling and singing as he passed by.

In one photo, a woman mops the compounds huge industrial kitchen. In another, protesters from the embattled town of Antelope carry signs with slogans such as Free Antelope and Let Antelope Roam Free.

Aerial shots reveal dozens of large buildings and hundreds of tents brought in to house followers during the annual festival. Phinney pulled out several items he and other reporters discovered in the Antelope dump after the towns takeover. He held up a cork board with the image of the Bhagwan with a target imprinted over his face.

Phinney remembers the media at first thought the group would bring good things to the region.

Initially all the media thought these guys were great they were going to create an oasis at the (former) Big Muddy Ranch, Phinney said. Ill be honest, I bought into it.

But not for long. As the ranch grew into a self-sustaining town and steadily made moves to take over Antelope and Wasco County, he got concerned. Phinney reported some things that drew Rajneeshee ire. Eventually, he said, his name appeared on the cults enemies list. Rajneesh propaganda showed up on his car and front porch.

Sheela and other Rajneeshee officials proceeded with intelligence and knowledge of local law, he said, but finally they went too far.

It was all going according to plan, then they just got too arrogant and started pushing too hard and too fast, Phinney said. If theyd followed all the laws, theyd have gotten a lot farther.

Gary Kopperud

After the fall of Rajneeshpuram, Gary Kopperud returned to the ranch to rescue his favorite follower a large, orange cat named Popcorn that he soon renamed Swami. Swami later accompanied Kopperud when he spoke to groups about Rajneeshpuram.

Kopperud, who worked for Juniper Broadcasting in The Dalles and also shot video for Associated Press during the time of Rajneeshpuram, got a firsthand look at the commune as a member of the press. Kopperud, who now lives in Pendleton, said he watched the commune rise from the desert with fascination. At its height, he said, it included a 4,200-foot airstrip, public transportation system, creamery, restaurants, a police force dubbed the peace force, a mall, fire station and other amenities.

They were really on the move, Kopperud said. They had talented people from every walk of life.

Kopperud met the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his personal assistant, Ma Anand Sheela.

He was very soft spoken, Kopperud said of the Bhagwan. There was intensity and peace in his eyes at the same time. He was the spirit. He was everything to those people.

Sheela (Sheela Silverman) was a powerful presence.

When Sheela talked, no one else spoke, he said. She was not a person that allowed you into her space if she didnt want you there.

Kopperud had a close call in 1984 when Rajneesh followers poisoned salad bars in seven restaurants in The Dalles with salmonella as a strategy to sicken voters so Rajneeshee commissioner candidates could win an election. In all, 751 people got sick.

I was having pizza at Big Daves that day with a friend, Kopperud said. He had a salad and I didnt. He got sick.

That plot failed, along with another to bring busloads of homeless people to the area and register them as voters.

In late 1985, top Rajneeshee officials fled the ranch. For Kopperud, Swami remained as a reminder of the unbelievable saga. The cat lived to age 23. The Dalles Chronicle, Kopperud said, ran a three-paragraph obituary on his passing.

Kathy McBride

Many people in Wasco County dont need Netflix to know what happened when the Rajneesh and his followers came to town its still fresh in their minds.

This brought up some raw emotions, Kathy McBride said of the documentarys impact on the towns residents.

McBride, who lives in The Dallles, was the Wasco County Court administrative assistant at the time and was one of the people sued by the Rajneeshees for civil rights violations as they went head-to-head with the county. Her father was the county sheriff, and she said he felt the strain of trying to prevent tensions from erupting into bloodshed.

She has only watched a little bit of the docu-series so far, but she said in discussions with others who experienced the events firsthand and watched the whole thing, there is a sense that depth of the harassment experienced by Wasco County residents isnt portrayed.

After the county started trying to enforce land use regulations at the commune, for example, McBride opened an anonymous package at the courthouse to find human feces. Other times people phoned in bomb threats and the courthouse had to be evacuated.

Two of them would sit outside my house in The Dalles and watch my house while I was on maternity leave, she said.

After the county refused to register the 6,000 homeless people the Rajneeshees had bused in from around the country to vote, she said the commune pushed many of them out onto the streets of The Dalles with no resources, creating a major strain on the community.

McBride doesnt believe the Rajneeshees were all bad commune members did some amazing things out at the ranch with agriculture and art. But she said it was difficult to watch interviews with Ma Anand Sheela, who served prison time after admitting to orchestrating a variety of crimes, including poisoning county commissioner Bill Hulse nearly to death when he visited the ranch and spraying salmonella on salad bars.

I listen to Sheela and its like she had no remorse, poisoning all those people, McBride said. She almost killed our county judge.

She said in retrospect, listening to all of the attempted murders and planned murders that went on, its amazing no one died. She said at the time it was easy for people outside the area to say residents of The Dalles and Antelope were being paranoid, but later the FBI found evidence of many of the things they had suspected. The Rajneeshees were behind the salmonella outbreak. They were plotting to poison the water supply. The marriage licenses they were getting at the courthouse were part of a massive immigration fraud scheme. They were recording everyone when they visited the courthouse.

It was scary times, and Im just glad that people didnt die, she said.

Kricket Nicholson

Kricket Nicholson remembers the day Rajneeshees drove busloads of homeless people to town and left them walking the streets of The Dalles.

These individuals had been picked up off the streets of other towns and taken to Rajneeshpuram, lured with promises of food, clothing and shelter in exchange for agreeing to vote for Rajneeshee commissioner candidates in the election. When the plot didnt work, the homeless people were jettisoned.

They just started dumping them, Nicholson said. They dropped a busload of them a block from the Salvation Army and another at a rest area on the freeway.

Nicholson, now executive director of United Way in Pendleton, was a Salvation Army caseworker at the time. The homeless descended on the Salvation Army in droves that night. Nicholson and others spent the next few days working to feed the people and get them back to their places of origin.

The Dalles obviously couldnt handle an influx of hundreds of homeless people, she said. The community really came together and donated money for bus tickets.

Nicholson said the whole Rajneesh adventure left a sour taste in town for quite some time.

The Rajneeshees wore the colors of a sunset, Nicholson said. Nobody in The Dalles wore those colors for years.

Erik Hilden

Erik Hilden came into the Rajneesh orb in a most unexpected way. Hilden, a South Carolina teacher, grew up in Pendleton and went to summer camp near Rajneeshpuram.

On the last day of camp in 1981 or 1982, he waited for his mom to arrive to pick him up. She was hours late.

Eventually, a car pulled up the camps dusty driveway loaded with a bunch of Rajneeshees dressed in the colors of the setting sun, Hilden recalled. Those guys and my mom.

Hildens mother was bruised and bleeding. She had rolled the familys Ford Escort wagon during a flash flood on a windy road near Fossil. She had climbed out and tried to wave down help.

She said a bunch of ranchers blew by her, he said. But this carload of Rajneeshees, on their way to Rajneeshpuram for some giant Rajneesh festival, stopped to help. They brought her to me.

Hilden also recalled times when he and friends left camp and walked to nearby Antelope.

One year, around 1982, the Antelope General Store had become Zorba the Buddha, a vegan restaurant and hippy zone loaded with followers and other strangeness, Hilden said. That was weird. One summer, locals and ranchers, and the next summer, sunrise hippies wearing molded smiles and distant eyes.

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Remembering the Rajneesh - Local News - East Oregonian