stripping the gurus - Brahma Kumaris Info

OF CABBAGES AND NATURE SPRITES 283
ture. That is, unlike what we might have expected to see from
some of the “Rude Boys” in this world, Joy was certainly not run off
the property for his comments. Nor was he stripped naked or called
a “bottom feeder” by the respected leaders of the community. By
contrast, were such criticisms as Joy’s directed toward the divine
guru-figure or holy ashram of the average disciple, the latter would
more often than not consider them to be violently blasphemous.
In a way, though, one could still actually be surprised, overall,
by that temperate response. For, considering the grandiose perspective
from which the community was founded, coupled with Peter
Caddy’s authoritarian control during the first decade of its existence,
things could have turned out much worse. As it currently
stands, however, Findhorn welcomes more than 14,000 guests each
year for temporary work retreats or to one of several hundred
adult classes taught year-round by New Age personages such as
the “spiritual healer” Caroline Myss. It also exists as part of a
global network of sustainable “Ecovillages.”
Apparently, then, not every foray into spiritually-based community
living need end in disaster. Undoubtedly, though, such a
diverse group of “believers” as exist in Findhorn would have far
less potential for messing up a community than if they were all
following the same “sage,” i.e., if they all shared and reinforced the
same “madness” in each other. After all, a mixed group of people,
even if they were each totally conforming to the tenets and expected
behaviors of their respective paths, would still effectively
create a diverse population of ideas and perspectives.
A more heterogeneous group of people living together in a
community I could not have imagined (Hawken, 1976).
And, as in agriculture, such a varied population is less likely
to be devastatingly affected by any specific pathology than is a homogeneous
one.
The Findhorn community, further, is a relatively “feel-good,
New Age” one. It has thus never placed any primary emphasis on
“destroying the ego” as a means to God-realization. Consequently,
it has not sanctioned that easy outlet for sadistic behavior toward
others, as if it were “for their own good” as a cover for simply exacting
respect and obedience from them, to the degree which one finds
in the typical ashram.
Probably of equal or greater importance, though, was the fading-out
of the Caddys’ influence as the community grew. That was