The numbered articles listed in this blog’s “Page Index” are chapters in a free, downloadable online book: “Blowing the Whistle on Enlightenment: Confessions of a New Age Heretic,” by Bronte Baxter. To read or download a chapter, click on the chapter title below.
These chapters were originally published as blog articles on this website. For your convenience, they have been extracted from the other blog articles and compiled as a unit here.
The chapters build on each other, so it pays to read them in order. Feel free to leave any comments of your own at the bottom of each one.
Chapter 1: The Hidden Agenda of Mantra Meditation
Chapter 2: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone? – Part One
Chapter 3: Where Have All the Flower Children Gone? – Part Two
Chapter 4: When Deepest Cherished Beliefs Come Tumbling Down
Chapter 5: Tracking the Crack in the Universe (Loosh 101)
Chapter 6: The Forgotten Key to Freedom (Loosh 102)
Chapter 7: Enlightenement: From Siphoning to Assimilation
Chapter 8: Catching More Flies with Honey: How ‘Love’ and ‘Oneness’ Teachings Are Used to Disempower
Chapter 9: Amma, the Mother Saint – Hugging Away Your Personhood
Chapter 10: Creating Reality from Thought
Chapter 11: Goal of ‘The Oneness Doctrine’: Kill Everything Oneness Kills Cares About
Chapter 12: Human Will: the Forgotten Freedom Faculty
Chapter 13: The Power of Will (Continued)
Chapter 14: Brahman: the Doughnut that Eats Itself
camille said,
July 24, 2009 at 5:56 am
i find all this info very startling, bold and different from all the other ‘enlightenment’ stuff on the web. i just very recently denounced karma as a part of my truth because i began to think what intelligent, caring creator would impose such nonsense upon his/her creations; i just happened upon your site yesterday and was reading an article about manifestation and read what you had to say about karma and i had to say out loud “thank you!” after reading that. you are actually the only person i have ever heard talk that way about karma. when i began to think karma was a crock of shit, i said the universe would just have to be mad at me for coming to that conclusion! i am very glad i found your blog. anyway, i do not know anything about mantra meditation; i came across some words on some website about ascension last month that i have a question about. would you happen to know anything about the meaning of these words: jot niranjan, omkar, rarankar, sohang, sat nam ? to me they sound like indian words like the ones you are speaking about in mantra meditation.
brontebaxter said,
July 24, 2009 at 8:05 am
Hi Camille. I don’t know much Sanskrit, so I can’t translate those words for you. You might try an online Sanskrit to English dictionary. I can tell you that “nam” at the end means “bow down to,” so true to the style of those wonderful mantras, this cryptic little phrase has you surrendering your power to something (or more likely to someone).
Bronte
Joe said,
October 16, 2009 at 7:04 pm
I’ve just finished reading all the chapters and I just want to say “wow!” I feel extremely uplifted, so thankyou very much, Bronte. Keep up the good work. I’ve been struggling with a lot of the stuff you talk about for a long time, believing and following certain teachings and then becoming dissillusioned and swinging to the other extreme of cynicism and anger at myself for being so gullible. I realise now that I’m probably normal in terms of my levels of acceptance and questioning. You’re perspective is very valuable in that it is balanced and seperates out subtleties in spiritual teachings that I have never been able to distinguish before. Once again, thanks!
Chris said,
July 7, 2011 at 5:04 pm
Very interesting site Bronte very important information, I’ve spent many years with the Eastern teachings and some of them can definitely open people to abuse if they’re not careful, but I think this is because of certain similar elements not just because of the teachings themselves.Even the Western teachings can do the same thing, people really need to do a primer on basic psychology before delving into spirituality no matter what the flavour! It can lead one to certain madness and worse if they are not inwardly fortified beforehand. As a wise saying says ” The ocean of enlightenment is where a mystic can swim and a psychotic drown”. People really need a ‘map’ where pioneers such as yourself have gone before so they don’t make the same mistakes. I’ve had to counsel many people involved with various movements to move them back to THEIR truth which really in the end is all that matters.
josey said,
July 7, 2011 at 9:29 pm
Great blog. I will have to leave a link to it on my own blog:
http://downthecrookedpath-meditation-gurus.blogspot.com/
Gary said,
July 15, 2011 at 11:44 am
Camille,
Those five mantras come from the Surat Shabd tradition. They claim to be superior to all other traditions because their path starts where all other paths end. Those 5 mantras relate to the top 5 planes and the gods who rule them. They have had the same guru scandals and wars and fights over successorship as all the others. They are very much into guru worship and very controlling.
josey,
that link is very eye-opening! Those lamas have had quite a scam going for all these centuries. It does sound like a path of black magic to me and definitely doesn’t jive with Buddhism. It also explains what Muktananda was doing with all his lil teenage princesses as well as Trungpa’s many affairs. Just a thought here: What if osel Tenzin wasn’t caught and brought down in scandal? That would give a whole new definition to the role of consort and they would have to remake a lot of those tantric sculptures.
josey said,
July 16, 2011 at 8:07 am
I am reading a very interesting book, Lust for Enlightenment that goes into the Buddha’s teachings of celibacy and how hard it was for monks and nuns to remain celibate, seems cruel, and then it goes into Tibetan Buddhism and well, as you know from the blog, it has its own nightmares and degenerative behavior. Having not finished it, it is now talking about Japan’s Pure-land Buddhism, and how they gave up the idea of celibacy and said that Priests should just marry. I would think that this would be the middle way and not what Buddha taught as the middle way.
P.S. The lamas still have a scam going. They deny that the meditation is sexual, and then they lure men and women into the practice slowly. Once a disciple trusts the lama, and maybe even loves the lama, well, he can get them into practice, but of course rape does happen to some if they don’t comply.