Non-duality teacher Jeff Foster is sick.....

[Mu_]

I found this in another forum.  I thought some of you might find it interesting.

I have found interesting the two recent newsletters that Jeff Foster has sent to his followers, about his challenge to serious health problems. I leave here both links in case anyone is interested or knows something or wants to comment:

1) "I WASN’T PREPARED FOR THIS” — ILLNESS AND THE ACHE OF NOW (5th April 2021): http://r.lifewithoutacentre.com/acg5x5bbedt7e.html?t=1617644519

2) “I WRITE BOOKS ABOUT ACCEPTANCE... BUT I JUST CANNOT ACCEPT THIS”. — A Confession. (1st May 2021): http://r.lifewithoutacentre.com/mk/mr/nKauvvrCJ8OLrBhtl3_WWyJhPiPX3Omt8ZvYdn2aMIsAbIIeMNT6HxbCcWBe46RBt9Zc3B5snE0RnjhXoAMtjt83H5vcXnYPM_qAtAX1eCIJOeeC

[traveler]

Thanks for sharing.

[Gili Trawangan]

Very poignant messages.

We easily take our health for granted, as I was reading there was a strong stirring of emotion. A sense of humility, I guess, coming from his words.

[Ananta]

I'm sorry to hear he is not healthy. Hoping he will be able to overcome this illness.

This is one of my absolute favorite laughing guru videos-

Hoping for better times for him in the future.❤

[Preety_India]

Sorry to hear about that. Hope he gets better. 

 

[Blackhawk]

So now you are taking suffering seriously? Sometimes I think some "spiritual gurus" are sitting on high horses, so they need suffering to become humble and realize how important it is to end suffering for as many beings as possible, and how cruel God is and how powerless we are...

Edited May 2, 2021 by Blackhawk

[Consilience]

This is very sad to hear. I remember finding Jeff Foster awhile back and being profoundly touched by his talks on YouTube, he really helped ground these lofty spiritual ideas into the reality of human experience. To read this is... humbling and heart breaking. 

This is why I will always practice meditation and why I take practice so seriously. This is why the neo advaita philosophy is so shallow as far as Im concerned. When the conditions of life shift in an instant, how ready are we really? How awakened are we really? How deeply do we see, understand, and accept reality? In many ways, the degree to which we suffer is inversely proportional to the degree to which we are awake. We will all face aging, illness, and death, most of us will face aging, illness, and death before we are ready. It can all be taken away in an instant. It will all be taken away in an instant. May we all have the clarity and openness to acknowledge and accept this loving experience of life, independent of the conditions and qualities it presents. May we see the deeper reality residing beneath.

May we all be free from suffering. May we all be truly happy. 

Sending him love and light. 

[Moksha]

Thanks for sharing. I recently finished Being Ram Dass, and was inspired by the integrity following his stroke, eventuating, after years of disability, in his death. They made a custom wheelchair for the guy, which could take him to the edge of the ocean. Love and courage to the last.

We are all mortal. As kids, we don't see it. As adults, we tunnel vision on survival. Eventually, we realize that despite our best intentions, all of "this" will end. We will be a corpse in the ground, or ashes on the Ganges. Maybe we are reborn, maybe not. It doesn't matter. The secret is in the present moment.

As Ram Dass put it beautifully, Be Here Now.

[Leo Gura]

Surprise, surprise. State matters.

Hard to be happy when your health fails you.

I hope his state improves.

Do not take good health for granted. It is a precious gift that hangs by one pubic hair.

[Blackhawk]

2 hours ago, Mu_ said:

2) “I WRITE BOOKS ABOUT ACCEPTANCE... BUT I JUST CANNOT ACCEPT THIS”. — A Confession. (1st May 2021): http://r.lifewithoutacentre.com/mk/mr/nKauvvrCJ8OLrBhtl3_WWyJhPiPX3Omt8ZvYdn2aMIsAbIIeMNT6HxbCcWBe46RBt9Zc3B5snE0RnjhXoAMtjt83H5vcXnYPM_qAtAX1eCIJOeeC

"I am holding you all in my heart, you who find yourselves in this same strange place as I.

Now, say it with me:

'Namaste. F**k this sh*t!'"

 

That's a good one. Actually I will use the last sentence as my signature.

[Raptorsin7]

Is anyone familiar with his teaching? Did he speak about transcending suffering, pain etc as part of his teaching or was he an emotionless zombie neo-advaita teacher?

I've had experiences on psychs where I felt nausea, headache, pain etc literally get flushed out of my being by feeling into sensations in the third eye region and I'm not even enlightened. I find it hard to believe that true meditation master could suffer intensely from physical pain. 

Edited May 2, 2021 by Raptorsin7

[blackchair]

for the past 6 months I have problems with my eyes, i feel for him on ALL levels except i dont teach, he can do it! 

[Mu_]

1 hour ago, Raptorsin7 said:

Is anyone familiar with his teaching? Did he speak about transcending suffering, pain etc as part of his teaching or was he an emotionless zombie neo-advaita teacher?

I've had experiences on psychs where I felt nausea, headache, pain etc literally get flushed out of my being by feeling into sensations in the third eye region and I'm not even enlightened. I find it hard to believe that true meditation master could suffer intensely from physical pain. 

He had a big heart and encouraged others to embrace pain and struggle as part of life. He’s worth listening to. 

[Enlightenment]

Quote

so immediacy versus “aboutism.” On the one hand, I can tell you what’s going on for me right now. On the other hand, I can talk about it. So I thought of this quest – imagine that you say, “I want to find the most enlightened person in the world,” and you have some notion of what that would be like, so of course you would have to go to the Himalayas and find this person. For the sake of International Women’s Day, this is a woman. She’s up on the mountain and she’s the most enlightened person in the world. So you get there and you bow down or kneel down before her and you say, “What’s it like? What’s it like to be enlightened? What does it mean to be enlightened?” Now, if she’s really on her game that day, she’ll say something like, “Right now, I’ve got this itch next to my eye. And I can feel pressure against the bottom of my feet because I’m standing.” If she’s not really on her game that day, she’s going to say, “Oh, enlightenment is so wonderful! When you’re enlightened, it’s going to feel like this,” which is aboutism and is complete bullshit. So immediacy is the only way this makes any sense at all.

It’s tempting to think that an enlightened person will never have a bad day, because after all, that’s what I want. When I’m enlightened, I don’t ever want to have a bad day. So in my fantasy version of magical enlightenment, whenever anybody says “What’s it feel like to be enlightened?”, you’re going to say “It’s a non-dual experience 24/7. It just doesn’t get any better than this.” But of course you can’t find anybody like that. There isn’t anybody like that because that’s not how it works to be a person. And so if it’s going to be real, if enlightenment is going to mean anything, it’s going to have to be a real-time report. When you say “What’s it like?”, that person is going to have to tell you about their gas pain.

Hope you get well Jeff

Respect for telling how he truly feels about it despite it not being in line with people's non-dual fantasies

[Lyubov]

He seems really unwell... even emotionally/psychologically in his second post. don’t underestimate how how painful a sickness can be. I really pray for good health for everyone ?

[Eternity]

Ego can be very nasty in it's effort to force you back under its influence.  We often underestimate how vicious it is. I've had some very nasty things happen to me.  I was in bed for 3 months with an injured nerve and went through 7 doctors who all diagnosed it as a hamstring pull.  I could not walk except to the bathroom and back.  I thought about suicide seriously because I felt I could not live the rest of my life in such pain.  Finally I was led to a remarkable doctor who diagnosed it and gave me meds so that I could function again.  The latest was when I broke my back at the beginning of April trying to lift my husband off the floor after he'd had a reaction to the second covid vaccine. This occurred right after having several awakenings in a short amount of time.  Ego lashes right back when you've made any progrress of a spiritual kind.  I wish Jeff the best and luck in finding a cure.

[Corpus]

I wish him well. 

POTS generally is a pretty mild condition. This is the diagnosis Jeff has declared. There are however a number of conditions of autonomic dysfunction which are progressive and really unpleasant. None of us have access to his medical notes to know fully what the situation is. 

[TheDao]

I hope he will find peace with his situation. Best wishes.

His writings help me dealing with death of others and my sickness. Sooner or later everybody has to deal with big loss.  Thank you Jeff for being authentic and articulating this in your nice style of writing.

Edited May 3, 2021 by TheDao

[Beginner Mind]

I'm sorry to hear this.

His audio program "The Deepest Acceptance" was a big help to me.

[Javfly33]

On 2/5/2021 at 7:53 AM, Raptorsin7 said:

Is anyone familiar with his teaching? Did he speak about transcending suffering, pain etc as part of his teaching or was he an emotionless zombie neo-advaita teacher?

I've had experiences on psychs where I felt nausea, headache, pain etc literally get flushed out of my being by feeling into sensations in the third eye region and I'm not even enlightened. I find it hard to believe that true meditation master could suffer intensely from physical pain. 

My theory is that because the amount on Focus you have on a psychedelic is magnitudes above the meditation state a common pro meditator can hold as a baseline.