ELMER GENTRY IS A FRUAD

Elmer Gentry is the blind leading the blind. Elmer Gentry is a man who gets himself worked up on his own hype, and with a certainty born of enthusiasm, sells that hype to others. He wants you to believe he has a personal relationship with God, and he wants you to pay to hear about it.

Elmer Gentry does his business in a converted gas station, or in the building that used to be the local minudo shop. His message is simple: Keep smiling, and keep telling yourself the shit in the world is roses by disguise. "Bite negativity off by the head," he says, "think Bliss."

Elmer Gentry encourages you to play the "smorgasbord game," taking a little of this and a little of that; a little Christianity, a little Zen, a little Yoga, a lot like chicken soup. Elmer Gentry wants to sell you spirituality without God. Spirituality without commitment. Spirituality that does not challenge your closely held ideas. He wants you to believe "everything is good." Elmer Gentry suffers from delusional hubris. Elmer Gentry is a fraud.

Elmer Gentry preys upon the weak and battered. He preys upon people who are marginalized, subaltern, on the fringe. He prays upon those that have been abused or exploited. He preys upon those that cannot contend with the dualities, and he sells them the idea that the polarities of the universe can be neutralized. He says that happiness is natural or God like, and saddness is a pervertion, proof certain that you have not found God. He says that your problem is your attitude.

Elmer Gentry preaches detachement from emotions. This is very cruel because it puts you at odds with your feelings. Emotions come and go all by themselves. This is a natural process resulting from the conflict between the conscious mind and the subconsious mind. The conscious mind sees the future through the present, and the subconsious mind sees the future through the past. Emotions are the subconscious and the conscious trying to reach a balance. Just watch them come and go. Be the observer and nothing more. Your breath is the proof that you are living, not your emotions. If you don't like the way you feel, wait for a while and you will have new feelings.

If you have the strength and the courage to sit quietly and watch the thoughts and emotions come and go, without hitching a ride on those thoughts, then you are meditating. Every time you meditate you experience Bliss. It may be fleeting but it is there, and more importantly it is cumulative. It is like charging your psychic battery with Bliss.

Take a look at this essay about science and meditation, taken from CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/dailydose/11/19/brain.meditation/index.html .

Yogi Bir Singh Khalsa