Having had access to a genuine guru, a Master who has attained true Enlightenment himself, has had a strange effect upon the inner circle of members and directors of the Aetherius Society. In actual fact, they themselves have little or nothing to show. It is all so much ineffectual hot air despite their perceived exclusivity.
They are not aware that they are following their Master's work in the world but not his own path of personal spiritual development. Not having had certain essential experiences themselves, they naively dabble in things that they have no real experience or understanding of and can't see the dangers or the pitfalls yet, like monkeys, they cannot let go. Obviously, he chose not to train them any further.....
In other words, they are "the Masters' apprentices" in name only. Despite their efforts, they do not realize that they still haven't really stepped upon the Path. They are blocked by self-delusion and conceit and they are so pre-occupied with their position in the world that they are open to deception and manipulation in the worst ways.
As a kind of Spiritualist Church, the Aetherius Society is neither specifically a Christian organization or a Buddhist one or Hindu or anything else as far as the established religions are concerned. Yet, latterly, that has not stopped them from usurping the trappings of Buddhism in particular and their website is now crammed with statues of Buddhas and other religions' deities.
They seem to be trying to fill a chasm which has opened as regards their own inability to perceive a path and to follow it. In other words, they are doing their best to ignore their Master's directions. In the end, they can only build up their own egos to a point of conceit and self-destruction. This is known as madness and, having wandered away, they now have no-one on the higher realms to guide them as a result.
Depending upon cleverly making their way in the world by fooling both themselves and others will be their downfall. It is best not to be exposed to such folly oneself as the consequences are pitiful yet severe. Mao's "long march" or Moses' "forty years in the wilderness" will seem as nothing when it all finally catches up with them.
Doting on disgusting little figures such as this (below) and statues which do not belong to them will give no support in their hour of need. Not sweeping their own doorsteps before advising others is a serious shortcoming. Another teacher, Swami Yogananda, once condemned it as the "spiritual laziness" of those not awakened.
Praying into radionic batteries is a fools' errand when one has not developed the necessary mystical skills. Not only are they unable to retrieve the energy successfully, they are themselves unclean vessels from which nothing useful can come. And what "adept" would want to manipulate their murky emotionally-colored energy of wants and desires out into the world and what possible good could it do anyway?It is very wrong of the Society to put pictures of mudras being performed onto the internet for public viewing. That applies to this person who imagines he is achieving anything just by adopting a hand-sign without the inner knowledge that goes with it. They are fools but worse still is the picture on their site of a woman performing a mudra and breathing exercise. That is suggesting to people that it is harmless to undertake such a practice unsupervised by a real Master.
Additionally, the websites of some of the Society's branches advertise yoga training classes although the Society doesn't teach yoga and none of its Directors or initiates were ever trained in yoga the way their Master was himself. That was not his aim. As such, they should refer people on to an accredited yoga school or desist unless the class is being run separately by an independently accredited teacher. And, as none of them have achieved the very specific level of inner Self-Realization necessary, they should also desist in showing or teaching mudra as well. But then, America has crazy gun laws too, uhh.....
As with the proverbial lowly priest who swept the stables and prayed for the animals, it is the quiet and the meek and humble and unassuming who actually may be the most spiritual. The ordinary Reiki healer usually does far better work in their earnestness and dedication than the arrogant so-called Reiki master who has stupidly paid many $1,000's for his or her supposed mastership over others. There are no certificates or paper degrees for these things. It is all in the heart and the innate desire to serve one's Creator, uhh.Hui-neng: "...our essence of mind, which is the seed or kernel of enlightenment, is pure by nature, and by making use of this mind alone, we can reach buddhahood directly..."
