Beyond Jed McKenna & Leo Gura
How's that for a spicy title... 🌶️
Jed McKenna and Leo Gura impacted me a lot in life.
Their work is extremely powerful.
I previously wrote about Jed here and here.
And I wrote a long thread about Leo on Twitter here.
I still appreciate Jed and Leo.
In fact, Leo’s blog is one of the few blogs I still spend significant time reading, and his forum is also a fascinating place that I like to visit.
At the same time, there are certain ways in which I have come to see Jed and Leo as representing spiritual views which are dangerous.
I want to speak on this here while the inspiration is striking, as I’ve wanted to articulate this for a while:
Beyond Solipsism
As far as I’m aware, both Jed and Leo are solipsists.
They literally believe that “there are no others.”
They believe they are the One Absolute Consciousness and that nothing else whatsoever exists.
(Pretty sure Jim Newman and Tony Parsons are solipsists as well. It’s a common theme in the radical nonduality community.)
I understand how these guys arrived at this place.
I too have experienced profound periods of awakening in which it felt like “there are no others.”
Yet at this point, I have come to see this view as deeply incorrect and dangerous.
It doesn’t grok the both-neither-far-beyond-either-ness of reality.
It’s a view that is often immensely depressing and destabilizing for spiritual seekers who ‘try it on.’
(Similar story with Nick-Bostromian and Elon-Muskian ‘simulation theory,’ which I also hold to be deeply incorrect and dangerous.)
It’s not just about not grasping the both-neither-far-beyond-either-ness, though.
Beyond even the both-neither-far-beyond-either-ness of reality, there is Love.
Love is the Heart of Reality.
So the deeper issue is a lack of Deep Heart-Opening.
This seems especially to be an issue for spiritual teachers who are single and/or childless men.
Simply put:
They can’t see what they can’t see.
They can’t feel what they can’t feel.
They tend to believe they have ‘arrived’ at some destination of enlightenment.
Yet they don’t realize how biased they are toward ‘consciousness work’ and ‘crown chakra’ openings.
In other words, the Light they are tapping into is mostly being experienced through the higher chakras—the higher energy centers.
They may believe that isn’t the case—they may claim that their Heart has opened—and likely they’re right, to a degree.
But the degree is crucial here.
When the Light really penetrates the Heart, it’s a whole other opening—a whole other paradigm of awakening.
You can feel when a teacher’s Heart has opened at this depth. Someone like Adyashanti or Anandamayi Ma are good examples of a Heart-opened teacher. There is a great softening that occurs—and a way of speaking about Love that goes way beyond ‘consciousness work.’
Hallmarks of Not-Substantially-Heart-Opened Teachers
Some hallmarks of not-substantially-Heart-opened teachers are:
Espousing solipsism
Espousing nihilism-y statements about life being meaningless
Stating that the world of form is an illusion
Using a lot of ‘video game’ or tech-based or cerebral metaphors when they speak of reality and the world of form
Claiming that relationships are illusions or that one should abandon one’s family
Giving lip service to Love but you can’t really, really FEEL their throbbing, gushing Hearts
Often seeming cold, aloof, mean, immature, boyish, or ‘on an out-of-reach pedestal’ despite claiming to be the ‘wise teacher’
Giving off a subtle sense of avoidance, emotional unavailability, or ‘keeping life at arm’s length’
Adopting a ‘guru’ persona/style (even if they claim not to be a guru) and seeming to subtly ‘get off’ on the power of that
Stating that life has no purpose or value
(Implicitly) presenting the idea that they have ‘arrived’ at ‘enlightenment’
Claiming that ‘alien consciousness’ is the ultimate goal of spiritual work rather than being ever more fully sanctified & breathed by Love itself — (this one specifically applies to Leo)
Claiming that “there is no one here” or “there is nothing here”
If a teacher is exhibiting any of these, or especially multiple of these, there’s a good chance the Heart is still substantially closed.
Heart-opening is a spectrum that goes on forever. The Heart can always open more profoundly. So I’m certainly not claiming my Heart is ‘permanently all the way open’ or something like that. It’s a never-ending journey and I have sooooo much farther to go.
Yet for me there was a profound Heart-opening that occurred when my daughter was born—and blossomed to a whole other fruition about ~6 months after she was born.
(I’m not claiming this automatically happens for all parents, but parenthood seems to be one of the strongest catalysts in this direction, if you are open to it.)
This led me out of my phase of being overly fascinated by the Jeds, Leos, and Bentinho Massaros of the nondual scene. Again, I still deeply appreciate a lot of what these guys teach—and they’re all incredibly brilliant, insightful, and powerful teachers—but I have come to feel that they make some critical errors that can severely lead seekers astray.
Beyond Meaninglessness, Purposelessness, and Value-less-ness
This is another huge one.
A lot of these types of guys—especially Jed Mckenna and Jim Newman, off the top of my head—strongly lead people toward an idea that life is completely meaningless, purposeless, and value-less.
This is false.
When the Heart is substantially open…
Life is clearly overflowing with meaning-full-ness and Divine far-beyond-meaning-ness.
Life is overflowing with purpose, intentionality, intelligent design, and guidance to align with one’s higher dharmic callings.
Life is clearly seen to be the ultimate value & gift—priceless, un-price-able, and worth infinity dollars.
And other people clearly exist as much more than ‘mere concepts.’
(Sure, we all may be entirely made of the Light of God, yet that does not mean we and our loved ones do not exist. It’s all real.)
Beyond and within ‘emptiness’ there is Love.
I believe Buddha and other high-level bodhisattvas have known this, yet the tendency in modern pseudo-Buddhism is to fixate ‘emptiness.’
Yes, emptiness—though I prefer better terms like ‘unresolvability’ or ‘indefinability’—is a profound quality within God’s mysterious nature. Yet it’s not the ultimate.
Even though God will always be a mystery…
The essence of that mystery is a Love beyond all reckoning.
An undeniable Love that must be experienced to be understood.
This Love forever opens into more of itself, and in that sense it is bottomless, exquisitely mysterious, and ‘forever beyond.’
Yet it’s still Love.
And it’s here now. It is utterly intimate. Transcendent yet personal. Closer than your bones. And it is known by your Heart.
So… have no fear. Heave a sacred sigh of relief.
Stop listening to the guys who tell you that life is meaningless, purposeless, value-less, and that other people don’t exist.
(Or at least stop listening to those aspects of their teaching.)
They’re wrong.
Don’t just take my word for it—find out for yourself.
But in the mean time, I recommend receiving what I’m telling you and holding that as a more foundational cradle for your innocent child-soul.
Because again, taking on these guys’ proclamations of solipsism, meaninglessness, purposelessness, and value-less-ness can be severely destabilizing, depressing, and even suicide-inducing.
It’s a form of dark-magickal hypnosis that they don’t realize they’re weaving.
In many cases they’re mistaking ‘the void’ for the Heart of Reality. David Hawkins—whose work I don’t fully resonate with either but who has many wonderful and valuable teachings—eloquently illuminates this trap here:
Read this part one more time:
“Yet despite [the void’s] seeming nonlinear totality, there was an awareness of the absence of a critical quality that had been experienced as a youth in the snow bank—the exquisite softness, the at-homeness, the familiarity, the recognition of the essence of the totality of Reality as all-inclusive Love. This quality of Love is beyond joy or ecstasy and is intrinsic to the state of Peace.
Strikingly, the Void is very similar to the Ultimate State, except that it is devoid of the Love that is the very essence of Divinity.”
Gorgeous.
I don’t know if I’d call anything the ‘ultimate state,’ but Hawkins is on point regarding the essence of Divinity.
God is Love.
And through the eyes of ever-deepening Love, reality is seen ever more clearly.
And as Love literally suffuses one’s body and being-ness, one is sanctified and purified and gradually moves into ever-deepening embodiment of Love.
To truly embody and become God’s Infinite Love—rather than simply ‘realizing’ it—is the central purpose and never-ending quest of real spirituality.
That, at least, is what JB’s most sensitive sensing presently suggests. : )
Truly, y’all:
Have no fear.
Heave a sigh of relief.
The solipsists and nihilists are woefully incorrect.
Don’t let them lure you into an ominous reality-tunnel.
Open the Heart.
The Heart knows.
Your Heart contains all the answers you are looking for.
Great Love,
Jordan
www.jordanbates.life
Wonderfully stated, Jordan. Ordinary awareness and enjoyment are unbeatable. Much love to you, brother.
Any spiritual teachers you would recommend or vibing with at the moment?