Why Are You Controversial?

Q: Over the years you've gained quite a reputation for being outspoken and uncompromising, and as a result you've found some very prominent supporters— and some very vocal critics. Why do you think people have such extreme reactions to you?

A: Because I'm trying to create something new—something that has never happened before. And this provokes tremendous resistance. This is how evolution works—the old always resists the new. And the people who meet the most resistance are those who step out ahead in pursuit of a vision of that which has not yet emerged. So my entire history since I started teaching has been this heaven-and-hell experience where I've been constantly riding on the edge of this evolutionary emergence, while simultaneously facing violent opposition both from the spiritual world and even from my own students—people who I had been very close to.

As I've been saying for many years: “Everybody wants to get enlightened but nobody wants to change.” It's a strange paradox: more and more people these days are awakening to the spiritual impulse, but very few people want to actually become a different human being. I'm asking people to change in a very specific way—to go beyond ego. And I've found out the hard way that no one wants to do that. It can intellectually make sense to people, and they say yes. But when push comes to shove, the emotional challenge simply proves to be too demanding for most. So because I actually take on the ego, I am, in a sense, calling the dragon out of the cave and doing battle with it. It's not that I don't warn people—I speak a great deal about the fact that going beyond ego is the hardest thing anyone could ever do besides face their own physical death. But nevertheless, people are always surprised when they come to the limits of their own willingness to let go of the ego, and too often they suddenly decide, even after they're already very deeply engaged in the process, that it's all too much.

You see, when someone says yes to this evolutionary calling, they're saying yes to the best part of themselves. And that's a very sacred moment. Because in the profound discovery of the evolutionary context, suddenly one's own conscience awakens to an obligation to transform, to evolve, to actually become worthy of one's own deepest experience of revelation. But saying yes is just where the journey begins, and one's sincerity will be tested. And if one recoils from that which one has said yes to, one is actually saying no to one's own deepest self. And most people don't have the humility to bear that fact. As ridiculous as it sounds, the ego is humiliated by its own failure to transcend itself, and so in order for the person to feel better about themselves, too often they have to turn against that which they had held most sacred.

Q: Don't you think you'd have more success and upset fewer people if you took a less black-and-white approach, one that gave more consideration to the differing needs of each individual?

A: Well, no, because the essence of what I'm teaching is black and white. The issue doesn't really have to do with the particular individuals, it has to do with the enormity of the task at hand. And the only thing that makes a difference is how much people actually want to do this. Now, everybody is divided about this, especially at first. When we realize how big it is, we always find that actually we don't want it as much as we thought we did. So then we have to face the fact that there's a part of us that wants this and there's a part that doesn't. The part that wants this is the authentic self, the part that doesn't is the ego. And we realize: if I want to be free, I have to let go of the ego in order to metamorphose into the authentic self. It's a simple picture, and in the end it always is black and white. This is really all anyone needs to know about the Path. Because then the question we all have to answer for ourselves is, How much do we really care about evolution? Do we have the heart to follow through, no matter what? I have found that in the end, it's a matter of conscience, of where we are at on a soul level. And this is something we can never know for sure until we are tested.

Q: So what is it that makes the difference? What is the key to evolutionary enlightenment?

A: That's simple. In the end, the key always lies in the choice of the individual. At first, I try to give everyone who comes to me an experience of how they can be, and what the world could be like, if they and those around them were abiding beyond ego in the bliss, clarity, and sincerity of the authentic self. You see, when the authentic self in one person recognizes the authentic self in another, a new world is born. We discover heaven on earth. And when we experience the ecstasy and purity of this awakened human context, we know that this is everything, that we have truly discovered that which is sacred: the end of the road, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the yonder shore. And then each one of us is left with the simple choice: Are you willing to let go of the part of yourself that wants to resist, so that a new world can become manifest in this one, as you?