Samael Aun Weor? Unmoderated opinions please..

[Sylvan]

Hi. I don't know if this is the right forum for this. I seek unmoderated yet calm, informed opinions about the teachings of Samael Aun Weor. There was a thread in DIR which had most statements moderated out of existence. This is clearly a controversial figure in the realm of south american spiritual figures.. why? His take on homosexuality? Things that happened in groups following his teachings? What are these groups and how can some information be found about their histories?

LuisDantas said he spent some time in what he later found to be a group following Weor's teachings.. how is this "double blind" implemented? Please tell me anything you know, it is not easy for english speakers to find out about these things.

Am I going to get what I want to on here (comparative religion)? If I go to religious debates will people just be trying to say "well yeah of course he's messed up.. anything thats not xian/islam/xenudanta is wrong and you're going to burn in hell!" or is it better than that?

I want the dirt here.

 

[tumbleweed41]

I really have no issue with his spiritual claims. I find them fanciful fairy tails, but one is free to believe as they wish. But when those claims venture into the natural world, the absurdity is obvious.
Such as his claim that monkeys are descended from humans through copulation with "beasts"

 

[LuisDantas]

First of all, a little clarification: all the religiousforums.com forums are moderated to some extent. The less moderated are the Debate areas. This area is Comparative Religion, and it is a Discussion area, not a Debate area.

I would assume that it is in your best interests to have this thread moved to (say) General Religious Debates. If you agree, just say so and we will move it.

Also, please note that DIRs are supposed to have no strong conversy in the first place. I don't know quite why you believe that the other thread suffered strong moderation, but I must point out that one of the forum rules (which you may consult by way of a link on the upper right corner of each page) forbids public discussion of moderation.

If you have some complaint or question about the moderation policy, please create a new thread at the Site Feedback area - http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/site-feedback/

 

[LuisDantas]

This is clearly a controversial figure in the realm of south american spiritual figures.. why? His take on homosexuality?

If you read his books, you will see that he never much aimed for being uncontroversial. He liked strong statements and, yes, he (or perhaps his main followers) were not too respectful of homosexuality, although I would not have remembered that if you hadn't reminded me.

It turns out that there are many better reasons to take what he says with a grain of salt or two. Many of them are proper religious points, even.

Things that happened in groups following his teachings? What are these groups and how can some information be found about their histories?

You would have to ask around among South Americans, I suppose. The SAW groups are very much a minority and relatively discreet, but hardly very secret.

LuisDantas said he spent some time in what he later found to be a group following Weor's teachings.. how is this "double blind" implemented?

An important clarification: while technically what you say is correct, it is not like I was being misled about their inspiration. They admitted their SAW inspiration fairly early on and made hardly any attempt at denying or hiding it.

Please tell me anything you know, it is not easy for english speakers to find out about these things.

Am I going to get what I want to on here (comparative religion)? If I go to religious debates will people just be trying to say "well yeah of course he's messed up.. anything thats not xian/islam/xenudanta is wrong and you're going to burn in hell!" or is it better than that?

I want the dirt here.

It is better than that. The variety of beliefs here is quite considerable.

 

[Sylvan]

Thanks for the info! I didn't read the moderation policy that thoroughly until now.. I have no issues with it btw just was asking.. Since the first page of that other thread was essentially all deleted posts and replies to such posts.. And yes if mods can do so please move this into Debates.

I would be interested in hearing what you have to say.

So are most groups focused on development of his techniques or the dissemination of his vast corpus of literature? It seems quite a massive subject. And does he teach Sexual Sublimation as a physical or a mental/spiritual process? I have never been able to tell..

 

[LuisDantas]

*** Thread moved as per request ***

 

[LuisDantas]

So are most groups focused on development of his techniques or the dissemination of his vast corpus of literature? It seems quite a massive subject. And does he teach Sexual Sublimation as a physical or a mental/spiritual process? I have never been able to tell..

I don't consider his writings particularly impressive, to be frank. Not even in quantity. Far as I know he wrote a few dozen books of modest size and dubious quality. His understanding of other faiths, particularly, is either very faulty or carefully misrepresented. His concept of "bodisatva" alone is rather unusual at the very least.

The SAW group that I was a part of was relatively benign, but not too big on religious reflection and a bit too fond of internal secrecy for its own good. There was a definite, if perhaps unconscious, use of social psychology techniques to make them reliant on their leaders at the expense of mutual trust. Truth be told, that is one of the less unusual characteristics of that group.

Sexual Sublimation was a strong theme at that group, yes. For the most part it attempted to give a mystical slant to what turns out to be a very conventionally moralistic and yet superstitious view of the world. They don't really make a distinction between physical and mental/spiritual aspects of sexual sublimation as far as I know. There are some very specific expectations for the sexual life of the adherents, but they aren't really all that oppressive.

One of their weirdest beliefs is what they call "recurrency". Strangely enough, they hate the concept of reincarnation, yet they nurture that belief that is very much reincarnation in disguise.

I wouldn't recommend the group, even if it turned out to be very useful to me (as an alternative to Spiritist Kardecism). Its doctrine is rather shallow and its beliefs quite naive, to the point of being dangerous.