The Spiritual Guru Test: A Critical Guide to America’s New Cult Leaders

The 1980's may be known in the future by spiritual aspirants as the decade of the fallen guru. Already a number of prominent and respected religious masters in India and elsewhere have had their secret, private lives exposed: hidden Swiss bank accounts; extensive cases of plagiarism; sexual misconduct; violent retaliations against detractors; egotistical power plays; drug trafficking and more.
It is no longer "in" or respectable to follow a guru. The New Age is growing old. The Aquarian Conspiracy is backfiring. The Golden Age of Enlightenment is rusting. What happened to the Consciousness Revolution?
Critical reasoning. Instead of a quantum leap into transformed dimensions of awareness, spiritual seekers have begun to develop a keen sense of discrimination. Since the Jonestown tragedy, it is no longer sensible, according to the general public, to forego one's rational mind in the hope of a transcendent paradise. Crucial questions arise: "If the teachings don't make logical sense on this plane, what is the assurance that they will come together in the higher astral worlds?" - "Why does my teacher have the privilege to rationalize away his/her worldly expressions of anger and lust, as part of his/her awakening method, when my same actions are always called vices to be conquered?" - "Is the thinking mind really the enemy that should be suppressed and fought?"