Friday, January 20, 2006

The positive side of Adidam

In an earlier post on the subject of lies in Adidam, I mentioned that I would write something positive about Adidam also to put things in perspective. I still intend to do that. One of the problems with having to deal with people like Mr. Happy who deny the dark side of Adidam is that it forces critics to combat that denial by focusing on Adidam's worst qualities at the expense of a more rounded picture. Not that "round" is an adjective that best suits Adidam, but you know what I mean. In any case, over the next few days I'd like to post about Adidam's positive aspects as best I can. That may not satisfy the Adidam devotees who are beginning to check into this site, in that what is good about Adidam is not necessarily as great or profound or of such earth-shaking importance as the Adidam propaganda machine would like people to think. But it's certainly worth mentioning for those who want to get a fuller picture of what makes Adidam tick.

As mentioned before, I don't want this site to turn into an extended meditation on Adidam. It will certainly come up from time to time, and I don't have any problem turning my attention to it, but Adidam in general is not something I spend much time thinking about. Writing about it is simply a way of dealing with my past - and considering that I spent most of three decades in the thrall of Adidam, it's a pretty hefty part of my past, just not of my present and future. Still, I get the sense from watching the traffic flow to this site that reader interest peaks when I post on Adidam, so it seems to be on the minds of visitors here also. So I will keep some kind of commentary going on the subject from time to time.

For example, I hear there's a new book by Adi Da coming out called "The Scapegoat", or something like that, which takes the form of a dialog between Raymond Darling and Evelyn Disk, two of the main characters from The Mummery. Because The Mummery and the relationship between those two characters forms a central theme in my previously posted pieces about Adi Da on the Daism Forum, I will definitely take a look at the book and post a lengthy review incorporating my own "general theory of Adi Da" into the piece. That could be a good pretext for writing some kind of summary of my views on Adidam. I've also heard that the book was actually "performed" by Adi Da recently in front of a live audience of devotees at the Mountain of Attention, and that a DVD of that performance will soon be made available, perhaps even to the public. So a theatrical review may follow as well. Other than that, I'm not sure what else needs to be said by me about Adidam. Some of that depends on readers of this blog, who can always ask me to write about what they would like to know, regardless of the subject. And there are of course personal intersections with friends of mine who are still involved with Adidam which keeps the issue somewhat alive for me.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

BY, you mentioned you would write about aspects of Adidam if we asked. One thing I've always wondered about was meditation techniques used in Adidam. What is the method? Does it work? Is it similar to other schools?

Thanks,
Sage