Presentation at the Science and Nonduality Conference.

Many well-known spiritual teachers and gurus have been accused, credibly, of sexual, financial, and behavioral abuse, despite their own spiritual attainment having seemed significant, and their teachings beneficial. As a result, some people have concluded that higher consciousness and ethical behavior are not correlated, that we are governed by our genetics and conditioning, or by "nature", and that we have no free will and thus no control over or responsibility for our actions. That logic has been used as an alibi by some misbehaving spiritual teachers.

Others have become cynical about the motives of all gurus and teachers, and some have even lost faith in spirituality altogether. Yet, every spiritual tradition includes codes of ethics that apply to both teachers and students. Ethical behavior has been regarded not only as a reflection of spiritual development but as a prerequisite to it.

To some extent, ethical values vary from culture to culture. But perhaps the contemporary spiritual community can agree upon some universal values. Can we agree that it's not all right to misrepresent ourselves? If we claim or imply that we have realized our true nature, and are offering to help others do the same, is it consistent for us to behave deceitfully, perversely, selfishly, or cruelly?

Is it possible to be an enlightened scoundrel? Are purity and saintliness characteristic of higher levels of spiritual development, or unrelated to them? These are important questions. Because we need spiritual teachers and teachings in this critical time in humanity's maturation, we need to understand what genuine spiritual attainment should look like, irrespective of personality differences. If such understanding were more commonplace, most abusive teachers and cults would be unable to get much traction.

Discussion about this talk in the Batgap Community Facebook Group.

Transcript of this interview

Other talks by or interviews of Rick on BatGap:

SAND 2019 - Knowledge/Reality is Different in Different States of Consciousness

2018 SAND Conference Q&A and Interview by Shakti Caterina Maggi

Talk at Berkeley Open Circle Center

Talk at SAND 2015

Interviewed by Fax Gilbert

Interviewed by Richard Miller

Recorded October 21, 2017.

YouTube Video Chapters:

00:00:00 - Introduction to the Ethics of Enlightenment

00:01:20 - The Ethics of Enlightenment

00:02:33 - Understanding Ethical Behavior

00:03:50 - Relativism and Ethical Standards

00:04:56 - Female genital mutilation and ethical behavior

00:06:08 - The inclusive perspective in enlightenment

00:07:12 - Shocking Behavior and Misunderstanding of Maya

00:08:26 - Different Perspectives on the World

00:09:25 - Spontaneous Right Action and Ethical Moorings

00:10:55 - Questioning Hypocrisy

00:12:09 - Ethics and Regulations in Ayahuasca Practices

00:13:09 - Evaluating and Enforcing Teacher Behavior

00:14:15 - The correlation between higher consciousness and ethical behavior

00:15:53 - The Continuous Journey of Self-Realization

00:17:07 - Development and Awakening

00:18:10 - The Illusion of Enlightenment and the Asura Titan Syndrome

00:19:15 - The Deflected Rising of Kundalini

00:20:21 - The Search for a Teacher of Supreme Truth

00:21:36 - Enlightened behavior and discernment

00:22:45 - Compassion and Confronting Wrongdoing

00:23:47 - Challenges of Assuming the Role of a Spiritual Teacher

00:24:44 - Thich Nhat Hanh and his Teaching Philosophies

00:25:57 - Holy Fools and Crazy Wisdom

00:27:07 - Living Nonduality and Ethical Guidelines

00:28:23 - Observations on Higher State of Consciousness and Unethical Behavior

00:29:09 - The Holistic Development of Enlightenment

00:30:25 - Unintentional Harm in Enlightenment

00:31:38 - Skillful Action with Harmlessness

00:32:50 - Shifting into a Persistent Nondual State