ALLURE OF THE OBSCURE

.............................. by Stanley

...........There is a common misconception that stubborn personal problems can be solved by a better understanding of them. And so intelligent people can be attracted to and hooked by doctrines they don’t understand. This is because, they think, the secret must lie in something that’s beyond them, in something they don’t yet understand.
...........Let me explain. Suppose John has a difficult personal problem like recurrent depression or repetitive bad relationships or overeating or drinking too much. He asks himself, ‘why do I do this? There is something wrong and I don’t know what it is.’ Now begins his search to find out what is wrong with him. So he reads books or listens to taped talks by those who claim to know what is wrong with people and who also claim they know the answer.
.......... If you understand what is wrong you should be able to put it right. Right?
...........Right! So it’s obvious that John’s present understanding of himself is faulty otherwise he would be OK. His understanding must be lacking. That’s the key: ‘my present understanding is faulty’. It’s the key to his search which, by this very assumption, is doomed to fail.
...........It is doomed because all one ever has is one’s present understanding.
...........It follows logically that whatever John does understand can’t be the solution because he still gets depressed, eats or drinks too much or whatever. His present understanding is faulty. That’s his conclusion. But one always only ever has one’s present understanding. Deadlock!
..........Now he will have the tendency to read books or listen to tapes that he can’t understand. These hook him because the answer must lie in something he doesn’t yet understand. Thus the allure of the obscure.
..........Mystical or esoteric doctrines play into this unfortunate misconception. For example: ‘I really don’t understand Jung. He’s very profound and confusing. I’m attracted because he promises the answer. But I don’t really understand him. I’ll have to read him more and try harder to find the secret.’
..........But assuming there is a secret to be found, which is doubtful, he would never recognise it because it would be a present understanding – which, by definition, he always thinks is wrong.
..........Remember, when John tries hard to understand it means he overlooks what he does see or grasp because of the assumption that it must be faulty. He overlooks small insights. He misses the small steps because he wants the big step – the total disappearance of the problem.
..........This is a sign of real desperation and of prolonged deprivation. The only hope he sees is the magic of occult enlightenment or mystic understanding, the flash of light – fulfillment at last. It is a humungous longing for something he missed long ago. Something life-supporting that was out of reach.
..........He has only known deprivation; and an attachment to a mystical doctrine will guarantee the deprivation will persist. What he wants is always just beyond, like it always has been. The Search then becomes the leitmotif of his life – the search for the answer, the love, the touch, maybe the smile he missed when he first woke up in the world.
..........Failing the gift of life he longs for, failing that, whatever immediately gives itself to him, the wee present insight, can’t be important – simply because he has it right now, it isn’t what he is reaching for. He is still reaching for what was unreachable. He always never gets what he really wants. That’s the template for all his experience; but maybe secret is in the folds of the guru’s robe or hidden in his profound utterances or in his next book. The lifelong search continues.


...........A similar guarantee of continued deprivation affects many followers of New Age Panaceas. It goes like this:

..........‘I understand THE OCCULT LAW OF ATTRACTION, but I haven’t yet been able to fully put it into practice. When I do I know I’ll feel great.’

.......... A variation of this is:
‘I understand POSITIVE AFFIRMATION and I put it into practice every day. My life is now wonderful. If I could get my husband to understand me things would be perfect. I’m working on it. As it is, he’s just too pig-headed and stubborn! Otherwise, everything is just great!

.............Yet another version:
‘CHANNELLING with my spiritual guide makes me feel so good when he helps me understand my life. I feel confident that I will be able to get off Prozac in the very near future.’
............Yet again:
When my therapist INTERPRETS MY DREAMS I’m amazed how he sees things I would never have thought of. He’s absolutely marvelous – I hope one day he’ll ask me about me.
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