I deeply appreciate Jim and Tony's work. I appreciate their lineage. Yet there can be some traps there.
Here are 4 of them:
1. Seekers can easily concretize their message into a belief system—and as a belief system, their message is bleak and depressing.
2. Jim & Tony's frequent discussions of the non-event of the 'self falling away' can give an ambient sense of another spiritual 'carrot on a stick'—a feeling of a 'condition' that must be fulfilled before unconditional freedom can be unconditionally free. If unconditional freedom required a condition of 'zero selfing' to be unconditional freedom, it would not be unconditionally free.
3. Their message can easily be used to reify or prioritize emptiness or 'nothing,' thereby overlooking the FULLNESS and JUICINESS and LUSCIOUSNESS of the FORMFULNESS which is fully INCLUDED and non-separate from Home here and now. Nothing is negated. There are no illusions—just THIS ALL-INCLUSIVE WHOLENESS.
4. Their all-negating message can also easily seem to negate, deny, bypass, or diminish the sacramental human journeys we are all living. These poetic human journeys are FULLY INCLUDED and there is in actuality no dichotomy or hierarchy whatsoever between humanity and emptiness. Both are simply THIS.
This is the most-viewed video I have uploaded to YouTube in a long time
Watch / listen to my full discussion of these points here:
With Love,
Jordan
🍃 if these words resonated, consider joining us for simple freedom
as i shared recently on my other newsletter, i am gifting the world a free 3-week digital retreat called simple freedom starting january 22nd
this retreat focuses on an ever-available freedom to be as you are now
it focuses on undercutting all ‘carrots on sticks’ and fantasies of a future spiritual destination — giving full permission to relax as already-wholeness now and settle into the joy of unending unfurlment
you can learn more about the retreat here, or you can already go ahead and join us in the simple freedom telegram community, where all official communications for the retreat will take place:
🍃 jordan bates is a dad, husband, friend, author of 5 books, rapper, space-holder, world traveler, and passionate explorer of what is. you can read kind words people have shared about his work here
further resources for exploring the shadows of neo-advaita & radical nonduality:
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some of jb’s favorite songs he’s made:
a final note
hey fam, just wanna speak from the heart for a moment to say i love you…
you’re beautiful
you’re gorgeous
you are a living poem just as you are
honestly from the bottom of my heart, as far as i can see, you’re perfect and you can fully relax into being as you are in this moment
it’s natural to grow and heal and blossom yet we don’t have to do so from an energy of ‘not-enough-ness’
i invite you to relax as wholeness now and just let yourself unfold naturally
notice the blue sky
we can trust life & God & the universe
1luv,
jordan <3
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