Divine Narcissism: is a term coined by Zzenn in his book unSpirituality: Permission to be Human. It is characterized by a grandiose sense of self-importance based on the belief that one is a spiritual being or consciousness that lives independently from the body. The "spiritual identity" must promote itself and its metaphysical abilities to keep self-deception intact by impressing others. Love and light are the typical tools to gain admiration.

Leo Gura has been a rising star on YouTube for several years and has accumulated quite a following. His website offers teachings ranging from personal motivation, dating, health, and financial success to philosophical musings.

Now, that all sounds good and practical. Who couldn't use a little advice on improving their lives— right? Let's look deeper.

There are a number of red flags with Leo's teachings starting with the word Awakening. Leo seems to believe that one awakening after another through hallucinogens such as DMT brings one up the ladder to enlightenment. Video after video, he showers his audience with his "new awakening experience." This is what you find with people who pretend to be enlightened.

One of the key pitfalls of the path is believing you are enlightened. It is a dream state. It is Maya, delusion, illusion. If you really want to wake up you must wake up from your experiences.

— Zzenn

Anyone can have "awakening experiences," but what comes up must come down, and all these experiences are transitory. True awakening is the default self. When all the childhood fantasies about reality are crushed, and you are left with nothing but "what is" . . . and let me tell you, it's not a happy experience, more like an emotional meltdown. Consider why people who teach this path don't make it rich on YouTube. Leo currently has over a million subscribers, all following his dream state.

It probably is if you think something is too good to be true. Unless you've achieved something of substance rather than a spiritual pipe dream in the real world, you are floating in dreamland. It is an escape from reality—nothing more. Reality is a bitch, and that's why spiritual paths are filled with endless illusions.

Watch two of Leo's awakening experiences and remember that this is nothing but a treadmill to an imagined destination. It is a dead-end but a necessary step to existential disappointment, which leads to acceptance of "what is". Anyone on DMT can share fantastic stories. It does not require a special spiritual status to share the fun.

Enlightenment Experience Happening In Real Time - LIVE!

Total Awakening Live In Real Time - Part 1

The other problem that "arises" with Leo is the food coloring of his spiritual philosophy that taints his self-help gospel. And much like Scientology, Christianity, and spiritual self-help programs, he uses the physicality of "self-improvement" as a cover for his metaphysical agenda.

Enter Non-duality aka/Advaita Vedanta.

The core of this philosophy is that we are an absolute, transcendental Self (capital "S") that is synonymous with pure awareness. This is the same idea as the ancient Hindu concept of Brahman - the singular, unchanging, timeless reality.

The basic premise is that the universe is not two things (god and nature, spirit and matter, light and dark, right and wrong, observer and observed) but one consciousness pervading all things. Advaita refers to the idea that all the universe is one essential reality and that all facets and aspects of the universe are ultimately an expression or "appearance" of that one reality.

Forget about being homegrown earth animals in the evolutionary continuum; creatures that are already 'one' by means of protoplasm and stardust (these are unenlightened thoughts), Leo's gospel offers a 'state' of awareness (dream-'state') that the universe is nothing more than a dream and death an illusion.

Thus, Non-Duality sounds relatively harmless, right? I mean, who wouldn't want to know they are "one with the universe" and survive death? But consider that you have to believe you are not 'one with the universe to buy this stuff. All dream state teachings require your "unenlightened nature" to work. Leo has admitted that he is far more advanced than his audience, which is impossible to know and grandiose. In reality, he was admitting how deluded he is, and being high on drugs gives him that shit-eating grin. He gets away with this because of the façade, the illusion of authority, based on his self-taught philosophic slant (big library of books). And he props it up by demonizing mainstream science and every other authority in the field of education that contradicts his illusion. In other words, he's "higher" than everybody else.

My Deepest Awakening Yet - Becoming Infinite

Another problem "arises" upon a closer look into this Jedi Force. Sure, the universe is comprised of powerful forces we call the natural world, but with Advaita, these forces take on a God quality called Consciousness. Now, this is where the whole philosophy goes off the rails into Substance Dualism.

Firstly, there is a difference between Non-Dualism and Substance Dualism. Non-Dualism refers to opposites such as Yin and Yang, positive and negative, subject and object, etc., with the aim of transcending the two into a state of Oneness. Substance Dualism refers to humans being comprised of two mental and physical substances. Substance dualism states that the mental and the physical are separate substances with independent existence.

But don't be fooled; the tell-tale signs of Dualism are found in the language of its self-proclaimed evangelical nobodies. One of the tricks spiritual people use to mask their dualism is by using vague terms to describe their beliefs. For example, "I am all things," " there is no birth or death", "Consciousness is everything," "I exist as the body and beyond the body," or "everything is an appearance including the afterlife," yadda, yadda. So it takes some interrogation to ferret out the confession.

The method in play is double-speak and to not be rational or apply any intellectual integrity. Why? Because thinking is bad. Thinking is ego. Thinking is not what you do on the way to enlightenment. Thinking is the "Enfant Terrible" (rebellious child) of God's Consciousness. Thinking threatens the fabric of their trance-inducing doctrine. And because everything is a dream or "appearance," it makes their nonsense very convenient.

I find it rather amusing that he demonizes "materialism" while using "material" drugs to achieve his "awakenings".

— Zzenn

The other giveaway is their talk about the body and the physical world. Terms such as "physicality" and "the body is an appearance in consciousness" reduce the natural world to an illusion. Gee, where have we heard that before? How about the Create Your Reality teachings of the New Age?

In my life, there have been what have felt like profound insights. The first was the recognition that there is something deeper to me than who I thought I was. This aspect can be called consciousness or awareness (among other things), and it must be present for us to experience anything. Many in the Advaita Vedanta movement see this fact and then imagine that this awareness is apart from life. They project it into the ethers and call it "God Consciousness." Ironically, this venerated "Pure Awareness" is just another dualistic conceptualization. Rather than consciousness being a natural expression of our biology, it is some otherworldly phenomenon.

If we look at our own experience, we don't find consciousness apart from what is perceived. In the name of "non-duality," many just imagine another form of separation - "Pure Awareness" from the rest of existence. You could call it "Nondual Duality."

The idea of the world as an illusion is appealing to many people, as it offers a way of circumventing problems. If you’re facing difficulties in your own life and conscious of your fellow human beings' suffering, it's comforting and convenient to tell yourself, “Oh well, it’s all just an illusion, so there’s no need to worry.” In other words, it offers a means of spiritual bypassing, that is, using spiritual beliefs as a way of escaping issues that need addressing.

The best way to control someone's mind is to shame them for thinking while guiding them toward enlightenment. Words like "ego" and "get out of your head" are designed to bring the seeker into submission. Basically, to "shut up and sit down".

— Zzenn

A similar attitude is sometimes applied to the body. After all, the body is made of the same stuff as the world, so if the world is an illusion, the body must be too, or at least it can be seen as something different and inferior to the mind or spirit. There’s a duality between the spirit and the body, just as there’s a duality between the spirit and the physical world. This attitude can lead to a hostile, repressive attitude toward the body, an attitude of disgust toward its animalistic functions and impulses, including sex. This attitude is illustrated by early Christian Gnostic teachings, for example, which held that all matter is evil, and the body is a prison to escape from.

For over 10 years, I had a non-duality teacher named John St. John. After many decades on the spiritual path, I had developed a sense for teachers who had "it" and teachers who were pretending they had "it" (real experience and integration). John was one of the real ones; he embodied what he preached. He had the subjective power I recognized from numerous kundalini experiences, and his knowledge could pull the carpet from underneath my feet. These were the signs that got my attention.

“When the student is ready the teacher will appear"

― Tao Te Ching

For many years we would sit together in the local coffee shop and talk about Scientology, spirituality, and non-dualism. He was an ex-Scientologist, having reached one of the highest OT levels (Operating Thetan). An OT is a spiritual being (thetan) who supposedly has full control of the MEST (matter, energy, space, and time) universe, which includes their "earth suit"— the body. He ended up leaving the church because of the hypocrisy and abuse inherent in the cult.

This departure led him to Advaita (non-duality), which was a perfect transition because non-dualism runs along the same lines, except it expands the "Thetan inside a meat suit" to an expanded consciousness/awareness that exists everywhere. So, there's nobody to experience the realization of nothing. I call this the doublespeak of the dualism virus. The best place for the grandiose ego to hide is behind NOTHINGNESS or NO-SELF. But with the proper interpretation, one can embrace the sayings from an energy perspective, that being, we are all energy, but that doesn't mean we are some ethereal consciousness outside the body. The following verse simply means "life" is eternal . . . not an "I" that travels through the continuum of human bodies. Truth is the reality beyond all illusions and appearances. But life, the physical world, is NOT an illusion.

I was never born and I will never die

I am infinite, timeless awareness

I am the Truth beyond all appearances

I am the unchanging reality

— Ramana Maharshi

I wouldn't go as far as accusing followers of Advaita of megalomania (people who behave as if they're convinced of their absolute power and greatness),  but I think it's worth noting that those who "identify" with an all-pervading universal Consciousness (repackaged God) are guilty of a degree of Divine Narcissism and a disdain for their own animal-hood.

Many of Gura's videos begin with directing a misuse of the appeal to authority fallacy. The fallacy is usually distorted as "credentials are worthless" and that trusting a source of information as reputable is an error in itself. By building on this line of reasoning, Gura establishes himself as the authority (due to his self-aggrandized non-existence). [1]

Now, I will admit, if you drop the "all is Consciousness" crap (because the term is a human projection)  there is fruit to be gleaned from this teaching (eat the grapes and spit out the seeds). The teachings are designed, like Zen Koans, to break the logical thought patterns of the rational mind. They are meant to disrupt the need to "control" reality and expose the identity within that thinks it is in control. This is a profound realization when one has the experience that they have been functioning from a past/false self (trapped in time) existing in the present and absorbing all its resources.

The best place for the grandiose ego to hide is behind No-Self.

— Zzenn

The same "interruption" occurs naturally by the "school of hard knocks," the mid-life crisis," and various forms of cognitive therapy. The whole idea is to awaken into the present. To awaken to being human in Real-Time. This realization requires no belief in any "God Consciousness" or that the universe is an "appearance, dream or illusion".

The realization of "free will is an illusion" and "there is no volitional self" happened after many years of getting my ass handed to me as John confronted my false assumptions, delusions, and projections. I had immersed myself in the works of Ramesh Balsekar, Wei Wu Wei, Nisargadatta, and many other orators of nothingness. This realization is akin to a leaf growing from the stalk of a plant. It is not a conceptual idea; it is an organic process where one realizes they are not in control and never was. That they are being lived by the universe and all their biological processes, including seeing, feeling, and "thoughting" (my term) happen without anyone orchestrating them. The results of this realization are a sense of freedom and calm.

The key to this realization can be found in the saying, "before enlightenment chop wood and carry water, after enlightenment chop wood and carry water". What this means is once the insight of "no doer doing anything" arises, you get on with DOING everything.

It took several years for this realization to sink into my everyday experience. I knew I had been permanently changed. That the bubble of the "me" operating from the past had popped and the quality of effortlessness took its place. But the most unexpected realization followed soon after.

I was watching an ape in a Zoo in a documentary one afternoon, and I noticed the pure essence of its nature. I observed how calm it was, serene in its natural way of being. There it was, sitting there being its animal self. The next thing that came to me was a Tibetan monk sitting in roughly the same position in front of a temple. I put the two side by side and pondered their existence. Then, in one profound moment of insight, I realized that the enlightened state is nothing more than normal animal awareness. That the whole idea of Advaita and other systems of so-called enlightenment was about waking up from the dreamland of conceptualization (especially spiritual conceptualization) into the feeling-realization of being a human animal.

I asked myself, "what is the difference between the oneness of consciousness and simply being alive as a human primate?" . . . and the answer came crashing down in one deck of falling cards NOTHING!  I was a human primate aware of being aware! And it was this realization that defined my human awakening and gave birth to unSpirituality.

Over the first few years of the project, I would visit my non-duality teacher (John St. John) and challenge his incognito dualism revealing the obvious truth of human-animal-hood. But he resisted with a passion and held to the idea that all is consciousness. The best part of the whole ordeal was that I graduated. I learned all I could from him, gained insight, and transcended his teachings. The student initiated his own path and killed the Buddha.

"If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him"

— Master Lin Chi

When dealing with a closet dualist, ask them the following questions, and don't let them squirm out of the answers. Be very specific about the "point of awareness" they are referring to when they talk about consciousness existing beyond the body.

If you want to learn about the Illusion of Free-Will and bypass all of the religious stuff, I recommend The Illusion of Conscious Will by Daniel M. Wegner. If you want to chew on some Non-Duality teachings, I recommend Ramesh Balsekar and Wei Wu Wei, just weed out the God Consciousness stuff, and I think you will gain some insights from the writings. I'll leave you with a quote that should sum up my points nicely.

When the student is truly ready... The teacher will Disappear.”

― Tao Te Ching

— Zzenn