Neo-Advaita...

I think the approach to "Advaita Vedanta" that one finds in the contemporary scene in the West (often referred to as "Neo-Advaita" to distinguish it from the traditional teachings of Vedanta as understood in the East) is still very abstract, philosophically nihilistic, "heady" and disembodied in general....It tends to be quite often denying any reality to the personal self, the body and mind, the phenomenal world, others, serious issues like poverty or hunger or war or the environment....

Perhaps not surprisingly, this seems to often lead to a sense of deep meaninglessness, unhealthy emotional detachment and lethargy in many people, especially if someone may perhaps be genetically or chemically predisposed toward depression or dissociative tendencies anyway (as so many post-modern folks seem to be)....It is no wonder so many who have been on this path as it is expressed in the contemporary Western scene are coming up feeling emotionally flattened out, depressed and struggling to find meaning. I find this syndrome in a lot of people as I travel about doing retreats and events and skyping with people around the world.

My own sense is that there is on the horizon a "second wave" of this non-dual spiritual movement in the West. I feel there is beginning to dawn a slow development along more integrative and humanistic lines which acknowledges more the human side of things and values the phenomenal world, cultural richness and personal human issues of alienation, need for integration and shadow work, social justice, etc....I have recently had some very interesting conversations with Adyashanti and Cynthia Bourgeault (a contemporary Non-Dual spiritual teacher from a professional Christian ministry background like myself). He and she seem to both very much agree with me on this.

I think this morelife-affirming position is what Western, Monotheistic mysticism in its several different forms (Christian, Sufi, Jewish) has to "bring to the table" in this Western contemporary Non-Dual scene of spirituality. Taking this more integrative and humanistic approach might prove to be of some value to so many who have become disillusioned with the spiritual search as expressed in the Western, contemporary non-dual spiritual scene thus far.


--- Francis Bennett