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Re: School of Practical Philosophy - Ballarat, Australia

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 7:43 am
by misled
My partner and I had high hopes when we started at the SOPP last September and initially enjoyed the classes and felt we were getting alot out of the ideas and discussions. However, we did from time to time, feel that something was not quite right.
Last Thursday week, we attended a talk given by Shane Mulhall, the head of the Irish school. We started to get alarmed with the statement that "you are born incomplete" and that "you are not complete until you meet your soul-mate". "Man and woman are each others half and are complete in marriage."
That was somewhat confronting considering that I was there with my same-sex partner and there was another gay couple 3 seats from us!
Mr Mulhall went on to say later in the talk, that prayer won't get you "there"...only the secret mantra that the School offers will bring you bliss! We were curious about the secret mantra and so we asked our teacher at the end of the talk what he meant. Our teacher said that the mantra was secret and we would only know when the school deemed us ready. We would then go through an initiation ceremony and finally find out! Well, that was the final straw. We decided that we wouldn't continue.
It wasn't until the next day when I began searching the internet, that I found this forum...what a revelation! In all truth, we are sad and shocked that we have been led up the garden path. A total misrepresentation. And so many people in the same boat.
Six in our class have left and the teachers are scratching their heads.
In our opinion this is definitely a religion/cult.

Re: School of Practical Philosophy - Ballarat, Australia

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:46 am
by bluemoon
Dear misled,

This is an interesting development!

If you search the web you’ll find masses of information about both ‘soul mates’ and ‘twin flames’ (or ‘twin souls’, even ‘twin rays’). The latter three are the same (I think), but soul mates is different. Apparently we have lots of soul mates, but only one ‘twin flame’ (and not everyone may have a twin flame either – I’m a bit fuzzy about the rules!) It sounds as though Shane M has got them a bit muddled up. But there is nothing to worry about with these ideas, there is no homophobia attached to this in anything I have researched. It should not imply we are born incomplete either, and there is a lot of information available about the balancing of the masculine and feminine energies within, which is what makes us 'whole' spiritually. But twin flames is a beautiful concept and Plato described it 2,500 years ago: " ... and when one of them meets the other half, the actual half of himself, the pair are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy and one will not be out of the other's sight even for a moment...”.

Plato’s work is studied a lot in the SES/SOP so perhaps that is his source. But from what I have read about this the connection can be with any sex, even your children or whatever, it is not necessarily about ‘marriage’ in the traditional sense either, although it can be of course and according to the sites I have found some people are seeking the one that ‘completes’ them. But it is ultimately about a ‘spiritual’ connection, a connection of the soul, even like in the Song of Solomon ‘my soul has found the one it loves’. I haven’t made a great study of it, just came across it in my search for information about spiritual awakening, so I may not have understood it quite right, but that's about the gist of it I think.

This may even be a good sign of development in the organisation, since it is about a balanced relationship between the genders. I suppose it depends on how it is presented. I wonder why he would bring this up in a talk, was it an internal meeting or a public meeting? What was the talk about – did it have a title?

With best wishes,

Bluemoon

Re: School of Practical Philosophy - Ballarat, Australia

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:50 am
by Tootsie
The secret mantra would of cost you a weeks wages so you are lucky! Buy a TattsLotto ticket instead.

Re: School of Practical Philosophy - Ballarat, Australia

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 11:49 am
by misled
Dear Bluemoon,

Thanks for all the interesting information. The topic of S Mulhall's talk was "Your Life's Purpose" and it was held in a hall in Geelong with about 300+ people attending. Not sure if that helps you figure out why he expressed it that way.
The atmosphere was very conservative and we felt that there was a clear message which was in conflict with the way this course and organisation were first presented.

Dear Tootsie,

Yes, we did hear that it costs a week's wages to receive the "Secret Mantra"! So much for truth and openness!

Regards,

Misled

Re: School of Practical Philosophy - Ballarat, Australia

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 1:22 pm
by bluemoon
Misled wrote:

The topic of S Mulhall's talk was "Your Life's Purpose" ..... Not sure if that helps you figure out why he expressed it that way.


Yes it does, the 'twin soul' relationship at least is always about your 'life's purpose' according to what I've read about it. Obviously I don't know what Shane M's presentation was about in detail since I wasn't there, but there is much information about soul mates, twin souls etc on the internet. For example:

'When it comes to Twin Flames, forget romantic dates, flowers and chocolates. This is a connection based on the Soul and therefore it's primary goal is not romance. The primary goal is to increase self love in order to accept the self and come back together with increased understanding and acceptance of self. This does not mean acting selfishly, but instead looking within to see the true spiritual nature of all life on earth.

Through coming back to self, we come back to love and it is love that unites us to all things.

Love is the uniting force that keeps us searching for our true mate throughout all our incarnations. It is a yearning that never ceases until wholeness is fulfilled, firstly from within. Twins can only truly feel complete love and peace when they have reached individual wholeness that leads to union with the twin soul and other soul mates.'


Bluemoon

Re: School of Practical Philosophy - Ballarat, Australia

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:47 pm
by Ahamty2
'Misled' don't be misled by the 300+ people present, the large number of those would have been SOPP members from Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide and their branches. It is a requirement to attend when someone like Shane Mulhall who must be building up a lot of frequent flyer points comes here to Australia. He comes here more often than Donald Lambie, the head of the SES in London. Perhaps he is trying to impress the large number of Irish Catholics here who may be disenfranchised.

Re: School of Practical Philosophy - Ballarat, Australia

Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 7:58 am
by misled
Interesting stuff Ahamty2.....I agree with your thoughts...BYO audience perhaps?

Re: School of Practical Philosophy - Ballarat, Australia

Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 3:46 pm
by bonsai
Hi Misled

Welcome to our forum. What the SES/SOPP and its associated branches spout is generally conservative and often quite backward. You describe a situation that very much represents the problems with the organisation. It tries to promote itself as an organisation that is welcoming and open, where you can have discussions about the big questions in life and then very quickly you discover that they are promoting quite a strict and uncompromising world view and doctrine for which there is little tolerance really for those in same sex relationships and other situations.

I would say that the SES and the SOPP and particularly St James where I was educated are amongst the most intolerant organisations I have come across.

Bonsai