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Her Prophet Speaks
Jul. 26th, 2023 01:54 pm“Every successful guru I've ever encountered was a con artist and a hustler. Nearly all of them were men; that's the unfortunate nature of the present landscape. And most of them were in it for their Ego. A few were not.
Murshid Lewis aka Sufi Sam was one of those. As an heir to the Levi-Strauss fortune, he knew that money did not provide true satisfaction. He simply tried to find his own Truth. He was also the inspiration of R. Crumb's Mister Natural.
I observed that he did play Ego Games, too, but it seemed as if they were merely play and used with Purpose. I personally saw him berate Swami Muktananda, Yogi Bajum, and few other of that stature to their faces about their lavish clothing.
They were all dressed in great finery, silks and delicate cottons, with expensive watches and no small amount of jewelery. Murshid Lewis was literally wearing a gunny sack, along with a very beat up pair of wingtips.
The meeting where all this took place was supposed to be discussing plans for a 'spiritual version of Woodstock', something to 'change the world'. That everyone involved would make a bundle if it was half as successful as Woodstock was not mentioned...except by Sufi Sam.
He roughly said, 'How can you set an example of being Great Teachers, Enlightened Beings whose focus is Spirit, when you dress like fucking Rajahs?' And then went on to accuse them of 'worldliness' and Pride of Ego. I clearly remember those two phrases.
This whole array of Great Teachers looked like school kids who had been caught taking a crap on the principle's desk. I was just shy of eighteen at the time, but I could tell that he had totally busted all of them. It may be the most important Spiritual Lesson I ever learned.
It was all theater, of course. He 'dressed down' just to 'show them up' for the con artists and hustlers they really were. But only another con artist and hustler could pull that off so sweetly.
The difference between them – at least by my lights - is that his Ego seemed to have transcended the need for that most potent of drugs: Power. He was an amazing combination of Divine Madman and Cynical Old Jew and I believe that is how he transcended that drug. He knew in his Spirit and in his genetics how lethal it can be.
And it is the thing I fear the most. I have watched people who were far better than I am get utterly consumed and destroyed by it. That is the overriding reason why I know that once The Temple gets seriously underway, I need to step back and just remain an éminence grise for as long as The Goddess allows me to draw breath.
I am an addict and Power is a drug that is injected straight into the Ego without any need to do anything except soak that shit up. I've had little tastes and it's better than smack and coke mixed together and mainlined into the carotid, trust me on that.
Of course, there's the rub; y'all are going to have to trust me. But I am better at that than the Internet can show. This is a place where pygmies masquerade as giants, an accusation that has been leveled at me more than once.
The Internet gives me wide access, but does not really transmit how effective and seductive my 'presentation' can be. That is an interpersonal thing...which is how the best con artists and hustlers operate. And sharing the con is part of the hustle.
The killer component here is actually delivering on what has been presented as a 'hustle' while simultaneously showing those getting 'hustled' how to perpetuate that 'hustle' even further. That, my friends, is called a Movement.”
Murshid Lewis aka Sufi Sam was one of those. As an heir to the Levi-Strauss fortune, he knew that money did not provide true satisfaction. He simply tried to find his own Truth. He was also the inspiration of R. Crumb's Mister Natural.
I observed that he did play Ego Games, too, but it seemed as if they were merely play and used with Purpose. I personally saw him berate Swami Muktananda, Yogi Bajum, and few other of that stature to their faces about their lavish clothing.
They were all dressed in great finery, silks and delicate cottons, with expensive watches and no small amount of jewelery. Murshid Lewis was literally wearing a gunny sack, along with a very beat up pair of wingtips.
The meeting where all this took place was supposed to be discussing plans for a 'spiritual version of Woodstock', something to 'change the world'. That everyone involved would make a bundle if it was half as successful as Woodstock was not mentioned...except by Sufi Sam.
He roughly said, 'How can you set an example of being Great Teachers, Enlightened Beings whose focus is Spirit, when you dress like fucking Rajahs?' And then went on to accuse them of 'worldliness' and Pride of Ego. I clearly remember those two phrases.
This whole array of Great Teachers looked like school kids who had been caught taking a crap on the principle's desk. I was just shy of eighteen at the time, but I could tell that he had totally busted all of them. It may be the most important Spiritual Lesson I ever learned.
It was all theater, of course. He 'dressed down' just to 'show them up' for the con artists and hustlers they really were. But only another con artist and hustler could pull that off so sweetly.
The difference between them – at least by my lights - is that his Ego seemed to have transcended the need for that most potent of drugs: Power. He was an amazing combination of Divine Madman and Cynical Old Jew and I believe that is how he transcended that drug. He knew in his Spirit and in his genetics how lethal it can be.
And it is the thing I fear the most. I have watched people who were far better than I am get utterly consumed and destroyed by it. That is the overriding reason why I know that once The Temple gets seriously underway, I need to step back and just remain an éminence grise for as long as The Goddess allows me to draw breath.
I am an addict and Power is a drug that is injected straight into the Ego without any need to do anything except soak that shit up. I've had little tastes and it's better than smack and coke mixed together and mainlined into the carotid, trust me on that.
Of course, there's the rub; y'all are going to have to trust me. But I am better at that than the Internet can show. This is a place where pygmies masquerade as giants, an accusation that has been leveled at me more than once.
The Internet gives me wide access, but does not really transmit how effective and seductive my 'presentation' can be. That is an interpersonal thing...which is how the best con artists and hustlers operate. And sharing the con is part of the hustle.
The killer component here is actually delivering on what has been presented as a 'hustle' while simultaneously showing those getting 'hustled' how to perpetuate that 'hustle' even further. That, my friends, is called a Movement.”
