Redux

Every journey circles home

ISTA is here, in Cyprus, and it’s a big thing. A festival by one of the biggest international school of traditional arts followed by a training session that continues in a seaside hotel promises spiritual transformation, deepening in neo-Tantra, ecstatic experiences through seminars, ceremonies, and music.

The past week has been a true storm of information surrounding these networks and their practices:- articles, testimonies from former participants, international allegations, and stories from people in various places about this specific network, regarding what they went through as they sought healing or at least a hug.

Promises of self-awareness, balance, healing, and spiritual liberation, and indeed it sounds magical to someone who is searching for them. However, the more you search the pieces of the puzzle, the clearer it becomes that behind the shine, there may also be a dark side. The same with religion structures, its all there, the good and the bad. The good comes from philosophy, the search for spirituality, the evil comes straight from the people managing the system, just saying.

Many people, often in moments of vulnerability, leave their entire existence in the hands of "experts": spiritual guides, teachers, gurus, priests of all kinds. The trust these people show is immense. They seek healing, psychological support, or personal transformation and often find themselves in an environment where intensity, pressure, and vague rules can make them vulnerable to manipulation or abuse. On one hand, there is the promise of ecstatic experience, spiritual awakening, and self-awareness.

And on the other hand, international testimonies and allegations show how the pressure to participate in controversial practices or the exploitation of trust can leave deep wounds.

In the chaos of information and misinformation, of loneliness, of the fast pace of modern world the only thing we can do before diving into an unknown world is to be well-informed. Often, the signs are visible, but the rush for healing or transformation can lead us to ignore them. You need to know and you need to be free to choose, so as to avoid serious injuries. Proper information from proper sources is the first act of self-protection.

Anything Can Happen