Jeff Foster admits he's human and talks about fundamentalist Advaita

I listened to a few interviews with Jeff a couple years ago and was put off by all the Advaita speak, the relentless attempts to avoid the word "I", such silly phrases as "over here, there is blah blah arising" instead of saying "I think/feel/whatever". Anyway, he's gone through an interesting shift and this essay is a really interesting take on coming out of what Zen calls "the ghost cave of emptiness" and dropping the attempt to bypass human life with nondual realization (and language). I really appreciate his honesty, as well as how he expresses human life as unfolding at the intersection of the impersonal and personal, the universal timeless and our unique biography, Life-as-such and our little lives. Very cool. Much admiration for honestly going out on this limb given how many of his former colleagues and friends may react to his statements.

http://www.lifewithoutacentre.com/read/essays-transcripts/the-birth-and-death-of-fundamentalism-in-nonduality-and-advaita-teachings/

"For a while, the ‘impersonal’ seemed like freedom to me, because the
personal had become unliveable. My personal story (relative existence)
had become hell – I hated my life, suffered terrible social phobia, felt
like a total failure, saw no point in existing at all – and so it made
sense at the time to escape into the impersonal heaven promised by the
Advaita teachings. “There is no me, there is no you, there is no world,
there are no others, suffering doesn’t exist, there‘s no responsibility
on any level” – wow, what a comfort for the exhausted seeker! A one-way
ticket to freedom from all worldly problems – Hallelujah! No
responsibility, no past, no choice – what a relief! I could do what I
wanted, say what I wanted, I could even hurt people intentionally and it
didn’t matter because it was all Oneness and I had no choice anyway. Or
so I believed."-- from the essay

Thanks for sharing this, Jake. I've heard this essay mentioned before, but I never took the time to read it.

I always appreciate getting the inside scoop from those in the inner circles, which are normally out of public view. It's eye-opening.

I support his newfound (or perhaps renewed) exuberance for honesty, transparency, and authenticity with regard to spiritual practice. I think it's something that we all strive for here in the forum, which makes me happy

Same here, buddy! Glad you appreciated this.

He mentions this whole transition on the batgap.org interview (I think I mentioned before). I was very inspired by his honesty too.

This Foster dude is so right. No "person?' -- such total BS.

Oh OK I just went back to that batgap link you posted... well isn't that hilarious, I saw it was him and kind of thought "oh no, not that guy" and proceeded to download a bunch of other batgap interviews. I tell you what, it never ceases to entertain me to see what a fool I can be whenever I believe my thoughts Anyhow, going to sheepishly download his batgap interview now

I think I had posted about it here at some point, after a friend sent it to me because of the very thing you said, Jake: that it was an amazingly candid admission of a fairly well-known teacher talking about the trap he'd gotten into. Adyashanti talks about the same trap and other traps in his interview, too.