Comment that couldn’t be posted (written by Francisco Plana):
Dears, I would like to complement the antecedents of the public figures mentioned to highlight the role of critical thinking and self responsibility with our own spiritual path. Elon Musk has a long story of abusing power for his own benefit.
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/08/29/tesla-ban-on-pro-union-shirts-violated-workers-rights-nlrb.html
https://www.crikey.com.au/2022/05/30/dogecoin-jackson-palmer-elon-musk-cryptocurrency-bubble/
The case of the 14th Dalai Lama is more interesting given his spiritual authority. I don't have an opinion regarding the tongue affair, but he also has a questionable record of public performances and relationships, such as his defense of the Tibetan resistance army given his prestige as a non-violence promotor, his nazis friendships (starting from Heinrich Harrer author of 7 years in Tibet, or Miguel Serrano or Nazi apologers such as Jorg Haider), his support to the cruel dictator Augusto Pinochet, or his controversial claims about immigrants and women. Considering his position for the liberation of Tibet by the Chinese domination, his positions are more similar to that of an anti-communist leader, than that of a spiritual leader promoting compassion for all beings.
https://reason.com/volokh/2022/03/16/tibets-armed-resistance-to-chinese-invasion-5/
https://internationalshugdencommunity.com/dalai-lamas-fascination-war-nazism/
https://amp.theguardian.com/world/1999/apr/16/pinochet.chile
How to make sense of all this? My view is that since organized religions are human institutions, they are subjected to the same power struggles for political or economic interests than other institutions. This happens even in a religion so centered in self-development as Buddhism. In fact, the figure of the Dalai Lama was born thanks to a political conflict for the ruling of Mongolia.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_Dalai_Lama
José Luis Parise, the psychoanalyst author of the 11 steps of magic, explains this saying that organized religions emphasize resignation as a core value. But we have nothing to which resignate, we have responsibility (capability of response) for everything that happens in our lives. Resignation creates separation, which goes against the integration that is the goal of the perennial wisdom of all mystical traditions underlying the same organized religions. In the case of Buddhism, resignation adopts the form of detachment (to afflictive emotions that may perturb the cultivation of mental peace), which may be particularly problematic. When I studied the teachings of the Sakya school of Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism, I sometime found myself on what John Welwood, Buddhist transpersonal psychotherapist, has termed "spiritual bypass", the use of spiritual ideas to avoid facing unresolved emotional issues. Other schools such as Mahajrya which are nearer to other mystical traditions speak of "managing your attachments" instead of "detachment".
https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/article/on-spiritual-bypassing-and-relationship
The elimination of intermediaries so typical of our era, has also a translation to the spiritual realm. We don't need churches to connect to the divine, and there is no messiah nor saints to save us. We have to take the full responsibility for living blissful lives and creating a better world.