Adi Da

Give me a break.

I mean, I think people are still doing that with, uh, Adi Da probably, with his picture on the, on their altars or whatever.

But I mean, that's just, that's just not okay.

It's not okay.

right? We have to have much wider intimacies and then we need to bring them together and weave them into a new configuration of intimacy, right? That's actually my unique self, right? But so voraciousness is, you actually see it very beautifully, is actually, right, if voraciousness gets dissociated, right, from the actual unique self, it becomes addictive and destructive, right? You know, which obviously being, you know, the one refined Buddha, right? You know, alive today in all generations, right? Obviously, that would never happen to me, right? Because, you know, the refined Buddha in all worlds, you know, all the way up and all the way down, right? You know, and also in all universes in the multiverse.

So, you know, the ultimate perfected one, except for Adi Da, of course.

Just for all those listening, that was a joke, okay? So, right? So, of course, there's moments we slip and then we have to find our way back.

I have to find a way back.

So how do we do this? How do we shoot the moon without becoming junkies? How do we strip down our defenses and also honor our wounds? And how do we merge with each other without losing our agency and integrity? So that's the problem space, right? That's kind of where for the last 50 to 75 years most countercultural movements have put it in the ditch.

and that's Osho and the sannyasins, that's Leary, you know, that's Adi Da, Chogyam Trungpa, take your pick, right? If you had some transmitting humans that got everybody into state, it really ended well, sex, money, power, you know, pick two.

So can we become hedonic engineers instead of bliss junkies? Can we weep but not whimper? And just kind of embrace profound cathartic healing without fetishizing it or making a meal of it.

And then in the communitas without the cult, can we learn to become jazz musicians, not members of a marching band following the guy up front with the funny hat and the twirly baton? Can we actually practice keeping the beat? Here's the pulse.

In this episode, I am joined by Stuart Kemps, a 30-year devotee of the American spiritual teacher Adida, long-time curator of Adida Zoo, the Fear No More Zoo, and author of Lightning Thunder Cows, a memoir of Stuart's life with his guru.

Stuart recalls his upbringing in Papua New Guinea, his later struggles to reintegrate into Australian society, and his lifelong connection with animals.

Stuart describes his approach to Adida and their first meeting, how he became a devotee and zookeeper, and details his master's teachings about animals and natural contemplation.

Stuart shares many anecdotes of his personal interactions with Adida, reflects on the teacher's controversial behaviors and claims, and considers whether Adida was trapped by his own spiritual community.

So

without

Okay, well, the title took a while to get to.

I had various other titles before I hit that one.