This past week I was surfing the net and noticed that there are others out there who are not intimidated by the 'social structure' of today's metaphysics...in general, and Chinese metaphysics in particular. I had a smile on my face when I noticed that there are others who are Tellin It Like It Is. I was very pleased to see that many have blogs and are writing some decent material. In my opinion , these current times today could very well be the turning point for Chinese metaphysics. 15 years ago we had little choice but to accept only what was being published in books. There was basically no interaction with the so-called experts and our 'education' was being force-fed to us. With the Internet , group lists ,and blogs, the pattern is slowly changing. It is getting more difficult for the charlatans to operate although you can be certain they'll keep trying. In the past, the claims made by the marketeers didn't seem quite as dramatic as today. They didn't overdo it because there was not as much competition. Today everyone and their brother, sister, and cousin is becoming a 'master' and to compete for business they must exaggerate their services to the point of complete embarrassment. If anyone questions a 'master' today or disagrees with their teachings the master charlatan quickly defends him/herself by saying that the person making the comments are jealous. Joseph Yu , for example, has accused many people of being jealous of him and his success. He has accused me many times of trying to put him down to make myself look better, and he says it is because I am jealous. If I had something to sell, one may begin to wonder if Old Joe might have a point. But the truth is that I have never had anything to sell, so I had no reason to build myself up. I have never published a book, I haven't taught, haven't given workshops or seminars, never offered correspondence courses, no e-books, no videos.......nothing. The times I have spoken or given seminars I have done it for no financial payments. Even when the sponsors gave me checks after the talks I simply gave it back to them and told them I didn't want paid. Old Joe is wrong again. The jealousy accusations that he makes are even more comical. First of all Joseph is about 20 years older than me, his health is not that great (although after he reads this he'll make sure to write that his health is fine ), he looks like he's got one foot in the grave, his knowledge is weak, he has contradicted himself over and over, he is a hypocrite, he has been lying forever, he has stolen and cheated and the list goes on and on. And he has the nerve to say I am jealous of him.......oh yeah Joe...sure thing.......I'm sure everyone wants to be like you ! Anyways, Joe and others had better take a good hard look at themselves because we don't have to put up with the bullshit we've been putting up with for so many years. Today there are other options and although the public is still in a hypnotic trance, they will slowly come out of it eventually.
If the master charlatans are one side of the metaphysical coin then the other side consists of the intellectual rebels. The folks who 'ain't afraid of the big bad wolves. They're out there if you look and I salute their achievements. They are the Robin Hoods...the David's opposing the Goliath's. One of them is Alex Chiu. I don't know Alex but I spoke with him a few times several years ago. I didn't listen to him close enough when he told me of the poison Joseph Yu would spread over the community. Alex was absolutely right. Alex tangled with Joseph repeatedly and with a few others. Alex stood his ground and was not easily intimidated and spoke his mind at any cost. Some hated him...others loved him, but he wasn't afraid to speak his mind. He had a pretty good following but I lost track of him over the years.
Harmen Mesker is a brilliant reviewer and doesn't cut corners and speaks his mind quite well . He is well versed in the I Ching and has written some extensive material. He doesn't seem to 'sugar coat' things and will get to the meat of a situation. When Lillian Too wrote her Plum Blossom book I couldn't believe that any one would publish...let alone buy, her book. I was amazed at the inaccuracies in her book and I wanted to write a review to let people be aware of it. As it turned out, I didn't need to because Harmen did just that. He wrote a great review and if you read closely you'll see hints at how Joseph Yu and Lillian Too make some of the same mistakes with Plum Blossom Divination. Herman has done some other reviews and has alerted the public in helping them avoid some possible pitfalls. Herman also has a blog but I'm not sure of the address. You can probably find it without too much difficulty. Click on this link to see Herman's review of Lillian Too's book:
http://www.biroco.com/yijing/lilliantoo.htm
Allan Lian has a blog and he talks a lot about stocks. Oh no ! That's gambling isn't it ? Many say that mixing speculation and divination is a sin. Well that hasn't stopped Allan from writing about it. When someone told me Allan had a blog that talked about the I Ching and stocks I was interested. I know nothing of stocks but it can be closely related to gambling so I took a look and found his site interesting. The following is Allen's blog address :
http://atouchofancientszhouyi.blogspot.com/
A gentleman named Eric Teoh has a blog that I visit often. I can see that Eric will say what needs to be said and he does it with charisma. He has a great sense of humor and he has posted some poetry that I have really enjoyed. He seems to have a vivid imagination and you never know what he is going to write next, so the element of surprise is always associated with Eric's blog. I heard about Eric's blog through a friend and my friend says to me, " this guy Eric is a lot like you...he ain't afraid to write about anything". So of course I had to check it out...and I'm glad I did. I hope Eric keeps his blog for awhile because I believe he can provide a decent service to his readers simply by his writing. I wish you the best Eric...Keep Rockin Brother ! Here is Eric's blog site :
http://ericklteoh.blogspot.com/
There are many other blogs out there that are of value. I have read a brilliant 2 part post on lineage, I have read another on the false oral secrets that are being peddled as advertisement gimmicks, one person wrote about 'tag team' consolidation ploys, and a lot of other topics involving the devaluing of Chinese metaphysics. There's a lot of stuff out there. Just look and you'll find.
I wish to thank all the serious devotees of Chinese metaphysics who have had the courage to tell the public the true story of what is really happening . My heart goes out to all of them.
