Jonathan Crowley, Part 3
Insight Myanmar19 Mar 2024

Jonathan Crowley, Part 3

Episode #225: In this third part of the ongoing discussion with Jonathan Crowley, we delve deeper into his experiences as an Assistant Teacher in the S.N. Goenka tradition of Vipassana meditation. Jonathan starts off by saying how he was moved by his appointment as an assistant teacher, but also candidly describes how aspiring teachers learn the importance of feigning disinterest, creating a false ego around the process.

Jonathan then reflects on the weight of officially representing the organization, and how he grappled with the unspoken messaging behind its mission. He notes a paradoxical dynamic where Goenka shunned the title of guru publicly, while the culture within the organization promotes him as the unquestioned authority.

As Jonathan delved deeper into his practice and examined the organization's modus operandi, he began to see the “trojan horse” nature of the ten-day course format. By this, he means that it attracts students with open-handed encouragement and says they their own masters, yet funnels them into increasingly narrower scopes as they commit to the organization.


Despite deriving many transformative benefits from the practice, Jonathan started feeling the weight of the excessive faith expectations. He realized how storytelling and mythmaking play a crucial role in reinforcing this faith, and closing off avenues for questioning and critical thought.

Episoder(507)

The Third Wave

The Third Wave

In Myanmar, we know that the coup has been an on-going nightmare since February, and more recently there has been a sharp, Delta-driven Covid spike that the military leadership not only can’t control,...

24 Aug 20211h 57min

You Can't Go Home Again

You Can't Go Home Again

The ending line of Jessica Mudditt’s book, Our Home In Myanmar, puts a startling cap on her account of her life in Yangon in the 2010s. She writes, “Myanmar’s sudden returned to a dictatorship means t...

19 Aug 20212h 21min

Fight the Power

Fight the Power

There are several images that will forever be seared into the mind of the Burmese hip hop artist known as 882021; pictures and videos that he will never be able to unsee, like soldiers charging at pro...

14 Aug 20211h 10min

Dr. Sasa on the COVID crisis in Myanmar

Dr. Sasa on the COVID crisis in Myanmar

From the moment you begin looking into the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus pandemic in Myanmar, the numbers are simply staggering. Some projections suggest half of the population might ...

3 Aug 20211h 9min

The Taste of Dhamma

The Taste of Dhamma

This is the fourth episode in our ongoing series, “Love Letters to Myanmar.” Today’s show welcomes three foreigners who share how Myanmar has influenced and supported their spiritual path, and the dep...

26 Jul 20211h 58min

From Academic to Activist On the Run

From Academic to Activist On the Run

When Han Htoo Khant Paing was pursuing degrees at the University of Economics in Yangon and Oxford University in England, he never imagined that one day he would be fleeing for his life to the jungles...

21 Jul 20212h 1min

A Lifetime of Advocacy

A Lifetime of Advocacy

Michael Haack’s lifelong advocacy for Myanmar had a fortuitous start. With a growing interest in the divestment movement, he took advantage of an opportunity to take alternative winter break during hi...

16 Jul 20211h 58min

A History of Violence

A History of Violence

Lynn wants to know if anyone can suggest something that hasn’t already been tried.In contrast to many other protesters whose political consciousness was raised only after the coup, Lynn’s own professi...

11 Jul 20212h

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
forklart
i-retten
stopp-verden
popradet
det-store-bildet
fotballpodden-2
dine-penger-pengeradet
rss-gukild-johaug
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
rss-ness
hanna-de-heldige
aftenbla-bla
nokon-ma-ga
e24-podden
rss-dannet-uten-piano
frokostshowet-pa-p5
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk