Response to the posts about Adi Da’s “Dark Times” that were written by Elias
internet post by former cult member in 2002
I haven’t stayed in touch over the past 10 years with the events surrounding my former exploiter and guru now calling himself Adi Da, but after reading your materials here I must say I’m not surprised to hear Adi Da is carrying on with the same rants I heard him spew out over and over again 25 years ago. I guess it’s no secret any more that there’s a whiny, spoiled baby behind the “Wizard of Oz” superman persona Franklin Jones has always projected for himself. Sure, he was witty and clever at times, but those of us who got at all close to him saw the chronic patterns, the flaws and the ugliness, too.
What’s truly amazing is that people who have heard the same exact complaints and nonsense you recount in “Dark Time” over and over for 30 years still can’t see that Adi Da’s obsessive self-pity and pouting are nothing more than a reflection of his own personality, and not their own “failure to practice”. On top of that, how many times can Adi Da get away with explaining his own psychological crises as profound world-changing events? He is a deeply disturbed man who is suffering in some very ordinary ways, despite the extraordinary opportunity he has had to control his life and surroundings. He had the luxury of living however he wanted, and yet has created his own prison.
As Adi Da sinks deeper into darkness, psychological breakdowns and chronic depression consume more and more of his life. It sounds like he is on the verge of pulling back from most of his teaching activities.
My prediction is that he will disengage further from interactions with devotees, and look for something else to keep him distracted. Periodically he'll get bored and then see people, but I think those phases won't last long. I don't think he can face the monster he has created in himself or in the community, and is on the verge of cracking. I also believe that some of the criticism of him from the internet posts has gotten back to him, as he's probably looked at some of the sites. My bet is that these are part of the reason why he wrote several long-winded rationalizations for himself in 1998 and 1999 (Divine Emergence in '98 and Open Letter in '99). Even though devotees try to shield him from "bad news," I can't imagine that he doesn't have enough curiosity to jump on the internet and see what's being said about him. After being insulated from criticism for so many years, my guess is that this has shocked the hell out of him and contributed to the dark spiral he's gone into.
It is a fitting fate for one who has caused so much pain for others. In the old days, this dark side of Adi Da was not so prominent, and it was hidden or downplayed by trusted intimates, or explained in ways that, back then, seemed like they just might be true. Now, he’s just plain pathetic. His abusive habits and a lifetime of immersion in delusions about himself have taken their toll.
Now, Adi Da is collapsing in on himself, consumed by his own Narcissism in a grand tragicomedy that can no longer be hidden or explained away. After the occurrences of the past few years, only the most desperate and entranced cultists could possibly fail to see this pitiful madman for what he is.