>what on earth do you mean by "spiritual insight"...?<

i didn't mean intelligence, and especially superiority.. but clearly my assumptions are plain to see~ i value compassion, but really i'm not entirely convinced of a spiritual hierarchy.. there is a time and a place for everything, and with God in mind 'everything glows with absurdity'

Ode To Mother Kali

They do not sell your statues in the shops, O Mother.
Buddha, Ganesh, Lakshmi, all in vogue,
adorning lobbies of comfortable houses,
prosperity to those who already have,
a scent of spirituality to mask the rot

but you, Mother, are not in fashion.
no marketing niche for you,
no category
the analytic mind sees you coming,
scythe gleaming in the sun
to once and for all
cleave the Real from the unreal
it drops everything
and flees

Mother, we talk amongst ourselves
about how life is suffering
life is unfair
sometimes I imagine
that when I get to the soul’s world
I can write God a strongly worded letter
demanding immediate and radical changes
to the Cosmic Game
before I agree to come back down again

but you,
you are just having the time of your life,
are you not?

and those who come to know your dance
can see it everywhere

I bet that was you
with your arms around your long-suffering servant
as the car gracefully pirouettes through the air
with him in it
I see you taunting the forces of death
just try
i dare you
i double triple dare you
touch him
go on
cross that line
and see what happens

I bet that was you
coasting inland
atop a chariot of tidal waves
gathering souls to yourself
like a blackjack dealer in Vegas
ready to spread them out again
on freshly-watered soils

I bet that was you
standing on top of the crossbar in 1988
when Charlie Redmond took that penalty
and you were laughing your head off

I bet that was you
dancing with a fury
and a speed
that makes you seem everywhere at once
stampeding through opposing armies
like a Nebraska linebacker
as tanks shatter through walls
as men pierce through boys
and the game gathers pace

And I know that is you
standing behind your chosen sons
the great Masters
who like the Buddha
will not move
will not sleep
until your six billion children
one by one
awaken
rub their eyes
and wonder why it took so long
to truly live

your dearest, dearest, dearest sons
dearer to you than your own Life
yet you strap them to the leaden harness of a human body
as they hold their nose and take the plunge
immersed and alone in the sea of ignorance
but you stand beside their bed
as they lie hooked up to the machine of maya
you hold their hands
as they siphon the ingratitude and begrudgery of the world
out through their very bones
Oh Mother, often I marvel how they can stay on earth for so long
and when I do
in the silence
then
I sense the starlit footprints of Your Compassion.

Mother, the PR department have been on to me
they say you are giving God a bad name
you are not projecting the right image
they have given me a 492-page manual on politically correct etiquette for cosmic gods
they want you to study it
they want you to put some clothes on
and behave yourself
maybe then, they say, they’ll even be able to sell your statues in the shops
but their stilted ideas about compassion
bind and blind compassion itself
because the more I discover you
I see your naked sword is indistinguishable from your cooling touch
your reaping is indistinguishable from your sowing
that the hour of death is as much your Compassion
as the hour of birth
and that the entire universe
is but a one-act play
of your Love

i am however almost entirely given to karma (the striking balance).. i am sure everything is reasoned. and if there truly is such a thing as an end to anything, then the only power humanity has is over expedience. in the meantime, God has all the time in the world.

what i'm trying to say is suffering a charlatan is not the end of the world because existence has its purpose.. like any system. nothing should be taken for granted.. and for the most part, taken at face value (not to say that cynicism or discernment is necessary.. just respecting that there are two sides to every story and still waters run deep and so on and so on). it seems the worst they can do is lead a person down the wrong path, or disillusion them entirely.. but shit happens! and happens. until it degenerates or entropies or regenerates. and the best a deceiver can do is simulate some glamour that results in some, as you say, beneficial ~albeit superficial~ 'social interaction therapy' that serves to generate the matrix for the as yet unenlightened beings who are still dependent on it. voila!
www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/ima....jpg