Sydney SOP 70's. A Different Perspective.
Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 3:09 am
I’m not sure how this will be received as it’s not a totally negative view of the Sydney SOP of the 70’s and early 80’s. Maybe my experience will offer a slightly different perspective - at least of that period.
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A few days ago I found myself wondering what happened to the Sydney SOP and the Mavros’ and thanks to the wonders of technology, googled myself here…
I attended Wilmot Street from 1971 or early 1972 and left in 1981 or ’82, not long after the move to Kent Street. I still have the commemorative medallion struck for the dedication of Kent Street on 3rd August, 1980 and the other day I dusted it off from the back of a cabinet, for the first time in many years. ‘Know Thyself” it commands..
And I guess that’s why I stayed for so long; the belief that there was more to life and that I was, as it were, ‘living on the surface’, seeking more and maybe SOP held some of the deeper answers to my unformed questions.
For me it did, but at a cost though I don’t harbour the rather bitter memories that some here have expressed (I didn’t ‘progress’ past middle school so perhaps never came under the intense pressure others experienced). I look back on my time in SOP, if not with pleasure, then at least with gratitude for the knowledge I gained.
From the start, the material, the ‘Teaching’, resonated with me and that’s what kept me going back for more. Nothing else. Never-the-less I was a ‘difficult’ student: uncommunicative & insular (though my day job required the opposite) I dragged myself, kicking & screaming to 7AM Saturday morning cleaning at Wilmot Street, Saturday afternoons calligraphy/sounding/economics, or gardening at Spencer Road; then the men’s evening group, Plato on another night and often a Sunday function too - plus meditation, Bible reading & calligraphy individually. All that - and from the early 70’s I was also trying to run a small business!
It was full-on with little or no concern for an individual’s personal circumstances. The direction was to put the Truth first (ie do as you were told) and the rest would flow naturally. I struggled with that level of obedience. Then, as now, I believe I was right up against my sanskara and that created my resistance & negativity (that’s my rationale & I’m sticking to it..)
Unlike some posters, carting horse manure around with bare hands or cleaning toilet bowls until they gleamed didn’t worry me and was never an imposition to be endured. I knew there was a ‘working surface’ there somewhere and indeed glimpsed it on a couple of occasions. Working on someone else’s garden was just an opportunity to work (though I did put out a couple of hints that my own garden was pretty shabby, alas to no avail..)
During this period I experienced two ‘out of the body’ events and these confirmed for me, beyond any doubt what-so-ever, that I really am, as SOP repeatedly suggested, ‘Not this body’ and that too kept me going. Strangely, after a gap of over 30 years I again fairly recently had a couple of OBE’s and an intense NDE. No idea what’s going on but at least death holds no terror.
Despite being a pretty negative student, I was always treated with respect, care, concern and, yes, love – both by fellow & senior students as well as tutors like Mr W, a lovely man! Mr. Mavro too was patient & kind with me on a personal level; yes, he was authoritarian and I held him in some awe. As mentioned, I didn’t get past ‘middle school’ (sidelined?), so didn’t see or experience what others have reported here
Anyway, with constant exposure to Mammon as well as Truth sadly, eventually the bad M guy won and I left. No one from SOP contacted me ever again. I did wait, anticipating the call - in vain. Now, I suspect they were glad to see the back of me. Fair enough, I was never ‘on the inside track’ – I was ‘in the group’ but not really part of it.
For quite a while I suffered from acute mental anguish & turmoil, particularly as there was no-one with whom I could discuss my feelings of anger, loss, failure and yes, ‘Fall From Grace’ as I saw it.… (I did have one Mentor, a senior gentleman who encouraged & supported me over my last 2 or 3 years at SOP with his laid-back, gentle humour. He returned to the USA and I left soon afterwards. I wonder if BF is still alive).
The World soon swallowed me up. Well, maybe not entirely… SOP teachings gave me a rock-solid, bed-rock, spiritual belief/understanding that has (often, not always) tempered my actions & behaviour and prevented me on occasion from going totally over the top. If you KNOW you get away with nothing, it may allow some pause, some space to choose to act differently. So far, so good, touch wood. Hanging in there.
Perhaps my memories of SOP have mellowed over time. Perhaps I saw things simplistically with no attempt to intellectualise, question or try to ‘work it out’. I am a simple soul. I didn’t engage socially or get involved in gossip or general chatter so was unaware of undercurrents of dissent that, it seems, even then were present. That was a good thing. I simply received what I perceived as ‘Truth’, put my head down as it were, and went for it as best I could, for as long as I could.
I do remember my almost constant internal/mental conflict but that was my stuff and I had to deal with it. I do remember the quality of fellow students - honourable, reliable, honest men, the like of which I haven’t come across before or since: like-minded men earnestly seeking Truth. The situation was special. They were special. And I remember as well as quiet & thoughtful group discussions in search of that Truth, more than occasional gales of laughter that rocked Wilmot Street to its very foundations…
Was/is SOP a cult, run by despots doing untold harm? Was I a brain-washed puppet, being used for nefarious purposes? I don’t think so. (But then some would question, can I be objective? ) All I can say my experience wasn’t like that and that's my honest opinion. And that's all I can offer.
---------------------------------------------
A few days ago I found myself wondering what happened to the Sydney SOP and the Mavros’ and thanks to the wonders of technology, googled myself here…
I attended Wilmot Street from 1971 or early 1972 and left in 1981 or ’82, not long after the move to Kent Street. I still have the commemorative medallion struck for the dedication of Kent Street on 3rd August, 1980 and the other day I dusted it off from the back of a cabinet, for the first time in many years. ‘Know Thyself” it commands..
And I guess that’s why I stayed for so long; the belief that there was more to life and that I was, as it were, ‘living on the surface’, seeking more and maybe SOP held some of the deeper answers to my unformed questions.
For me it did, but at a cost though I don’t harbour the rather bitter memories that some here have expressed (I didn’t ‘progress’ past middle school so perhaps never came under the intense pressure others experienced). I look back on my time in SOP, if not with pleasure, then at least with gratitude for the knowledge I gained.
From the start, the material, the ‘Teaching’, resonated with me and that’s what kept me going back for more. Nothing else. Never-the-less I was a ‘difficult’ student: uncommunicative & insular (though my day job required the opposite) I dragged myself, kicking & screaming to 7AM Saturday morning cleaning at Wilmot Street, Saturday afternoons calligraphy/sounding/economics, or gardening at Spencer Road; then the men’s evening group, Plato on another night and often a Sunday function too - plus meditation, Bible reading & calligraphy individually. All that - and from the early 70’s I was also trying to run a small business!
It was full-on with little or no concern for an individual’s personal circumstances. The direction was to put the Truth first (ie do as you were told) and the rest would flow naturally. I struggled with that level of obedience. Then, as now, I believe I was right up against my sanskara and that created my resistance & negativity (that’s my rationale & I’m sticking to it..)
Unlike some posters, carting horse manure around with bare hands or cleaning toilet bowls until they gleamed didn’t worry me and was never an imposition to be endured. I knew there was a ‘working surface’ there somewhere and indeed glimpsed it on a couple of occasions. Working on someone else’s garden was just an opportunity to work (though I did put out a couple of hints that my own garden was pretty shabby, alas to no avail..)
During this period I experienced two ‘out of the body’ events and these confirmed for me, beyond any doubt what-so-ever, that I really am, as SOP repeatedly suggested, ‘Not this body’ and that too kept me going. Strangely, after a gap of over 30 years I again fairly recently had a couple of OBE’s and an intense NDE. No idea what’s going on but at least death holds no terror.
Despite being a pretty negative student, I was always treated with respect, care, concern and, yes, love – both by fellow & senior students as well as tutors like Mr W, a lovely man! Mr. Mavro too was patient & kind with me on a personal level; yes, he was authoritarian and I held him in some awe. As mentioned, I didn’t get past ‘middle school’ (sidelined?), so didn’t see or experience what others have reported here
Anyway, with constant exposure to Mammon as well as Truth sadly, eventually the bad M guy won and I left. No one from SOP contacted me ever again. I did wait, anticipating the call - in vain. Now, I suspect they were glad to see the back of me. Fair enough, I was never ‘on the inside track’ – I was ‘in the group’ but not really part of it.
For quite a while I suffered from acute mental anguish & turmoil, particularly as there was no-one with whom I could discuss my feelings of anger, loss, failure and yes, ‘Fall From Grace’ as I saw it.… (I did have one Mentor, a senior gentleman who encouraged & supported me over my last 2 or 3 years at SOP with his laid-back, gentle humour. He returned to the USA and I left soon afterwards. I wonder if BF is still alive).
The World soon swallowed me up. Well, maybe not entirely… SOP teachings gave me a rock-solid, bed-rock, spiritual belief/understanding that has (often, not always) tempered my actions & behaviour and prevented me on occasion from going totally over the top. If you KNOW you get away with nothing, it may allow some pause, some space to choose to act differently. So far, so good, touch wood. Hanging in there.
Perhaps my memories of SOP have mellowed over time. Perhaps I saw things simplistically with no attempt to intellectualise, question or try to ‘work it out’. I am a simple soul. I didn’t engage socially or get involved in gossip or general chatter so was unaware of undercurrents of dissent that, it seems, even then were present. That was a good thing. I simply received what I perceived as ‘Truth’, put my head down as it were, and went for it as best I could, for as long as I could.
I do remember my almost constant internal/mental conflict but that was my stuff and I had to deal with it. I do remember the quality of fellow students - honourable, reliable, honest men, the like of which I haven’t come across before or since: like-minded men earnestly seeking Truth. The situation was special. They were special. And I remember as well as quiet & thoughtful group discussions in search of that Truth, more than occasional gales of laughter that rocked Wilmot Street to its very foundations…
Was/is SOP a cult, run by despots doing untold harm? Was I a brain-washed puppet, being used for nefarious purposes? I don’t think so. (But then some would question, can I be objective? ) All I can say my experience wasn’t like that and that's my honest opinion. And that's all I can offer.