Introduction > A Word on Skeptics and Critics

A Word on Skeptics and Critics
of a Most Extraordinary Communication

by Chris Tong, Ph.D.

Artistic rendering by Martin Goulding

It almost goes without saying that, in the world of the twenty-first century, when the extraordinary suggestion is made that a real human being of our time and place (not some mythical "long ago and far away") could be an Incarnation of the Divine, it provokes incredible skepticism and reactivity.

Materialistic skeptics. Obviously a good deal of this is due to the materialistic view that dominates our times: Anything greater than material is doubted by the materialist. End of story, for most materialists — not only in considering Adi Da as Divine Incarnation, but in considering the possibility of genuine Spiritual Masters, or even any kind of greater-than-material reality. But is materialism really the "end of story"? We hope some of the hundreds of stories on this site — of miracles and more — will help our materialist readers to reconsider their position.

Scientific materialism is a strange philosophy for everyone to be attached to . . . Why should it be the preferred philosophy? Of all the philosophies, it’s the one that allows the least hope relative to any matter whatsoever! If it were so — well, that’s that, that’s the way it is. But why should one hope that it is the one that turns out to be so? Why should one so much want it to be so that one is moved to presently affirm that it’s already so, even though you haven’t really found out that it’s so yet? . . . Why that, rather than just be willing to have it be whatever way it is, but here to find out the way it really is? Avatar Adi Da Samraj, Drifted in the Deeper Land

Judeo-Christian skeptics. Those raised in the Judeo-Christian tradition often will bring a different kind of doubt to the table, including "How can the God who created, and is in charge of, the universe appear in a limited human form (with the paradoxical exception of Jesus for Christians)?" However, the presumption behind such a question is that, when we refer to "God", we are necessarily referring to "the Creator of the Universe". Adidam is based on a very different notion of "Real God". In our view, God is not the Creator of the universe, and is not "in charge" of it, in the sense of intentionally directing the course of the universe. God is more akin to the Consciousness "dreaming" this universe. A very rare set of circumstances makes it possible for the Dreamer to appear as a "character" in the dream (as a "Divine Incarnation"), for the purpose of awakening the "dream characters" (who are just forms of the Dreamer — that includes all of us) from the dream. This is God-Realization: the greatest possible human destiny and purpose of existence, transcending every limited form of egoic destiny and purpose (within the dream).

You are just beginning to Awaken. I am like the sunlight in the morning. I intensify the light of morning until you Awaken. Until the Light Awakens you, even the Light of Consciousness Itself, you continue to dream, try to survive within the dream, manipulate yourself within the dream, pursue all kinds of goals, searches — none of which Awaken you. Those who are Awakening in Truth begin to notice something. They begin to recognize the signs. They begin to recognize the activity of dreaming. They begin to sense something very unusual about Me. I Am your own True Self-Nature Appearing within the dream to Awaken you. I Am your Awakening, and your Always Already Conscious State. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, The Ancient Walk-About Way

Ex-devotee critics. Still others, including some who have "tried" Adidam for some time and then "moved on", will take exception to some of the "Crazy-Wise" means used by our Spiritual Master to awaken His devotees, to shake them loose from this mortal dream. Those of us who have "stayed the course" have a different perspective to offer, as you will discover in reading the stories on this site:

The compassionate Master does not do for others everything He can do within the bounds of propriety. The compassionate Master will do everything, whether in the realm of propriety or not, for the sake of Awakening others. Avatar Adi Da Samraj

While all new religious movements have significant turnover, the great majority of ex-devotees have a respect and appreciation for Adi Da and their time in Adidam. (For example, 90% of all ex-devotees view Adi Da as a "great religious teacher".) There are a few vocal "ex-devotee" critics who do not represent the great majority of ex-devotees, but even some of them are now expressing a different understanding and new appreciation of Adi Da.

Providing the evidence. We well understand that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence", as Carl Sagan has put it. We don't blame anyone for harboring doubt, or raising questions about how such a thing could be. It is extraordinary! But to those of us with firsthand experience, it is no longer unbelievable. And Adi Da Himself has instructed us to compile the evidence and make it available to everyone:

Devotees are obliged to tell this extraordinary story that is ordinarily unacceptable to Western consciousness. You are more than Westerners, because you have a Great "Experience", a Great "Consideration" to present. It is a Timeless Sublimity, with a Great Purpose making its moment. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, 1988

You must speak about being in the company of someone who functions on a supernormal basis. You must speak about the prevention of a huge storm, and various other kinds of what people would otherwise call miraculous happenings, which you have all witnessed repeatedly for over 35 years. You must tell the story of the lifetime of someone whose Presence here makes a difference, and proves things that are otherwise dismissed commonly. You must set Me apart, based [on your confession of your recognition of Me as the Divine, and therefore] on your confession that I am what your lives are all about. . . This whole "trash world without a miracle in it" needs to be told about the Divine Avataric Intervention here. The world must hear from you about it. Tell the story and present the evidence, as people who understand. Avatar Adi Da Samraj, February, 2008

This website is a labor of love purposed toward providing the evidence — in the form of hundreds of personal, firsthand accounts — that supports a most extraordinary communication, and a most extraordinary opportunity for a world and a time that could certainly use one: the offering of the Divine State of Perfect and Eternal Happiness.