This is the same as the leaders of "go to hell" cults. There are many spiritual instructors who are at the stages of instigation, manipulation, and codependency.

This happened relatively recently. A few years ago, I attended a small seminar on spirituality, and the instructor there aggressively promoted a course (the next level, so to speak). Because I was hesitant to enroll and kept avoiding it, the instructor gradually became irritated, and eventually, in a near-rage state, he said, "If you don't take this course, you will absolutely not grow spiritually!!!"

Basically, when someone gets angry or hysterical, it's because "they are stupid and cannot understand (what is being pointed out or questioned), and yet, they are lashing out to force their opinion." It's best not to get involved with such people.

The instructor repeatedly said, "Because my aura is 10 times stronger!" I got annoyed and repeatedly said, "(That's) obviously an exaggeration!" Gradually, the instructor became irritated and entered a rage mode. This is similar to the common tactic of "If you don't buy this, you will fall into hell," which is a milder version of fraudulent new religions. A spiritual instructor should not say things that threaten others, such as "If you don't do this, you will absolutely not grow."

For people who want to grow spiritually, these words are nothing but fear. They repeatedly create a sense of crisis by saying, "If you don't enroll, you won't grow," and then aggressively promote expensive multi-day seminars that cost around 300,000 to 400,000 yen. Instructors who get angry at students who don't agree and, in addition to that, yell loudly at students who are not enthusiastic about the next expensive seminar, saying, "You haven't grown at all!!!" are mentally unstable and are not fit to be instructors. To that instructor, I might be someone who hasn't grown at all... I completely disagree with that.

If they say that, it's like, "Fine. Then, I'll grow without taking the seminar."

These stories are like self-hypnosis. If you agree with the fraudulent instructor who says, "If you don't enroll, you won't grow," you will actually be putting a brake on yourself and it will become true. Therefore, even if you are told such things, you should just think, "Huh? What are you talking about?" and ignore it. The key is not to agree.

Furthermore, the true intention is often expressed through wordplay, and they say things like "your aura will increase tenfold," which suggests they are not measuring it quantitatively. It's like Rakuten's "10x points!" promotion, which appears to be 10 times the points, but in reality, the points are only 1x, and even if it becomes 10%, it's still a very small amount. However, when they say "aura increases tenfold," it creates an illusion, similar to Rakuten, that your overall aura has increased tenfold, but in reality, it doesn't seem to be measured quantitatively. If they were truly measuring it, they wouldn't easily say something like "tenfold." It's quite suspicious.

From the perspective of that instructor, those who take the expensive 300,000 yen seminar are considered spiritually superior and capable of continuous growth, while those who don't take the seminar are considered spiritually inferior, "people who are asleep."

There are unethical spiritual instructors who, when things go against their interests, become enraged, try to obscure the issue, and push their opinions.

This instructor confidently told me, "You have already increased your aura by ⚪︎⚪︎," but on the other hand, when they realized that I was not planning to take the seminar, they suddenly became enraged and shouted, "You haven't grown at all!" This contradictory and manipulative behavior is a clear sign of an unethical instructor. Their statements lack consistency and are overly opportunistic. It sounds like they are saying whatever comes to mind based on their emotions and the situation at hand. They may have been praising me before I took the expensive seminar to make me feel good, and then, when they sensed that I wasn't going to take it, they tried to scare me into taking it by making me feel inferior. And then, once I take the seminar, they would praise me excessively.

In reality, it felt more like they were simply praising people as part of their sales pitch, rather than genuinely assessing the students. I may have lacked the ability to see through this at first. I probably could have realized it sooner, but perhaps it served as a valuable lesson.

This instructor seemed to have some knowledge of spirituality, but even with that, they seem to have strayed from the path to some extent. There are many people in this industry who offer small spiritual seminars and charge exorbitant fees.

Also, based on what I saw of that instructor, it seemed that they believed they were spiritually superior because they were manipulating others. I think there are many such gurus and instructors. They may have some spiritual knowledge and skills, but at the same time, I imagined that they might have forced people to attend seminars by instilling fear and taking away their freedom of will. In such a situation of fear, attending the seminar itself might only have brought about a sense of stability, but they create an illusion that it was thanks to the seminar that they became peaceful. Moreover, there are unscrupulous instructors who charge high prices for seminars, sometimes 300,000 yen for a few days.

This is something that contains some truth, and I'm not saying that it has zero effect. However, it is common in the spiritual industry to withhold even small things and charge a high price.

At that price, they would probably be very eager to promote it and stir things up. That is not good.

Furthermore, that instructor seemed to be very condescending. Even though the seminar was only half a day or a few days, the suggestion and explanation was that all of my subsequent growth would be thanks to that seminar. They made people believe that "spiritual growth is absolutely impossible without taking this seminar," and in reality, even if that were not the case, it could be interpreted as everything being thanks to the seminar through self-suggestion.

That kind of condescending attitude is not good. With that kind of wording, if you grow, it will be attributed to the seminar, and if you don't grow, it will be interpreted as "just sleeping." It seems too convenient.

In any case, people who interpret things to suit themselves cannot achieve spiritual growth on their own. Therefore, the fact that that person is a seminar instructor at that organization may be beyond their capabilities.

However, I can't help but feel that that instructor is like a victim in a way. They didn't seem to be very intelligent, so I thought that they might have been tricked into taking multiple seminars themselves and are just playing a role in the hierarchy of expensive seminars.

The instructor said, "I also grew spiritually quickly after taking this seminar," but you can't compare it to not taking it, and you can't make such a statement without any basis. Perhaps, they might have grown faster if they hadn't taken it, but there's no way to compare it. If you were to compare, you would need to divide it into groups: those who attended, those who did not attend, and a group that was told they were attending but actually received a dummy seminar (a placebo group), and statistically measure spiritual growth. However, it is difficult to quantify spiritual growth, and there are very few places that do that (although there might be some). And even if they simply say "it will grow!" subjectively, I would only think, "Oh, I see, is that so."

There are organizations that promote leveling up through seminars, and organizations that encourage growth through meditation and self-discipline. There are also combinations of these. However, the emphasis varies depending on the organization. When organizations strongly emphasize "growth" through seminars, it can lead to a situation where, like the unethical instructors, individuals may feel they have achieved spiritual growth (which is somewhat true), but they may mistakenly believe they have grown more than they actually have. This can lead to instructors who are not as skilled as they appear.

What is called "basic ability" can also be described as "depth of stillness." While attending seminars, one can receive "energy" as "light," but the degree to which it settles depends on the individual's basic ability. "Depth of stillness" means that even with a certain level of stillness, one can receive energy, and may feel like they have grown, but achieving a deeper stillness takes time. While attending seminars repeatedly may deepen stillness, the fundamental factor is the individual's self-discipline. In seminar-focused approaches, individuals may acquire techniques and other things, and may mistakenly believe they have grown based on the number of techniques they have learned.

For example, in astral projection, if the "depth of stillness" is insufficient, one cannot transcend time and space and is bound to the space around them and the current timeline. In most cases, even when astral projecting, one mostly wanders around familiar spaces like their room or neighborhood. Occasionally, one may reach the universe or the heavens, but basically, they are in the current time and space. On the other hand, as stillness deepens, the ability to transcend time and space increases. Transcending time and space means being able to move to any time, past or future. It seems difficult to achieve this level simply by attending seminars.

I want to clarify that, in relatively large spiritual organizations, even those that are not perfect, they are often watched over and protected by higher beings. The higher aspects are generally the same and pure, but when these are implemented on Earth by organizations or individuals, these manipulations and instigations occur. I am not saying that this is inherently bad, but rather that it is a trap that many human seminar instructors on Earth fall into. I am not denying the higher aspects that guide the organization.

Organizations that grow to a certain size often contain a certain amount of truth, but at the same time, manipulation and incitement can become commonplace among lower-level members.

Conversely, from a higher level of consciousness, this may be something that is not given much thought or attention. From a higher perspective, it may be difficult to understand what is good and what is bad, because everything is acceptable in the higher world. However, not all activities on this earth are permissible. The higher world transcends karma, while this earthly world is bound by karma. Therefore, if one engages in manipulation and incitement, the consequences will return to oneself. Higher consciousness does not concern itself with such things. Therefore, we, as lower beings, should not indulge in such manipulation and incitement, and we should be careful about it.

For those who are attending, they should be careful of the incitement of such unethical instructors. If they think it is worth the tuition fee, they should attend. However, if they get caught in the loop of manipulation and incitement by the instructor, it will be disastrous. For example, they may be constantly told, "There is no growth without attending (it's the same as saying, 'You will fall into hell if you don't attend')," and they will be endlessly drained of money.

For spiritual organizations, it is necessary to have a certain amount of funds to operate in this world, so it is unavoidable to receive tuition fees through seminars. However, in reality, if one simply wants to earn money, it is possible with the help of a higher power. Therefore, it would be more appropriate to raise funds through such methods and then allow anyone to attend, regardless of whether they pay the fee, or to adopt the old-fashioned style of providing individual attendance to those who meet certain requirements other than money. Well, this is a story for another time.