Wow.

I just finished watching the Netflix series “Wild Wild County,” about the crazy times of Bagwan Shree Rajneesh and his followers in Oregon in the 1980s.

While the documentary is not for everyone (it includes murderous plots and writhing naked “meditation” groups), it’s a fascinating look into, among things, the power dynamics of spiritual communities.

While all hell was breaking loose in Oregon back in the 80s, I was working at a health food store in Boston. As it turned out, one of my coworkers was a follower of Rajneesh. She wore shades of red, as did all his disciples at the time. She was also super nice, and looked about ten years younger than she was.

I had heard something about the Rajneesh clan being into free sex, though my coworker didn’t talk much about it. She did seem mighty happy, though.

Perhaps that was why.  

A few years after I left Boston, I heard that the Oregon commune had fallen apart. Something about conspiracy, immigration fraud, and excessive purchasing of Rolls Royces.

“Wild, Wild West” fleshes all this out, and then some.

The film is like other current documentaries – no narrator, just clips of many of the major players, stating their side of things. It’s left up to the viewer to draw their own conclusion.

This is all well and good, and we certainly got a mouthful from Rajneesh followers, the locals who were supplanted by the community, and the Oregon officials who prosecuted some of the community members.

The biggest missing piece was Rajneesh himself.

He’s been dead for almost thirty years, so getting him on camera now would be a real coup. He was also in silence for large chunks of time during the shenanigans in the 80s, so there’s limited footage of him in the film.

I was left wanting to know more.

I was particularly struck by the fact that, even though Rajneesh accused his exiled secretary, Ma Anand Sheela, of drug use, he appeared to be seriously drugged himself.

The film barely touched on this, other than a few passing mentions. There were also not a lot of interviews with disciples who became disillusioned with Rajneesh. The main critiques of him in the film come from the Oregon residents and officials, not community insiders.

So I checked it out online. This article sums up the overall gist from followers who left.

Among the allegations: Rajneesh was an enthusiastic consumer of Valium and nitrous oxide, he took huge amounts of money from followers and spent it on a fleet of Rolls Royces, and – to keep the flow of money at the ashram – he ordered his disciples to undergo mass sterilizations. (No kids to spend money on, more bucks to spend on the guru!) This in addition to the murder plots and immigration scams already outed in the general press. WTF?!

Sadly, this is the not the first time I’ve heard of someone who was both a powerful spiritual teacher, as Rajneesh appears to have been, and a serious abuser of power.

The biggest takeaway for me in “Wild Wild West” is the disconnect between these two.

There’s an often-unspoken assumption in spiritual circles that experiences of enlightenment produce highly moral individuals. The followers take it on faith that the guru is enlightened in every way.

And this is true. Sometimes.

But it’s also true that there are spiritual teachers out there who seriously abuse their power over their followers.

Erasing the assumption that enlightenment equals morality is huge.

It’s something that needs to be talked about in all spiritual communities, big and small.

That, and the imbalance of power that exists the minute one person is seen to be more enlightened/spiritual/evolved than others.

I’ve always felt slightly uneasy about spending inordinate amounts of time chasing mystical experiences. Now I see why. Enlightenment experiences are awesome, don’t get me wrong. And I’m a huge fan of meditation.

But if the search for enlightenment is not paired with an equally enlightened approach to the treatment of others, I’m out.

Now, I’m aware that some folks see this differently. Some would claim that, due to his behavior, Rajneesh wasn’t enlightened at all. And others, like the die-hard followers in the movie, would claim that his behavior was purposely designed to enlighten them.

Again, I would beg to differ.

Human beings are complex buggers.

As we’ve seen with guru after fallen guru, it’s possible to experience both profound mystical experiences and profound mismanagement of the power these experiences can bring.

As a student of spiritual teachings and a teacher myself, this is all cause for some serious reflection.

Wild, Wild West is a wonderful catalyst for this reflection. For all of us.

Also?

If you see me starting to eye the Rolls Royces, alert the authorities.

What’s your experience with gurus? Share your comments below!