Post by openmindedskeptic on Aug 6, 2022 3:18:35 GMT
For purposes of this review, I will assume that the reader is familiar with the author and topic at hand. Otherwise none of it will make any sense to you. Having clarified that, I will now go-on to summarize some key aspects of why I believe MBT is a grift, chock-full of paradoxes and contradictions. Let's start, shall we?
Contradiction 1: Author Tom Campbell takes a multi-millenary philosophy, in this case Vedanta, and simply replaces all its terminology with modern 20th-century definitions. Then he goes-on to pretend that he was the one who discovered it all. Since most Western readers are woefully ignorant of Vedanta, he gets-away with it. This constitutes intellectual dishonesty. Not exactly what one would expect from a "spiritual teacher".
Contradiction 2: Campbell's book seems to affirm that he alone, out of 7.753 billion inhabitants on this planet, has figured-out all the secrets of life, yet he then contradictorily goes-on to warn about the pitfalls of succumbing to "ego".
Contradiction 3: He bases everything he says on completely unverifiable and totally unprovable claims regarding his alleged ability to "go out of body," "travel in time" and "communicate with superior beings". Yet he then contradictorily goes-on to warn about the pitfalls of believing things that are not "based on your own personal experience".
Contradiction 4: He always makes sure to only allow himself to be interviewed by obsequious, fawning devotees who are guaranteed to not ask any truly hardball questions. To further ensure his control over the narrative, he gathers as many of his interviews as possible under just one YT channel (his own), whose comment section he can completely control. Yet he then contradictorily goes-on to warn about the pitfalls of succumbing to "fear."
Contradiction 5: He deletes & bans anyone, especially critical-thinkers, from publicly commenting on the discrepancy of how his MBT is trying to use the mind in order to go beyond the capabilities of the mind. Yet when criticized for this he contradictorily goes-on to warn about the pitfalls of not maintaining an attitude of "open-minded skepticism". So, which is it?
Contradiction 6: He brushes aside any doubts and/or criticism regarding his so-called 'teachings' by accusing his detractors of being rooted in his infamously favorite catch-all trademark accusation of "You Have Fear and Ego!!!" ..yet then he invariably goes-back right afterwards to implement Contradiction 5. Not exactly what one would expect from a "spiritual teacher".
Thus far we've talked about Tom Campbell's MBT book & theory. Now let's focus on Tom Campbell himself. OK, so I researched this guy. Not an easy task, I might add, given that Mr. Campbell seems to have gone out of his way to make his bio details very hard to find. As an example, it took an extensive amount of digging just to properly identify what colleges he attended. I must say it is extremely rare for an alleged "physicist" to be so reluctant to mention his/her professional credentials in such a manner. A definite red flag.
Here's more of what I found:
- Although Mr. Campbell likes to harp about his alleged "NASA" ties, in reality he spent the bulk of his professional career working for the U.S. Military Missile Defense System, not NASA. In fact, his entire connection to NASA seems to have been only in his latter years working as an independent contractor. But of course for someone who pretends to be a "spiritual teacher" ..mentioning NASA over mentioning the fact that you actually helped to make WMD's for the U.S. military comes across much more smoothly.
- He never graduated. Thus he does not possess a PhD.
- None of his work has been peer-reviewed. Nada. Ever.
- He has a history of making erroneous predictions, such a when he predicted that a meteor would strike planet earth during the '70's. A prediction that he conveniently walked-back and memory-holed as best he could after the fact.
- Nepotism. As soon as his MBT started gaining a slight following amongst the gullible & unwary, Mr. Campbell brought his own wife into the act by naming her Director of his newly-founded organization on "consciousness research", despite the fact that she herself had zero experience in the field. She now even prefaces her name with the title "Dr.". Of what, we don't know.
Finally, there remains the fact that consciousness research is not a subdivision ..or even a subfield of a subdivision... within physics. For all intents & purposes, as far as consciousness research goes, Mr. Campbell might as well be a pediatrician or a mail-carrier.
Contradiction 1: Author Tom Campbell takes a multi-millenary philosophy, in this case Vedanta, and simply replaces all its terminology with modern 20th-century definitions. Then he goes-on to pretend that he was the one who discovered it all. Since most Western readers are woefully ignorant of Vedanta, he gets-away with it. This constitutes intellectual dishonesty. Not exactly what one would expect from a "spiritual teacher".
Contradiction 2: Campbell's book seems to affirm that he alone, out of 7.753 billion inhabitants on this planet, has figured-out all the secrets of life, yet he then contradictorily goes-on to warn about the pitfalls of succumbing to "ego".
Contradiction 3: He bases everything he says on completely unverifiable and totally unprovable claims regarding his alleged ability to "go out of body," "travel in time" and "communicate with superior beings". Yet he then contradictorily goes-on to warn about the pitfalls of believing things that are not "based on your own personal experience".
Contradiction 4: He always makes sure to only allow himself to be interviewed by obsequious, fawning devotees who are guaranteed to not ask any truly hardball questions. To further ensure his control over the narrative, he gathers as many of his interviews as possible under just one YT channel (his own), whose comment section he can completely control. Yet he then contradictorily goes-on to warn about the pitfalls of succumbing to "fear."
Contradiction 5: He deletes & bans anyone, especially critical-thinkers, from publicly commenting on the discrepancy of how his MBT is trying to use the mind in order to go beyond the capabilities of the mind. Yet when criticized for this he contradictorily goes-on to warn about the pitfalls of not maintaining an attitude of "open-minded skepticism". So, which is it?
Contradiction 6: He brushes aside any doubts and/or criticism regarding his so-called 'teachings' by accusing his detractors of being rooted in his infamously favorite catch-all trademark accusation of "You Have Fear and Ego!!!" ..yet then he invariably goes-back right afterwards to implement Contradiction 5. Not exactly what one would expect from a "spiritual teacher".
Thus far we've talked about Tom Campbell's MBT book & theory. Now let's focus on Tom Campbell himself. OK, so I researched this guy. Not an easy task, I might add, given that Mr. Campbell seems to have gone out of his way to make his bio details very hard to find. As an example, it took an extensive amount of digging just to properly identify what colleges he attended. I must say it is extremely rare for an alleged "physicist" to be so reluctant to mention his/her professional credentials in such a manner. A definite red flag.
Here's more of what I found:
- Although Mr. Campbell likes to harp about his alleged "NASA" ties, in reality he spent the bulk of his professional career working for the U.S. Military Missile Defense System, not NASA. In fact, his entire connection to NASA seems to have been only in his latter years working as an independent contractor. But of course for someone who pretends to be a "spiritual teacher" ..mentioning NASA over mentioning the fact that you actually helped to make WMD's for the U.S. military comes across much more smoothly.
- He never graduated. Thus he does not possess a PhD.
- None of his work has been peer-reviewed. Nada. Ever.
- He has a history of making erroneous predictions, such a when he predicted that a meteor would strike planet earth during the '70's. A prediction that he conveniently walked-back and memory-holed as best he could after the fact.
- Nepotism. As soon as his MBT started gaining a slight following amongst the gullible & unwary, Mr. Campbell brought his own wife into the act by naming her Director of his newly-founded organization on "consciousness research", despite the fact that she herself had zero experience in the field. She now even prefaces her name with the title "Dr.". Of what, we don't know.
Finally, there remains the fact that consciousness research is not a subdivision ..or even a subfield of a subdivision... within physics. For all intents & purposes, as far as consciousness research goes, Mr. Campbell might as well be a pediatrician or a mail-carrier.
