Enlightenment on a Stick — Thinking Critically About the Finders Course
Is there really a scientific protocol for spiritual awakening?
Ten years ago I came close to plunking down $3,000 to take the Finders Course, now repackaged as 45 Days to Awakening — The Scientifically Proven Program for Finding Lasting Inner Peace and Contentment. Their creator is Dr. Jeffery Martin, founder of the Center for the Study of Non-Symbolic Consciousness.
Martin is a prolific author and YouTube presenter, and I found his ideas intoxicating. He claimed that most of the people who took his courses came to the end of their spiritual search, becoming “finders” rather than seekers.
I had to learn more.
Martin developed a model of enlightenment (non-symbolic experience) describing the fundamental shifts that finders experience:
Freedom from the Narrative Self: This is the inner voice that constantly comments on everything you experience. The Narrative Self switches unpredictably from criticizing you to defending you. It weaves the events of your life into a story that centers on you, justifies your behavior, and defends you from attack. In finders this internal chatter slows down or stops. This frees the mind to work more efficiently and creatively. It also creates a sense of inner stillness and peace.
Non-localized sense of self: Finders say that the boundary between self and other decreases and even disappears when not needed for functioning in daily life.
Changes in emotion: States such as fear, sadness, and anger decrease, replaced by a meta-emotion of compassion. Some finders report that emotion simply disappears, allowing them to experience life in a detached state that is free of preferences. This emotional transition can be sudden and disorienting, however, triggering “dark nights of the soul.”
Focus on the present moment: Finders lose interest in memories and social approval. They no longer define themselves by past events, or by the opinions of other people.
Reduced sense of agency: For finders, life seems to unfold in optimal ways without personal decision or conscious effort. Life happens through them, not by them.
This list was a revelation for me. It aligned with my own experience and gave me a clear way to describe it.
I found this really exciting.
And then the bottom fell out. Searching for information about Martin’s work, I ran across this withering critique on Reddit from a Finders Course dropout. This piece carefully documents a long list of criticisms: deceptive marketing, intellectual sloppiness, poor research design, and more:
The subjects in Martin’s studies are people who paid to take the Finders Course. Ethical researchers don't ask participants for payment.
Martin describes himself as a Harvard-trained psychologist. But his PhD is from the California Institute of Integral Studies, and its Doctor of Psychology program is not accredited by the American Psychological Association.
Real scientists don’t market anything as “scientifically proven.” Science doesn’t prove anything once and for all. All scientific findings are open to revision.
The author concludes that the Finders Course is “an elaborate con” — basically, “a get-enlightened-quick scheme.”
My heart sank as I read that Reddit post. A big chunk of my intellectual edifice crumbled.
In his book The Finders, even Martin admits that non-symbolic experience doesn't guarantee ethical behavior: Finders can struggle with sustaining relationships and making a living. They can also express racist and sexist attitudes and act dishonestly.
So much for all my romantic notions about enlightenment.
Where do I stand now? I’ve gone beyond uncritical acceptance and outright rejection to a more nuanced place.
First of all, I want to be fair to Jeffery Martin. I’m not sure if he’s aware of the Reddit post. I’d like to know his response. Perhaps a new dialogue will emerge.
Second, Martin’s model of enlightenment still seems useful. It gives me ideas to test, even if I don't accept the way that Martin conducted his research and promoted his work.
Third, I retain my basic stance toward all spiritual teachers, reminding myself that people who speak with a lot of insight can still behave in unethical ways. Separate the message from the messenger and — as the Buddha said — accept only what you can personally verify.
I wish it were simpler, but it’s not. In this messy material world, our job is to remain open-hearted and intellectually rigorous at the same time.
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I think ultimately you were right to be cautious. In general I am very suspicious of enlightenment as something to be acquired at all costs. I like to think of the Hindu theme of the cosmic drama where the central self is playing all the parts throughout the universe, and if you're not ready to 'wake up' yet, then that's ok - you're still playing the 'hide' part of the central drama.