--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I thought it was nice of her to share her experiences here and since > she is Rick's friend it seems weird to dissect her experience here. > > Bronte gave her more of a dressing down than I am comfortable with, > but some of her sentiments ring true to me. > > The experiences were of the underwhelming nature that I used to use to > evaluate my own heightened abilities. They feel compelling to oneself > but to others come off as pretty normal. Let me stand next to her > daughter and watch the kids go by. I'll do the same thing, because I > am an adult and can read people to the point of impressing a child, > which is after all who stood in for all of us in this experience. It > had to rise above the bar held by a child who decided that the > descriptions were accurate. > > It seems charming that people are going around feeling really special > about themselves and collecting these sweet anecdotes that support a > belief in their special state. > > I can relate to this. I have this thing where I think of some > information I need from a book and when I open it randomly I often > come right to the exact page I needed. It used to happen so often > that I came to believe that it was through my refined sense of touch. > It made me feel special. These days I consider that I am a total > book fiend and do this activity so often that the laws of statistics > are in my favor. Plus I am often looking in books I have already read > and they are naturally creased to my favorite sections. Throw in the > natural influence of "shaping" where I tend to remember only the times > it happened and completely forget when it doesn't happen and you have > a full blown miracle in my hands! > > So I am satisfied with her description that she is feeling special > about herself but don't see a need to revise my view of enlightenment > states. They seem to be of a personally compelling nature but don't > yet live up to the brochure. I trust Rick's take that she is a nice > person who relates to people well, although like Bronte I had a bit of > a cringe over her self-created prison of specialness. If it serves > her well it sure is none of my business. For me the lack of such a > separation from people was my enlightenment. Different strokes. > > Thanks for Rick and his friend for giving us some details of her > experience. It would make a fascinating book to collect many such > stories from the modern "enlightened". It might end up confirming my > opinion that this is a subjective shift that seems meaningful only to > the person inside but is not really something which can manifest > anything impressive to others who are not inclined to be impressed by > a mother's ability to "read" a bunch of kids for her daughter. Or it > might really blow some minds that valuable new states of mind are > being reached. > > I'm still posting here with the question: Does your internal state > allow you to do anything that ordinary states cannot? It is a fair > and important question. I'll know it when I see it, just like porn. > (which I would never look at because it degrades women...I mean I only > look at it fro hours in order to express outrage at the exploitation > of women...I mean I am looking at porn on a split screen right now... > If you try hard enough and really work at it, you can explain away anything, by first building a comfortable conceptual model in your mind, and then dismissing it. I used to do it all the time.
However, if you take the time to read what this person has written about their experience, for example, 'reading' the woman who lived in cramped quarters, it is truly an ability outside of normal experience. But, if your conception of what this woman's abilities are, overshadows the plain reading of her explanation, then you will be able to easily dismiss all of it as not meeting your particular standard.
