Mark David Chapman described his shooting of John Lennon as witnessing.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend" <jstein@> wrote: > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "suziezuzie" <msilver1951@> > > wrote: > > <snip> > > > I would be > > > really curious to know how many people on this list drink > > > two 6oz. glasses of wine each day and can claim that they > > > feel no difference in the experience of deep meditation. > > > > If you drink right before you meditate, of course > > you're going to feel a difference. But alcohol gets > > metabolized by the system fairly quickly, so if you > > have a shot or two of something before you go to > > bed, say, at least in my experience, it doesn't > > affect meditation the next morning. Sometimes I > > have a drink before bed, sometimes I don't, and I've > > never noticed any difference. > > > > FWIW, a former boyfriend of mine who was a TMer > > would have profound witnessing experiences if he so > > much as drank a glass of beer. That's never > > happened to me! > > This (profound witnessing after having a drink > or two) is far from uncommon. It is *all over* > the literature of Tibet and India and Japan, > an integral part of many of the stories about > enlightened teachers there. The Sixth Dalai > Lama used to drink everyone under the table > and *then* stand up and create spontaneous > poetry in Sanskrit that still hasn't been > rivaled by any other Tibetan spiritual poet. > The Zen Master poets Ikkyu and Bankei were > famous for creating their best and most spir- > itual poems and teachings while drunk. Hell, > have you ever read any of Chogyam Trungpa's > books? He wrote most of them *while* drunk. > Go figure. > > Repeat after me: DIFFERENT STROKES FOR > DIFERENT FOLKS! > > The whole problem is that people are trying to > come up with some "rule" or "law" that says > "Booze is bad for you...if you are spiritual > you have nothing to do with it" Well, I'm sorry, > but life is just not that simple, or simple-minded. > > It's the same thing with TM. Some here like it, > and think it's a great technique of meditation > that has taken them to some of the highest > experiences they've ever had. Others think of > it as a beginner's technique that got them > started with meditation, but that it pales in > comparison with other techniques they learned > later on. BOTH sets of people would be RIGHT. > For them. Any "shades of gray" in between would > be RIGHT. For them. There are no panaceas or > solutions or rules that work for everyone. Get > over it. > > > Very different with pot, again in my experience > > (many years ago). > > But there again, look into it and you will find > whole spiritual traditions in India that smoke > hashish as a sacrament, and in *huge* quantities. > Different strokes for different folks. > > I jumped into this whole tempest in a shot glass > because a couple of people got stupid behind the > subject. One tried to declare alcohol a poison, > as if there were no other point of view on the > subject, and the other tried to say that the fact > that he didn't drink made him somehow "better" > than those who do. > > That's just elitism. It has nothing to do with > fact, or with health, or with spiritual devel- > opment. There are MANY stories out there in the > world of spirituality about the use of alcohol, > some of them within Shankara's own tradition. > > For me, the bottom line is simple. If you don't > like to drink, don't drink. That's your right, and > your choice. But when you start claiming that having > made that choice makes you "better" than some other > human being on this planet, IMO you've turned into > something a great deal more offensive than a drunk. >
