--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "ruthsimplicity" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>
> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Alex Stanley"
> <j_alexander_stanley@> wrote:
>
> > The ridiculously named "TM-Free" blog is anything *but* TM-Free. It's
> > all TM, all the time. Unhealthy-TM-Obsession Blog is a more accurate
> > description.
>
>
> I checked the blog out. Seems no more unhealthy than this place--we
> have no idea the extent of anyone's obsession. I can understand the
> desire to put out the other side of the story as the TMO never sees
> anything wrong with itself. Both that blog and this group reflect how
> people deal with the paradox that Peter mentioned. And the original
> poster mentioned.
>
> I am coming to the very personal conclusions that:
>
> (1) MMY probably believed strongly in himself and his cause, but was
> manipulative, lacked empathy, was prone to exaggeration and I don't
> believe he was enlightened. He as the founder is ultimately
> responsible for the organizations that have evolved under his tenure.
>
> (2) Meditation 20 minutes twice a day probably does no harm and
> likely does a fair amount of people some good. A chance to step back,
> relax, let go. Maybe it has some physical benefits but they are not
> pronounced. The psychological benefits are harder to quantify.
> Spiritual benefits? The jury is out for me. I wouldn't pay the
> current price. The price is elitist.
>
> (3) I question whether the advanced techniques and the siddhis have
> any benefit whatsoever. The promised benefits have not been shown.
> The claims are exaggerated. The teachers say you need no faith to
> practice the techniques, but why would you practice the techniques
> unless you had faith that they worked? Super highway to enlightenment?
> I don't see it. If it is a superhighway, I know plenty of people who
> have been on that highway for more than 30 years, still going around
> in circles. I think that any benefits people perceive are in large
> part due to justification. You invested a lot of time and money;
> dissonance theory makes it likely that you will exaggerate the
> benefits and minimize the detriments and never know you did so.
>
> (4) Excessive meditation, like rounding, may be dangerous to some and
> is good for almost no one.
>
> (5) The TMO is a collection of various corporations and entities that
> are not financially transparent which leads to considerable
> speculation as to where the money goes. It is paternalistic and not
> democratic, inconsistent with many western values. Its leadership
> structure and asset ownership structure is obscure. It has blinders on
> as to the TM techniques and its affiliated scientists often refuses to
> cooperate with outside scientists and they ignore potential problems
> in some meditators. Its inside scientists do not behave as scientists,
> they behave like religious fanatics. Yet, as a religion it fails. The
> various religious type pronouncements are inconsistent (think Nader
> and heaven vs. the more mystical hindu view) and it has no real
> ethical or moral teachings. Trying to make it a religion without an
> underlying morality is dangerous. Yet many TBs seem to make it a
> religion. And, after all, the TMO says it is NOT a religion.
>
> (6) Given the exaggerated claims, the unproven benefits, why would
> anyone then buy into the siddhis, the food supplements, the natural
> law party, the vastu architecture, the pulse diagnosis, the yagyas,
> the consciousness based education, all the things that the movement
> wants to sell? A rational person would want damn good evidence. Or
> they would have to be religious about it, taking these things on faith
> because they trust what their religion says about these things. Well,
> I already have concluded that as a religion the movement fails. And it
> professes not to be a religion anyway. I already have concluded that
> I do not trust MMY enough to take his pronouncements on faith alone.
>
>
> Thanks the the forum for helping me think through what I believe.
>
Bravo Ruth. Concise and perfect.
