--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "sparaig" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues" <curtisdeltablues@> wrote: > [...] > > I have some affection and respect for Lawson. He just pissed me off > > with the (you don't even understand the most basic aspects of > > Maharishi's teaching) routine. One of the nice things about this > > group for me is the assumption of some common ground in familiarity > > with Maharishi's perspective. > > Do you think thta Vaj's perspective is correct? That TM requires at least slight effort, > always? > > > lawson >
Here is what I think Lawson. This kind of discussion based on the words used to describe the practice is a long way from the actual practice or how meditaton gets taught. In teaching or checking meditation you have to be careful not to get to hung up on the words used because these words mean different things to different people. The term "effortless" is in my experience really useful to convey a sense of how easy it is to a meditator. But it is not meant in my opinion as some sort of absolute description of what goes on. Intentionality is a part of meditation in a lot of places and that doesn't imply effort to me, but it really isn't completely effortless either. Even when Maharishi was pinned down on this question he called it an "effortless effort" right? So I think divorcing these terms from our experiences is a mistake, they are not absolutes, but are useful tools to shape a person's experience. By now I figure we all have the hang of it so I figure Vaj is describing his practice (when he did TM) his way but it doesn't mean that he didn't have a similar experience to my own. I have taught people who got hung up on the effortless phrase. I just helped them understand that the term may be at the end of some continuum they are on from straining to complete effortlessness. If they reported good experiences in their checking session then the words lost their usefulness in guiding their experience. Sometimes you have to go with the result and not the vocabulary used IMO. As devoted as Vaj seems to be with his own style of meditation, I find it hard to believe that he isn't getting something valuable from it. For me, that is more important than any words used about either his meditation or my own.
