On Wed, Feb 11, 2009 at 6:15 AM, Vaj <vajradh...@earthlink.net> wrote: > IME, meditators get addicted to "silent" states and calm, thought-free > states, just makes them "flat". I suspect this is why many outsiders > experience TM folks as having a flat affect. They don't integrate thought, > they're too busy trying to escape it.
The thing is that the silence comes and goes, comes and goes, comes and goes and eventually stays for longer periods. These people didn't get Maharishi's teaching to "take it as it comes". So sort of like a rat that's learned superstitious behavior in a Skinner box or some South Sea islanders who've developed a cargo cult, the meditator is doing whatever appears is needed to get back to and keep the silence. It appears to them that if they keep real still, don't engage in much action and don't experience the full range of emotions the silence comes and stays around longer. Not following Maharishi's teaching on the matter, they actually prevent the silence from growing in them. Rather than dipping the cloth then pulling out and exposing to the sun, they're trying to keep the cloth immersed in the dye. A similar mistake is made in the Mother Divine cult, where the THMDs and wannabes stop after every few breaths, every few words, every few movements to examine what they've just said, breathed or done, thinking that this is the witnessing Maharishi talked about.