Actually, the title of this little rant should be "See Raunchydog, Judy, ed11, Nabby, Off, and now empty_bill Run." See them chase the dreaded heretic up the hill, shouting "Anti-TMer! Anti- TMer!" at the top of their voices.
And why? Because I posted a parody of what Raunchydog actually *said*, putting it into perspective. She "went off" on how TM was the only tech- nique she ever needed to learn, and that any suggestion that she should ever learn another technique was offensive to her. So I rewrote what she had said as if she had settled for the first book she had ever read, and thought that it was the only book she ever *needed* to read, ever in her whole life. And then I just sat back and waited. She and Judy did the rest. I merely pointed out that their reactions -- and the "TM supremacy meme" that is at the basis of those reactions -- to you, Mike, so that you could see what you're going to have to deal with when/if you go to Fairfield. AND EVERY SINGLE PERSON HERE KNOWS THAT WHAT I'M SAYING IS TRUE. THEY HAVE SEEN IT HAPPEN OVER AND OVER. You *will* be thrown out of MUM if you persist in thinking that you have the right to practice a technique of meditation you think is "as good as" or better than TM. So no one on this forum has even bothered to *challenge* that, or deal with it at all. Instead, they went on a "Shoot the messenger" kick. And I think that everyone here knows why. It has to do with my choice of *which* book I suggested that Raunchydog had chosen to "settle for" as The Only Book She Ever Needed To Read. I picked the name "Dick and Jane Meet Lassie." THAT is why these folks are in full "Gotta get the anti-TMer" mode, and have gone a little crazy behind it. They feel that they have to lash out at the person who implied that TM was on the same level as a first-year reading primer, and that by settling for that technique to the point of never being willing to try another, they had effectively settled for having read only one book in their entire lives, and being content with that. But in my honest opinion, that's all true. Mike, as I have said here many, many times, I am *NOT* "anti-TM." I think that TM -- TM alone, with none its expensive "add on products" -- is a very *good* beginner's technique of meditation. In the larger catalog of meditation techniques, that is *exactly* what it is. Of the 50+ techniques I have been taught over the years, I would say that at least 4 others were essentially the *same* as TM, two of them using the same mantras, all of them using the same basic instructions. The *only* differ- ences between the techniques were the methods in which they were taught, and the fact that the other four techniques were taught to me for free. But that was five techniques out of 50. The *rest* had completely different philosophies "underneath" them, and were for different purposes and were aimed at seekers of different predilections. The thing that the other spiritual traditions who taught me these other techniques had going for them was a "diversity of product line." They weren't locked into Maharishi's "the only thing I've got to sell is TM so I've got to claim that it's 'the best'" approach (at least that was his approach until he began to invent newer and more expensive add-on products to sell). Each of these other traditions had *dozens* of techniques to teach, to seekers at different levels of experience, and according to their predilections. For the record, because this "Shoot the messenger" "pile on" nonsense is not going to stop, I am *NOT* anti-TM. As I've said many times, I think TM is an excellent beginner's technique of meditation. And I'm not even "anti" someone like Raunchydog or Judy being so happy with it (or so incurious) as to never want to try a second technique of meditation, ever in their lives. The only thing I'm "anti" is the continued, anti- intellectual insistence, even in people who should know better, that TM is "the best" technique of meditation in the world. It's *fine* to say that TM is a great technique of medi- tation. It's *fine* to say that it's such a great tech- nique that -- for you -- there is no need to ever try another. What it's NOT fine to say is "TM is the best" *if you have never tried any other techniques of medi- tation after learning TM, or none others, period*. If that is your situation -- and it *IS*, as far as I can tell, Raunchydog's, Judy's, and ed11's situation -- then you have *no basis* from which to make that declaration of "bestness." Interestingly enough, this was the basis of the first time Judy went crazy and went into "Gotta get Barry" mode back in 1994. I called her on making this same "TM is the best" statement back on alt.meditation. transcendental. (At least this is the first interaction I could find last night, when contrary to what Judy claims the Google search engine was working *just fine*.) I called her on repeating ad nauseum her "the best" claim, she wrote to me in email (pretending that it was because she wanted to discuss 'details of the practice' that weren't appropriate to being posted, which she *never* discussed), and then I asked whether I could repost some of the things she had said in that email to the group, to further the discussion. She went crazy. She's been crazy ever since. She has been calling me an "anti-TMer" ever since. I'm *sure* she'd like to portray the interaction some other way, but I just went back and re-read the posts last night, and that's how it went down. Then, as now, the two things that made her go crazy are the same things that are making her and the other "pro-TMers" go crazy today. The first is being called on making a claim that they have no rational basis for making, not having practiced all the other techniques they claim TM is "better" than. The second is *realizing* that to some extent the "Dick and Jane Meet Lassie" analogy is *correct*, and that they have been repeating the "TM is the best" meme all these decades after having practiced only TM (after having read only one beginner's reading primer, "Dick and Jane Meet Lassie). That's the situation as I see it. Anyone who cares enough to have read this far can make their own deter- mination. Believe whatever you want. All I'm saying is that on this forum, when a *bunch* of people get crazy behind "Gotta get the 'anti-TMer'" mode, the reason can *always* be traced back to someone having pointed out the basic stupidity of the "TM is the best" meme. They react to that *every time* with cries of "anti-TMer." Personally, I think it's good that they're reacting this way, because for the next few days YOU are going to see *exactly* how a "TM community" reacts to having one of its sacred cows skewered. They react with anger and with name-calling. Next will come lies. (Actually, the lies have already started; ed11 claimed that I've never been to Fairfield, which isn't true. Next will come Nabby making up some new claim about my nefarious past.) Mike, these are the SAME tactics they will use against YOU if you move to Fairfield, enroll in the university, and have the audacity to say that you think that any other technique of meditation is on a par with TM or is (God forbid!) superior to it. This is how they will treat YOU. They will come after you like villagers with torches after Doc Frankenstein's monster, shouting "Anti-TMer! Anti-TMer!" Watch and learn, Mike. This is your future, should you enroll at MUM and choose to retain your ability to think for yourself.
