so by your own words, we can gain some blessed relief from your tiresome and boring rants against all things TM in about nine years??? that would truly be a miracle...
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <no_re...@...> wrote: > > Today I watched the Ron Howard film of "Angels > And Demons." I've read the book, but Dan Brown > is such a bad writer that the ending of it and > who the villain or villains were left my mind > an hour after reading it (that is a backhanded > way of saying that Dan Brown writes the literary > equivalent of Chinese food), so some sense of > mystery was preserved while watching the movie. > More, in fact, than while reading the novel, > because Dan Brown is such a hack writer that > he cannot help but "telegraph his punches" so > much that anyone with an IQ over 50 knows what > is coming 50 pages before it arrives. > > That said, "Angels And Demons: The Movie" is a > great deal better than "Angels And Demons: The > Pageturner." The primary screnwriter, Akiva > Goldsman, somehow managed to turn Dan Brown's > wooden dialogue into non-wooden-enough dialogue > to entice Tom Hanks to reprise his role as > Robert Langdon, and even entice Stellan Skarsgård > (who loathes Dan Brown almost as much as I do) > into appearing in the movie. > > So, bottom line, it's watchable. The *other* > bottom line, for readers of Fairfield Life, is > that it's pretty much a "must-see" if you want > to ever approach understanding the arcane and > beyond-rationality machinations a cultist will > go through to protect his belief system. > > In this film, you actually have two cults. One > is the Illuminati, a mythical organization that > may, in fact, have been mostly mythical. The > other, of course, is the Catholic Church. Its > longevity as a cult is so profound that some in > this reading audience bristled the moment I > referred to it as a cult. But of course it is > one. So is any major religion. The only difference > between a minor cult like TM and a major cult like > the Catholic Church is time, and the number of > followers (and their attendant checkbooks) the > cult can draw into its aura, and more important, > keep there. > > The similarities I see in the film between the > Catholic Church (and in particular the Vatican) > and the TMO are *not* in terms of dogma. It's > more of a "look and feel" thang. I see Cardinals > in their red robes parading smilelessly through > the halls of the Vatican and I cannot help but > think of TM Rajas in their white robes parading > smilelessly through the holy halls of Vlodrop. > I see Stellan Skarsgård as the head of the Swiss > Guard (the fanatical group of police who guard > the Pope) and I cannot help but think of the > Germans Maharishi assigned to the same task in > Seelisberg. I see the Camerlengo and I think > of Bevan Morris. > > It's about "resonance" for me, not an "exact match." > What Dan Brown *is* good at (besides writing cliff- > hangers at the end of each chapter to keep you turn- > ing the pages) is capturing the "look and feel" of > a place and its inhabitants, and what that "look and > feel" says about the *minds* of the inhabitants. > > In the film, Robert Langdon (Hanks) is the ostensible > "rational man," the person who describes his feelings > for God as, "I'm an academic...my mind tells me that > I will never understand God. [My heart] tells me that > I'm not meant to...faith is a gift that I have yet > to receive." That honesty grants him access to the > Vatican Archives, and the solution to the mundane > mystery. But not the metaphysical one. > > In my humble opinion, the primary difference between > the long-lasting cult of the Catholic Church and the > ephemeral, gone-within-one-generation-after-the-death- > of-its-founder legacy of the TM movement, will be the > attitude expressed by Nabby recently in his (essentially) > "Let them eat cake" rant, expressing no concern at all > for the "unwashed masses." The TM movement is so full > of itself, and so full of its puny, self-important > self, that it failed to "follow the rules" of all long- > lived cults. That is, you have to at least *pretend* > to care about the "unwashed masses." It violated MMY's > own dictum about "putting the cart before the horse" > and thought that if it put on enough pomp and circum- > stance that reverence from the masses would follow. > > The Catholic Church, for all its mistakes, has lasted > for 2000 years after the death of the spiritual teacher > it was founded to revere. Mark my words...at the rate > it's going, the TM movement won't last ten years after > the death of its founder. >
