--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Robert" <babajii...@...> wrote: > > (snip) > > One might also ask what *Barry* has ever done that > > "deserves" our attention > (snip)
Before asking that, one might ask why (other than projection of their own desires) Barry might WANT your attention, let alone think he "deserves" it. Barry has said many times here that he's writing for himself, for the sheer pleasure of writing and for the occasional entertainment value of seeing how people react *or* not react to that writing. But again it comes down to "Don't believe what I say...just watch." PAY ATTENTION to who on this forum complains and bitches and moans when they post something and no one replies, or they reply in a way that takes the original post off on a tangent. I think you'll find that that isn't me. I think you'll find, in fact, that it's the complainant above. > Turk(Barry) is an excellent movie reviewer, and also, > gives a sense of what is like in Europe... A very warped, highly subjective sense of what it is like in Europe *for me*. If anyone happens to enjoy that very warped, highly subjective snapshot, that's their business. > He also, is excellent at pushing people's buttons, to > have them, perhaps, think or feel more deeply, on why > they might feel so challenged by his comments... Good perception. Take the little exercise that the complainant above fell for yesterday. I didn't know exactly how many posts she made during that period of time that were *not* expressing her pleasure at someone else's humiliation or misfortune, and I didn't care. I started checking, found none in the first 20 posts or so, and got bored with it. My only purpose in suggesting the whole "bet" was to see whether I could get *HER* to do it. And that was interesting *only* because of your insightful sentence above, Robert. I wanted to see whether -- having been suckered into going through all of her posts for the last month or so and *realizing* how many of them were all about her gloating over someone else's humili- ation or misfortune, and how few involved her expressing pleasure at anything human and real -- she would LEARN anything from this. She did not. All she saw in the exercise was yet another attempt to scream "I won," and "Gotcha." That's pretty pathetic. By contrast, look at Bob Brigante's posts today. Having been once again placed on a "Watch List" of 30-year meditators and pointed at as what he is -- an EXAMPLE of what TM produces -- he seems to have LEARNED something. He has posted a bunch of positive stuff. Personally, I happen to believe that much of it is positive propaganda, but I am not going to rag on it because I appreciate his gesture. Having been pointed out as an example of what TM produces, he posted some *positive* things. Good for him. What has the complainant above done? Only attacked more, and continued to play "Gotcha." She has learned NOTHING from this whole exercise. Having gone through it, she will probably spend *all 50** of her posts this week playing "Gotcha," while thinking she's "winning." And she'll do the same thing next week, and the next. As I said, pathetic. > He is certainly a dedicated writer, of this rag-tag > group, and I wouldn't underestimate his ability, to > come up with some pretty wild spins, and observations > of everyday occurrences... I don't know about "dedicated." "Chained to the computer" is more like it. :-) I work mainly at home, writing XML and code that demands long compile and publication times. It is not unusual for me to spend 10 minutes sitting and waiting for every hour I spend writing. So during those "down time" periods I catch up on FFL and several other forums I participate in. I do this for fun, and the way that my French co- workers take cigarette breaks. ( My boss has no problem with this, because he smokes and knows that his cigarette breaks constitute far more "down time" than my "Internet breaks." ) During these "Internet breaks" yes, I *delight* in putting "wild spins" on things. Where's the fun in seeing stuff the way that others see it? What's to be LEARNED from seeing or describing things the way that others see them? > He is also, one of the only people in the world, who > has actually witnessed someone levitating! Actually, to clarify, I am one of thousands who have witnessed someone levitating, and that's speaking only of Frederick Lenz - Rama. > Turqs bag of tricks is almost unlimited! > And his subtle removal of masks... One of the benefits of studying with Frederick Lenz - Rama is that he was the polar opposite of Maharishi. Maharishi was all about heaping praise on students to get them to do things. Tell them they're great and they'll give him money. Tell them they're the most important people on the planet and they won't notice that none of them are enlightened yet. There was no pressure to ever CHANGE around Maharishi. You could stay stuck in the same ruts for decades, and as evidenced here, many did. Rama was a button-pusher. In that sense he was like a number of Zen teachers and Tibetan Tantric teachers and Yaqui shamans I have worked with. Their concept seemed to be instead, "If I allow this asshole to just plod along thinking he is special, he won't ever actually LEARN anything. So it's better *for him* to remind him how NOT SPECIAL he is, and in fact how much of an asshole he is." I have had my own assholiness pointed out to me by teachers I have worked with over the years so often that I am very, very comfortable with it. :-) OF COURSE I'm a roaring asshole. But I'm *aware* of it. Compare to those who, when their buttons are pushed in such a way to suggest that they might actually LEARN something by noticing that they focus on being a victim most of the time, or that they focus on victimizing others most of the time, LEARN NOTHING. They just keep doing the same old same old. > As M.J. would exclaim, 'Who's Bad?!' No one. And no one is Good, either. Everyone here is an asshole in their own way. Everyone here is a saint in their own way. The wise ones are aware of -- and comfortable with -- both sides of themselves. The foolish ones are comfortable only with the saint side, and are often incapable of even SEEING the asshole side. Saints who understand that they are also assholes are fun to be around. Assholes who understand that they are also saints are fun to be around. Those who think that they are either one or the other are no fun to be around. Pushing the occasional button during my "Internet breaks" is my way of finding out who is who.
