--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues" <curtisdeltabl...@...> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu <noozguru@> wrote: > > > Sounds like he is Americans as if they are Indians. Even in Fairfield > > there would be a tremendous cultural gap. That's another mistake > > would-be gurus from India frequently make. > > > I think the accent thing is a help since we are much more adept at noticing > gaps in logic when our conscious mind is not hung up on figuring out what is > being said. While most of use could spot a televangelist routine in our own > language, we give a foreign person a lot more leeway and most people don't > like to appear culturally insensitive by challenging a foreign born speaker. > So much of Maharishi's personal pettiness was just written off as part of his > inscrutable Indianness. > > In some street cons the person purposely speaks too rapidly to follow until > the person's eyes glaze over and they are given a direct command which due to > brain overload they sometimes follow without reflection. > > So much of Maharishi's speech patterns were designed to overwhelm our mind's > ability to analyze what he was saying. And if that didn't work he just wore > us down with hours of speaking on abstract topics. > > There is an old saw from Neuro-Linguistic Programming that if you have been > listening to someone for 5 minutes and you still haven't heard anything that > you could put in a wheelbarrow, you are being hypnotized. State change > language is not meant to inform, it is mean to shift you out of your > conscious mind's usual organization. Depending on your beliefs in the person > doing this shifting you would either consider this a good or a bad thing. > But one thing for sure, your ability to apply the rules of reason gets > impaired.
This is really interesting stuff, Curtis. If youw were so inclined, this could be a thesis or a really interesting book - how language patterns are used in religions and by gurus, whether intentional or not. And then there is the likelihood that different brains are more or less susceptible to those language patterns. Probably those of us who tend to be religious or spiritual by nature are less inclined to analyze things or stay rooted in logic. > > > > > > > Alex Stanley wrote: > > > Out of curiosity, I went to last night's event with Mahendra Kumar > > > Trivedi. He speaks English, but his accent is so thick that it was > > > excruciatingly fatiguing for me to follow along with what he was saying. > > > So, I pretty much tuned him out and sat there for two hours, bored out of > > > my mind. > > > > > > When it came time to do the blessing, where he does his ooga-booga energy > > > transmission, we had to sign a release form. It would have been nice if > > > they'd mentioned that in the flyer, because I would have brought my > > > reading glasses and a pen. So, on top of boredom, I was now annoyed. I > > > borrowed a pen and went right up to one of the bright little floor lights > > > and did my best to read the form and sign it. > > > > > > He then tells us to take off our shoes and socks and instructs us to pray > > > to god, as we understand him/her/it, with our desire while he does his > > > energy transmission. And, I'm yet again going WTF? All those seeds, > > > plants and animals you supposedly performed magic on didn't have to pray > > > in order for your woo-woo to work, so why do we? My upbringing was > > > atheist, and unbounded ineffable transcendence is the closest I get to > > > having anything resembling an understanding of god, and it's certainly > > > not something I would pray to. > > > > > > So, I sat there and put my attention on my neck, which has been bothering > > > me for a couple years. This morning, my neck is unchanged. Needless to > > > say, I'm not the least bit inspired to fork over $300 for an > > > individualized "blessing" because the only thing that would be blessed is > > > his bank account. At least part of the $15 I did pay to see him goes to > > > the civic center, which is struggling financially. > > > > Probably the main reason Maharishi was so successful was because he DID > > NOT have a thick accent and westerners were able to understand him. > > I've been telling my tantra teacher for years to go take an accent > > reduction course. Living in Silicon Valley there are plenty of those > > offered and for a reasonable price. Since most people taking these > > courses already know English it is usually about practicing some simple > > drills and eliminating some of the regional quirks in pronunciation. > > Some of the drills are even available online. My teacher tends to drop > > vowels leaving one listening to a string of consonants. > > > > Sounds like he is Americans as if they are Indians. Even in Fairfield > > there would be a tremendous cultural gap. That's another mistake > > would-be gurus from India frequently make. > > >
