--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Joe" <geezerfr...@...> wrote: > > Fascinating idea. Rick, I notice you use the word "movement" > below. I'm curious how you would envision a transformed TMO. > Would the goal be to get as many people meditating as possible? > The word "movement" implies that there is a goal...moving from > here to "there". > > Would it be enough to simply offer the TM tech to those who want > it for a reasonable price...and eliminate the idea that world > domination is the goal or even desirable? > > These are just questions. The idea that "Rajaism" (great phrase) > could be a passing phase is highly appealing. > > I wonder how many fit my profile: I still meditate every day, > but I want absolutely nothing to do with secretive, paranoid and > elitist thing that the TMO has become over the last 30 years or > so. I would actually be interested in gathering with like minded > people who meditate if the whole shebang could be given a massive > enema and allowed to start over. > > As someone just noted, those with power are highly unlikely to > give it up on their own. You also have the mafia like behavior > of the Shrivastava/Varma clan in India who will fight tooth and > nail against any attempt to upset the money flow into the family > business. > > Still, I like your idea of proposing a statement of change to > Jerry, Bobby Roth and Keith. It would be fascinating to find out > what they would say....to find out if they even feel they can > speak freely at this point in time. > > Good luck with this.
I agree, but I also agree that Joe, as he often does, has nailed the deeper issue: "Transform the TMO into WHAT?" The problem with "revolutions" is that most of the time they have no clear idea of what they want to transform the society, government, or organizations they're revolting against INTO. They can't think past "against." I would see that as the problem with any such letter/ initiative. To make it an effective challenge to what the TMO has become, you have to be able to express exactly what you'd like to see it become in the future. And that is? One can only hope that it is not like the things that Doug/Buck expresses here. His elitism and his disdain for "non-meditators" is as loathsome in its way as the TMO's obvious disdain for "non-TBs." Also, as Joe points out, I think Doug would not only say that the "goal" of any such initiative would not only be to encourage as many people to meditate as possible, but to use any means necessary to *force* them to meditate. whether they want to or not. That is certainly not my idea of what a real meditation movement would be like. It would be more along the lines Joe expresses -- making a potentially valuable practice *available* to as many people as possible, without the pseudo-scientific bullshit used to sell it, and at a *very* reasonable cost, which I would roll back to no more than $75.00 for working adults, $35 for students, and free for those who can not afford either fee. Would the "New TMO" still have residence courses, during which every single moment of a participant's time is controlled and monitored? Would it still try to pressure "meditators" into taking "advanced" courses that aren't the least bit advanced? Would it still pressure them to learn the TM-Sidhis, the value of which has *never* been proved? Would it still gouge them every time it got for "donations?" Would it still encourage the modern-day counterpart of indentured servitude and sponsor "pundits?" All of these are things to consider. But they're all things to be *against*, with still very little said about what you would be *for*. I think some serious thought needs to go into this letter before it is even posted here for "peer review." IT IS NOT ENOUGH to be *against* the things about the TMO one doesn't like. That's an "easy out," but is a trap in that even if you managed to accomplish it, you'd be in the position of looking around and saying, "What now?" I think that a more productive point of view would be to *start* with "What then?" and go from there. Design the way you'd like it to BE, without dwelling overmuch on the way it is now, and how much you don't like that. Just my two centimes...
