From: scienceofabundance Date: Sun Jul 24, 2005 6:31 pm Subject: Re: PS: From A World Where Everything **WILL** Be Positive!! scienceofabu...
>She used to be here in the beginning, but she did not like >the "negativity", so she went and created her own group where she >decides what can be posted and what cannot. Dear FairfieldLifers, I don't read FFL, but a friend sent me the interchange in which someone posted my post to the Kiosk. I got a chuckle from it, and indeed agree from past experience that many of the posters on FFL are more in need of spankings (puntative, not recreational) for their peevish, pouting posts they try to pass off as intelligent analysis but which is actually only the whining of chronically dissatisfied personalities who don't have the maturity to get beyond their small-minded egos. Even the most loving mother can lose her temper when the kids act like brats. I haven't lost my temper but as Hafiz says, "Sometimes (even) God gets TIRED of speaking sweetly." If I get tired of speaking sweetly at the Kiosk, I could always come visit FFL where so many brilliant minds are solving world problems. :-) Even so, there are kinder ways my opinion could have been expressed. That's what the Kiosk is about--speaking the sweet truth, as the Vedas say, or as the Bible says, "think on these things (that are good, pleasant, honorable, of good report, etc.) Yes, I know that it is honestly hard for some of you to understand that being positive doesn't equate to being brain-dead. If I recall, I myself thought that at one time, that if one didn't criticize then it must because one didn't have the intelligence to do so. But this is mistaking CRITICISM for CRITICAL THINKING--they're not the same thing at all! One can be a critical thinker, functioning in full self-referral discrimination, and even be in protest against something--all without ever being negative. Even though there are (or were when I was on it) some really wonderful and highly evolved people on FFL, but being critical in the FFL sense is often not mature critique or the honorable discussions of the wise making discriminations on fine points of knowledge. Rather it is an ego puffing, us-versus them mentality, the kind of thinking that says WE are better, smarter, more enlightened than THEM, that THEY are so bad that they deserve to be ridiculed, scorned, and rejected by those of us who are too wise to be taken in by their nonsense. But don't you see, anything spoken with sarcasm or scorn is a put-down, and put-downs are personal wars. The Vedas say there are two reasons for speech. One is to expand Knowledge and the other is to expand ego. Criticism is all about the personal war, the ego's need to feel seperate. It is divisive, dualistic. Its gives us a sense of superiority and personal power. When FFL posters write with sarcastic wit, bash saints and cast doubts on people and ideas, do you notice that you get a feeling of power? That's ego feeding on that negativity. It carries a particular pleasure with it that for some is addictive. But even if you are right, what is gained? Criticism destroys fine levels of feeling and distorts more delicate truths. For instance, wouldn't you agree that ScienceofAbundance makes it sound like I created the Kiosk because I am an unrealistic bliss-ninny who just wants to be controlling? What was your reaction when you read that? Something similiar to the feeling you get when you smash a bad-guy ship in a computer game? Like you've WON something? This is ego. Some people criticize because they think it solves problems by defining them. But what is gained by criticizing people who are not there either to defend themselves or to hear and understand, or by using criticisms based on hearsay and personal opinion, and giving authority to one's opinions by using a tone of scorn? So comes of this except to encourage doubt, fear, dislike and disrespect? We are none of us perfect beings. We all make mistakes and do stupid things and blunder around like jack-asses at times; even very enlightened people make relative mistakes in judgment and behavior. Evenutually ALL of us wake up to our mistakes. Oh s**t, how could I be so stupid? So how would you want others to behave toward you when you make mistakes? Of all the possible solutions to problems, criticism is the least effective. The ONLY good it does is to make the criticizer and those who agree with him feel good. It makes everyone else miserable. It creates defensive anger (like you perhaps felt reading the beginning of this post?). Criticism reduces life flow and is discouraging. It takes away hope for positive change. It closes the door to positive solutions or to real understanding. It smashes fine feelings. And what goes around comes around. Someday it will be your turn to stand in front of the judge. What will the judge see in you to criticize, and how would you like to be treated at that time? I am not perfect. I have a critical intellect that used to be mean-spirited and judgmental and still makes me hell-on-wheels if I lose my temper. But I've learned the difference between critical and critique, and I have gained the understanding that it isn't necessary to be critical to be intelligent and discriminating. The goal for the Kiosk was not to be unrealistically la-la positive, but to have a forum in which, just as in any genuinely loving family, we can cultivate that which is kindly and supportive for each other, that which is good, pleasant, and up-lifting, a place where people can feel safe to post without getting bashed. As controller of what gets posted, it is not my job to be The Thought Police. There have been times I've felt weighted down with the responsibility of having to make a judgement about whether to post something or to allow someone in as a member. I didn't realize that there would be things that are not clear cut. I have made and will no doubt continue to make mistakes. I can only do my sincere best. The guideline is, is it life-supporting (positive)? You probably will agree with Maharishi when he says, "Everything has its place, but the dinner table is not the place for manure." The Kiosk is like saying, "During the time that we as a family are sitting down to eat together, we will behave with courtesy and kindness and not upset our digestion by permitting anyone to sling manure." The Kiosk is a place where the theme is to be FRIENDLY, where the non-friendly are ignored or encouraged to go elsewhere. If FFL is the place to go where to find unrestricted critical expression, then the Kiosk is a place to go for nourishment of what is positive, pleasant and supportive. What is so terrible about that? Since creating it, I have had so little time to tend or promote it that (despite the fact that it continues to grow in numbers) there isn't much activity on it, mostly forwards of inspirational news, Maharishi stories, etc. There was some discussion in the early days, but it was stiff and strained because most posters were not sure how to go about being real and being positive at the same time. Discussion thrives on contraversy, so when critical contraversy was not allowed, many didn't know how to handle it. Also, there was not enough people in the early days for things to happen naturally. I'd hoped it would become not only a place for discussion but also a lively place people could go, like the physical kiosks in villages, to send or read the news that is the heart of a community, the human aspect: what's happening where, who's getting married, who's having babies, who is ill and needs help, who made their transition, and so forth. Is a pet lost or in need of a home? Does anyone need a baby sitter or a ride to the opera? Individuals or businesses may communicate what they have for sale or are doing as a service, hopefully as if they were speaking to friends and family and not merely exploiting it as a site for free advertising. (In this case, there's a fine distinction between news and advertising exploitation but maybe you get the idea.) It is a misunderstanding to think that the restriction against negativity disallows one to be genuine or realistic. Certainly some people who are "positive" are just in bliss-ninny denial, just as many people who are critical are in oppositional denial. But it is very much possible to be FULLY in self-referral honesty without being negative. It is surely a mark of civilization and an enlightened community to be in support of behaving kindly. Anyone can criticize. But it requires the development of communication skills and personal growth to see what there is to appreciate. The Kiosk is a place for appreciation. If you couldn't be friendly and supportive without a sense of hyprocracy, then the Kiosk wouldn't be the place for you to hang out. Having said that, I warmly invite all of you to come join, to post your news or talk about your services, and certainly it is open to discuss ways to make it useful for the community or to offer help with the management of it and having it go in directions you'd find useful. Best wishes to you, friends and enemies alike. Namaste, Sharalyn To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
