--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "seventhray1" <steve.sundur@...> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > That is, the fallout of Maharishi's famous "Every ques- > > tion is a perfect opportunity for the answer we have > > already prepared." THAT was -- and still is -- the TM > > mindset. You ask questions, we give you the "pat answer" > > we have already prepared, and you STFU (Shut The Fuck Up). > > I find this kind of funny, and I think I have mentioned it > before, (but I am rushing this morning), but it seems to me > that a student, any student approaches a teacher with a > somewhat open mind.
And often walks away with a closed one, if they accept what the teacher says without thinking it through. :-) > He may engage the teacher with questions, and sometimes may > disagree with the teacher, or not get the answer he wants. > So, are you suggesting that he, (or she) endlessly question > the teacher in an effort to nail down some point? I suggest that this is the student's absolute right. Whether to do it or not depends on the nature of the teacher and whether they are receptive to having their "pat answers" challenged. In my experience, some are, and some aren't. Maharishi on the whole was not. > I have been in situations, in person, where people have > questioned Maharishi, and he spent time attempting to answer > the question, and the follow up question, and then the follow > up question. I have seen this, too. It lasts until Maharishi makes it very clear that the question-asker should STFU. He often did that by belittling them for not accepting his first answer, or by making fun of them for "not understanding." I have seen other teachers who *never* did this. They took the fact that the student still had followup questions to mean that they hadn't done an adequate job of explaining things first time around, so they tried again. And again, as long as necessary. If at the end of that process the student still didn't agree with the teacher's answer, that was FINE. No problem. > And it is all interesting until everyone else in the room > wishes the person would just STFU. And accept the answer as the "proclamation" it was. Just like they did. > I think in the the spiritual game when looking for a > teacher you question the teacher, but there comes a time > when you either decide to get on board or move on. It > doens't mean, at least for me, that you surrender your > intellect, or give a whole hearted buy in. I can agree with this, defined as you have above. But the reality is that in many cases what the teacher wants IS total surrender. I wouldn't touch that with a hundred-foot pole, and I wouldn't counsel anyone else to, either. > Yes, I think you find some that adhere dogmatically to > the TMO mindset, but overall I think you are misrepresenting > the situation as it is and was. That is your right. I am not demanding that you agree with me. :-) But in many cases Maharishi did. I think my description of the life of a TM teacher in the TMO is spot-on.
