--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <vajradhatu@...> wrote: > Basically the only people who are doing this do a lengthy > psychological evaluation and profile, along with long questionnaire > and interview of all the various developmental issues one dealt with > in their lives. Then and only then do they engage in a two week > retreat to evaluate what type of diversion (of kundalini) the person > may have or where their spiritual path can best progress from.
I was hoping you would respond Vaj because I know you have given a lot of thought to this issue. I don't know if two weeks is the right amount of time, having spent much longer on TM courses it seems a bit short. But what do I know! > > Of course the best thing to prevent to do to prevent this from > happening in the first place is to avoid disreputable teachers like > the plague. This is the problem isn't it? by what criteria could a person judge this? It seems that every system has their own criteria. For Maharishi if you dug you experience of TM then you could go for more, dig that, here is more and on and on. Personal experience is so compelling it is hard for a person to argue that even with these experiences I have made a mistake and need to seek someone else. This type of scenario is largely the by-product of faux > kundalini yoga and meditation teachers IME. From the POV of these > traditions, being trapped in such an energetic state can mean > transmigration through the "lower realms" over many, many lives. I > hope they enjoyed their hopping on foam a hell of a lot. Ouch! I sure did my share of foam hopping in my day. I'm not sure any human could make this claim definitively (I understand you are quoting the tradition here.) It seems to imply a knowledge of a lot of stuff I'm not sure people could demonstrate a knowledge of. (like everything that happens after death or whether TM actually does activate the "faux kundlini". (phrase of the week IMO!) But I'm sure you get the issue that even such teachers that you consider experts may not have the expertise necessary to deal with people with mental disorders who come to their courses. But with an interest in the idea of choosing a reputable teacher, how would a person go about such a task. Don't most seekers believe that they are sort of lead to THEIR teacher? I remember corresponding to Shri Chinmoy's organization before I went with Maharishi about how to know if you have the right guru. They sent back some kind of subjective test that in retrospect seems kind of influenced by my beliefs. In any case I'm not sure people have the open choice to evaluate such a teacher who is "reputable". Even if you believed that you found a super teacher, how would you know how to rank them since people seem perfectly happy with guys like Moon and others who even the most ardent believer in all things guru usually omit from a "reputable" list. > > > On Apr 1, 2011, at 12:10 PM, curtisdeltablues wrote: > Here are the problems I see. First who has the training in both > mental health and chakras to a level that there can be a definitive > diagnosis of one or the other paradigm? The Catholic church sends > all exorcism cases to a psychiatrist first to rule out known mental > disorders. Is this how spiritual groups operate? If not they are > not in a knowledge position to distinguish the reported experiences > from known mental conditions. As long as the experiences are not > causing distress to the person this type of experience is usually > just ignored by most mental health professionals anyway. > > So we are left with a person "trained" in "chakra knowledge" to work > with the person who is experiencing these things. Due to the nature > of the subjective detail and the downsides of bad advice (all within > the belief system of the chakra experts) this kind of interaction is > going to take some significant time. > > So whether you believe these are valuable experiences or not, we have > the bottom line problem. The closest correlate to the time consuming > interaction needed is the mental health field which is often paid for > by insurance. Who is going to finance the needed interaction with > the "experts" of "chakra knowldege"? I am assuming that there aren't > a whole bunch of people who can step up and serve in this capacity so > their time is extremely valuable. Not to mention how we would > actually sort out what makes someone qualified to offer this advice. > > In any case the idea that TM teachers could offer this expertise in > checking sessions is not realistic. They are not trained in chakras > or the ability to distinguish this class of experiences from mental > problems. Having checked the meditations of people who ended up with > a diagnosis of schizophrenia, I can say that the checking procedure > is not only insufficient for this class of person, it may be very > dangerous and make the situation much worse. > > So even if you are going to believe in this system of development, I > can't see a realistic structure of professionals dealing with these > people. From my perspective I can only hope that TM or other > practices are not plunging people into experiences for which there is > no support structure or knowledge base to deal with them. > > Basically the only people who are doing this do a lengthy > psychological evaluation and profile, along with long questionnaire > and interview of all the various developmental issues one dealt with > in their lives. Then and only then do they engage in a two week > retreat to evaluate what type of diversion (of kundalini) the person > may have or where their spiritual path can best progress from. > > Of course the best thing to prevent to do to prevent this from > happening in the first place is to avoid disreputable teachers like > the plague. This type of scenario is largely the by-product of faux > kundalini yoga and meditation teachers IME. From the POV of these > traditions, being trapped in such an energetic state can mean > transmigration through the "lower realms" over many, many lives. I > hope they enjoyed their hopping on foam a hell of a lot. >
