Aside from all the flak flying lately on FFL, it has been my observation also that those in the TMO and other orgs and companies do sometimes seem to lack the ability to visualise how they appear to a supposedly normative group of people outside their fold. Some things in the TMO would appear absolutely bizarre to such a group. Maybe we all have such a blind spot, but conceptual flexibility and the ability to imagine other points of view, even if you think those points of view are nuts is probably a plus. Actors and writers of fiction probably have this ability to imagine this way. Writers of science fiction and fantasy might have an even better chance at doing this because they have to imagine whole alternate worlds in their profession.
It is my understanding that meditative disciplines are supposed to expand one's experience rather than constrict it. There is always an opposing force to expansion which is the world view found in the meditative tradition. Woe if you take it too seriously, it's like a map: maps are not where you are, they are a useful reference if you know their limitations. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: > > This latest round of TMers claiming that they have been > personally insulted by someone criticizing or making fun > of their teacher or their path has caused me to think > back to my time in the TM movement. Those memories are > full of people -- my fellow TM teachers -- making all > *sorts* of jokes about and poking fun at Maharishi, TM, > the hours we spent on "program," our completely artificial > way of speaking in SIMS-speak and, most of all, ourselves. > People back then weren't so *touchy*. We had senses of > humor. We could *laugh* about ourselves, and the silly > thing we'd gotten ourselves involved with. > > So WTF happened? > > I think that part of it is that *over time* many people > became "self unaware." That is, they got so completely > immersed in the cult that they became incapable of > seeing themselves the way that someone outside the cult > might see them. There was a kind of homogenized self- > referentiality about always hanging with people who > believed the same things that you did and dressed the > same way that you did and said the same things you did > and...well...you get the point. It's as if people lost > the ability to discriminate between themselves and the > beliefs or people (spiritual teachers) or lifestyles > they had attached themselves to. Criticize one of these > things, and the self-unaware types react as if you > had criticized *them*. > > The fascinating thing is that I don't see this inability > to "see oneself in context" in spiritual seekers who > only "signed on" to their spiritual trip for shorter > periods of time. I think that the rigidity and the loss > of the ability to laugh at oneself and one's spiritual > trip may be something that "accrues" over time -- many > years or decades. > > What about it, you long-timers out there? Don't you > remember being able to make jokes about Maharishi or > TM or ourselves and the silly things we believed and > did in rooms full of other TBs...and have everyone > laugh? I sure do. > > So WTF happened? If you have theories other than my > "stayed too long at the party" theory, I'd love to > hear them. >
