--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, zarzari_786 <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > > > I think part of it is the belief in "crazy wisdom" that shows > > > up in many spiritual traditions and cults. Once a group of > > > cultists have decided that the teacher or holy guy they fixate > > > on is "enlightened" or whatever, they *start making excuses > > > for his or her crazy behavior*. Because, according to the > > > dogma, a person can't be both enlightened AND crazy. > > > > Good topic Barry. I wouldn't subscribe to the last sentence... > > I don't either. > > > ...I think there is a considerable overlap between, what is > > generally considered crazy by society (and doctors) and > > enlightenment. Not that both are the same, but the overlap is > > striking! This is also a major part of the controversy about > > the Peter Heehs book about Aurobindo: he doesn't say anywhere > > that Aurobindo was 'crazy' or psychotic, but he alludes to > > the fact that his Mother had mental problems and was treated > > I think, and also to the fact that there exists many parallels > > between what he considers Aurobindos enlightenment, and > > psychosis. (He just mentions it, while making clear that SA > > showed an amazing intellectual clarity through his writings, > > so he takes clear sides that SA was NOT psychotic). > > In India itself it is just too obvious: Many 'saints', > > avadhootas, are considered crazy by a majority of local people, > > they are simply 'out of their mind', there will be devotees, who > > consider them holy, here in the west, most of them would be > > closed away in a mental institution and pumped full of drugs. > > I know nothing of Sri Aurobindo, but didn't Ramakrishna > spend years dressing in women's clothing and spend some > time living in a tree as a monkey? Crazy wisdom, or just > crazy? > > As for "intellectual clarity," have you ever read any of > the books by Chogyam Trungpa? Some are utterly brilliant, > despite the fact (as we know now) that he was totally in > the bag (meaning falling down drunk) while writing most > of them. Go figure. I guess my point is that while one > may admire Trungpa's writing and its clarity on the one > hand, you wouldn't really want him driving you anywhere > or making decisions that strongly affected your life, > would you? > > I guess I bring this up because I see an increasingly > disturbing trend here on FFL. Many people seem to have > lost any sense of perspective on the things that happen > here. It's just a chat forum; maybe a total of 40 people > interact on it regularly. But for some it seems to have > become a deadly serious business. They regularly LOSE > IT over -- let's face it -- minor insults or petty > affronts that a sane person would hardly notice. Some > develop grudges and then recruit "teams" to help them > obsess on their common grudgees. > > THIS is what 30 to 40 years of TM does for a person? > > But worse, IMO, some of the folks whom I think have lost > perspective don't seem to know what they're messing with > when they start trying to recruit people with borderline > personality disorders into their petty grudge wars I think > that in doing this they're playing with fire, and I hope > that it doesn't escalate into something a lot more serious, > or tragic.
It does seem that in the last few weeks things have deteriorated here on FFL. I don't even read most of the conversations because they get so convoluted and revolve around personality issues, arguments about stuff that only people with nothing else to do would even care about.
