Well that's my whole point, Bevan was looking at this guy as a potential donor, not as someone who might benefit from the practice of meditation. When I learned to do TM it was taught and promoted for its benefits to individuals and society. It took some years for me to realize they really didn't give a rat's behind about people's individual well being.
The basic difficulties that most of us rank and file meditators began to have with the Movement was with the behavior of the people who ran the Movement being so different from the ideals the Movement espoused. To look at a man for what he can do for you, rather than what you can offer him is getting way away from the 7 goals of the world plan for instance, and given the fact that if this man gave every cent he had and had no more to give I think most of us know the Movement would turn its back on him since he had no more to give. Do you think Bevan would call this guy to see how he was doing, how his wife and kids were if he had given all to the Movement and had no more funds to give? Not on your life. When you add to this the fact that nearly every single one of the Movement projects that are paid for by others never materialize, it seems rather crass to say the least to look at this guy as the Golden Goose. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "sparaig" <LEnglish5@...> wrote: > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "mjackson74" <mjackson74@> wrote: > > > > Ha! That's true - I stopped actively participating in the Movement after a > > 2 year stint working on staff at MIU (wonder if there are any statistics > > for how many people quit the Movement after a staff experience at a > > Movement facility) > > > > So I wasn't totally aware of all the projects - oddly enough when I was > > still a Movement junky the very first time I had an odd feeling about it > > all was during the Taste of Utopia course in '83-'84 when Maharishi asked > > for some large amount of cash for some project. I remember feeling "Didn't > > he just ask for a bunch of money for some other project a year or so ago?" > > > > Writing this reminds me of a staff meeting we had with Bevan when he had > > just come back from Europe with M and was talking in glowing terms about > > some guy they had heard of who was loaded, as Bevan said > > > > "He is as rich as Croesus. And these are the kinds of people we need to get > > meditating. Because if he starts doing TM, he can give us his money and we > > can use his money to further the cause of bringing the world to > > enlightenment." > > > > I remember thinking what about his personal enlightenment? What about the > > benefits to the rich guy? You only want him for his money?" > > > > but as I was not yet ready to leave MIU I kept that though to myself. > > > > > So, what ABOUT his personal enlightenment? > > IF group meditation has the effect on the individual and the world that is > claimed for it, the most benefit anyone could ever get for themselves AND the > rest of the world would be by sponsoring group meditation in sufficiently > mass quantities to bring about world peace. As an added bonus, they could > participate in the group themselves. > > Can you even *conceive of* something that someone could do for themselves > that would lead to greater long-term benefit for themselves, assuming the ME > exists as advertised? > > > i certainly can't. Mind you, I don't know that the Maharishi Effect exists or > not, but if you genuinely believe that it does, what other attitude is > legitimate to take, when dealing with a wealthy potential donor? > > L >
